Eucatastrophe: A Sudden Joyous Turn

 

Have you ever thought about what that Sabbath day between Jesus’ death and resurrection was like? The disciples had shifted the whole trajectory of their lives because of Jesus—leaving behind their past lives to follow someone they believed could change everything. And now he was dead. What must they have been feeling as they went about observing the Sabbath? Devastated would be an understatement.

 In his song “God Rested” for the Resurrection Letters Prologue, Andrew Peterson captures the feelings that must have been going around:

 “So they laid their hopes away

They buried all their dreams about the kingdom He proclaimed

And they sealed them in the grave

As a holy silence fell on all Jerusalem

But the Pharisees were restless

Pilate had no peace

And Peter's heart was reckless

Mary couldn't sleep”

The disciples didn’t remember that Jesus had already told them he would rise again. At the very least they didn’t believe it was possible. As far they knew, their hope was buried along with his body. But the Pharisees remembered his words. They didn’t believe, but they suspected that Jesus’ followers would try something to deceive the public into believing. The disciples weren’t waiting expectantly by the tomb, but the Pharisees convinced Pilot to station guards there.

“God Rested” ends with the line “and all creation waited,” and the music does not resolve. There is tension there, just as there must have been that Sabbath two thousand years ago. What do you do with your life when the object of your faith is just gone?

And then the greatest event in all of history occurred.

J.R.R. Tolkien coined the term “eucatastrophe” to refer to “the sudden joyous turn” in a great story (“On Fairy Stories”). The eucatastrophe is the event that happens to turn the tide when all hope seems lost. The eucatastrophe of the world is Jesus’ resurrection.

Can you imagine the disciples’ bewildered joy as they began to understand what had happened? Their hopes and dreams were not buried after all. In fact, Jesus was bringing about something even greater than they ever could have imagined!

Near the end of The Return of the King, Sam Gamgee awakes to see Gandalf after believing him dead. “Is everything sad going to come untrue?” he asks. How deeply we long for the answer to this question to be yes! And because of Jesus’ resurrection, it is. Our hope is not buried in the ground. Death has been defeated, and one day, we will be united with Christ, and there will be no more tears or pain.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

 

--Concetta Swann