The Shack and
the Trinity
Today we celebrate Pentecost and next Sunday Trinity Sunday. As I was
preparing the message for these important celebrations, William P. Young’s The Shack came to my mind. I think some of
you have had a chance to either read or watch this story. The brief plot goes
like this: The main character, “Mack” is a father of five. One day he takes
three of his children on a camping trip. Two of his children are playing in a
canoe when it flips and almost drowns Mack's son. Mack is able to save his son
by rushing to the water, but unintentionally leaves his youngest daughter Missy
alone at their campsite. After Mack returns, he sees that Missy is missing. The
police discover that Missy has been abducted and murdered by a serial killer. The
police find an abandoned shack in the woods where Missy was taken. Her bloodied
clothing is found, but her body is not there. Since that time, Mack's life
sinks into what he calls "The Great Sadness.” In this story the author
asks this question: “Where is God in
our suffering? Where is God in a
world so filled with unspeakable pain?” It was Job’s question in the Bible, and it is our question today. We still
ask, “Where is God when…?”
The author Young finds the answer in the fellowship with the Holy Trinity. He himself asked this
question many times throughout his life journey. Young’s parents were
missionaries. He and his family went to the Netherlands New Guinea when he was
a year old. He had a difficult relationship with his dad, who was very broken. He
had also been sexually abused by the natives as early as 5 years old. Those
experiences did devastate, fracture, damage his soul. He then learned how to
emotionally detach himself and leave and never dealt with his stuff. But, he
had to deal with all his stuff in his marriage. Finally, he got caught in
adultery in a three-month affair with one of his wife’s best friends. That
started a long process of dealing with his stuff. In this painful healing journey
Young did meet the Trinity in the shack,
the very place he got stuck, got hurt, got damaged. And now he invites us
to go to our shack, the house we build out of our own pain, and to meet the
Trinity right there to be healed.
“Papa” Father
In the book of Job in His providence God allows Satan to test Job.
In one day Job lost all his property and all his ten children. To make things
worse, he was ulcers and scabs from head to foot. The worst scenario possible! In
this respect Job and Mack in the story of the Shack have in common. Job begins questioning:
“Why is all this happening?” “Why me?” “Where is God?” “Will not the judge of
all the earth do right?” After all these questions, God appears. He doesn’t
answer Job’s questions. Instead, he asks questions. “Where were you when I laid
the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much!” (38:4) “Will you even
put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” (40:8) Then,
Job begins to understand his ability to
discern what is good, or what is evil is quite self-serving and self-centered.
He repents that he has become the judge.
In the story of the Shack Mack went to see “Sophia” (Wisdom)
inside of the thick, dark mountain. He was then invited to sit on the judgment
seat himself to be the judge. Sophia said to him, “Now you must choose two of
your children to spend eternity in heaven and three of them to spend eternity
in hell.” Mack said, “I can’t. I can’t. I won’t! Could I go instead? If you
need someone to torture for eternity. Please let me go for my children. Please…”
And she said, “And now you know Papa’s heart who loves all her children perfectly.”
By this, Mack realized that was exactly
what God did for him as a righteous Judge
and loving Advocate. As a righteous
Judge, God had to sentence us to death because “For the wages of sin is death”
(Rom 6:23a). But as a loving Advocate, God chose to give his unique Son. He
chose to walk the path of his own child loss to save all who believe, including even child abusers and abductors. So the first step towards our healing
journey is to “give up” being the judge and “trust” God as a good Father and
righteous Judge all the time.
Jesus the Son
Now Jesus the Son. How do we know God really love
us, care about us? We do know His love perfectly in Jesus Christ. 1 John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our
sins.” We feel God’s love through Jesus Christ the Son. Then, where do we see
Jesus in the book of Job? In fact, Job foreshadows Jesus, the righteous man who
suffers unjustly and is finally vindicated by his Father. Timothy Keller
rightly said, “Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer,
who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.”
Where and how do we see Jesus in
our suffering? In the story
of the Shack one time Mack was boating on a peaceful lake. All of sudden, the
lake was boiling, and the boat was sinking in the middle of the lake. He cried
out for help. Right away, Jesus walked on the water to help, saying, “That’s what
is happening inside of you. Why do you have so much fear in your life? Look at
me. Fix your eyes on me. Trust me!”
Then, he offered his hand to him to come out of the boat. At first, Mack was
hesitant, afraid, but eventually he came out of it. Later, Mack and Jesus ran
on the water together! Run with Jesus! So
the second step to our healing journey is to “trust” Jesus, trust his finished
work on the cross no matter what fear or pain we have, and to be submitted to
him out of love and respect.
The Holy
Spirit
Last but not least, the Holy
Spirit. We come to
God the Father through Jesus the Son by
the power and work of the Holy Spirit. Think about it. The Bible says Jesus
is the exact imprint of God’s very being (Heb 1:3). We know God through Jesus. But
how do we experience Jesus? How do we talk with him, walk with him, dine with
him who lived 2000 years ago? The answer is by
the Holy Spirit! Job had heard about God, knew about God. But when the Holy
Spirit opened his eyes, Job shouted with joy, “I had only heard about you
before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes!” (42:5) This is the creative,
regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. The same thing happened to Nicodemus. He
had heard about God, knew about God, taught about God. But Jesus said to him, “You
must be born again!” (John 3:3) It is never enough to do a little bit of
improvement or renovation of our old self. What we need is a new foundation,
new nature, new self, new life. This is possible only by the work of the Holy
Spirit. When we are born of the Spirit, we become like a wind. There is freedom,
creativity, life. Though it is intangible, we ourselves know for sure we
have new, abundant, eternal life. And others also notice something different. This
is the work of the Holy Spirit.
In the story of the Shack the Holy Spirit is “Sarayu,” an Asian
woman. Sarayu took Mack to a messy garden. And she asked him to help clearing
the entire plot of ground because she would plant something new and special
here. They together cut off at the roots all the weeds and plants. The plot
looked like a wound in the garden. Mack called this garden a mess, but Sarayu called
this messy garden wild and beautiful. In fact, this garden was Mack’s soul. When
the Holy Spirit comes, he does something brand-new. He tears down our old foundation
and builds an entirely new foundation. He gives us new nature. At first, it is
so small like a mustard seed, but it slowly grows and grows, and eventually
changes our whole being from inside out. So
the third step to the healing journey is to “trust” the Holy Spirit and His
life-giving work within us.
The Flyer and
The Catcher
As I close, I would like to share a circus story with you. I think
many of you in this room have seen a circus. One day I was reading Henri Nouwen’s
book, I was very impressed by his reflection on the art of the trapeze at the
circus. Many of us are impressed by the performance of the flyer. We think the
flyer is the great star of the trapeze. But the real star is the catcher. In fact,
the flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. The flyer has simply to
stretch out his arms and hands and wait for him to catch him. In the art of the
trapeze the worst thing the flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. If he
grabbed the catcher’s wrists, he might break them. A flyer must fly, and a
catcher must catch. And the flyer must trust,
with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him with
split-second precision. God is the Catcher, and we are the flyer. As a flyer,
all we need to do is to stretch out our arms and hands and trust the Catcher. And
in his time God will be there for us. He will heal us, restore us, make us
whole. So let us trust, trust, trust. Trust the Catcher. Amen.
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