Thursday, September 15, 2011

The Eucatastrophe


J. R. R. Tolkein, in his famous essay of 1947, On Fairy Stories, makes this statement:

"The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many skeptical men have accepted as true on its own merit."

Tolkein coined the term eucatastrophe by adding the Greek prefix, "eu," which means "good," to the word, "catastrophe." It describes the climactic moment in the story when evil seems overwhelmingly likely to conquer, only to suddenly turn around to be utterly defeated. In The Lord of the Rings, the major eucatastrophe happens when Sauron, the Dark Lord, seems about to destroy the armies of the West, only to see the Ring of Power unmade under his nose to the utter destruction and ruination of his kingdom.

In "Letter 89", Tolkein says that the eucatastrophe is "the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears...It is a sudden glimpse of Truth...the Resurrection was the greatest 'eucatastrophe' possible...and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled..."

In Peter's first epistle, he begins with a discussion of the living hope of the Christian. Our hope is in the living Christ who, through the Resurrection, has turned death itself on its head. And even though we may suffer "grief in all kinds of trials" (1 Pet. 1: 6), yet we "greatly rejoice".

Why? Because we look to the climax of history. The great triumph of God, begun in the Resurrection of Christ; to be completed in His glorious appearing at the end of this evil age.

The sorrows of life are swallowed up in joy as we grasp the reality of what the Resurrection means to us--both in this life and in the glorious age to come.

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls" (1 Pet. 1: 6-9).

Are you struggling with life? Turn to the realities of what Christ has done. His Incarnation, His Death and Resurrection--and the promise of the consummation of His Kingdom rule and our eternal redemption. Let the Truth meet you so that the sorrow is swallowed up in "an inexpressible and glorious joy."

2 comments:

  1. I think "eucatastrophe" is one of my new favorite words.

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  2. Very meaty post! I love those moments when sorrows are swallowed up in joy.

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