Tragedy, Genesis, and a Soul-Saving Plot Twist

The Bible is full of stories.

 

Stories which, as it happens, are also steady, penetrating truths. Truths that shine into the souls and imaginations of those they touch, leaving a warmth, a comfort, and a conviction wherever they go. We think of the story of Noah and his seemingly impossible task of building an ark that ended up preserving humanity and the rest of life on earth. Or perhaps Esther's unexpected royal position that allowed her to save the Jewish people from merciless slaughter. Or even the story of how Paul's life was changed in one blinding, humility-bringing moment.

 

Stories, those found in the Bible and on the pages of the hundreds of thousands of books found throughout the twists and turns of history, have impact. They capture the human imagination and speak volumes to the human experience; uniting strangers, weaving words, implanting ideas, bringing meaning. 

 

And yet, are we shocked at the impact of words or stories? For if our God is the source of language - indeed, He spoke the very world into existence - does it come as a surprise that words have power? If Jesus Christ, who is the Logos and the literal Word of God - a physical manifestation of God's promises scattered throughout the Old Testament - is it so unbelievable that the impact of story may be far greater than we could imagine? 

 

Perhaps one of my favorite classes I've taken at Patrick Henry College was a class on the genre of Drama. Drama has many different connotations to it, and it encompasses many different sub-genres, including tragedy and comedy. We defined tragedy in particular in this class as the story of a man or a woman who begins in a good situation and, as the story progresses, begins to spiral slowly downhill into a bad situation. Another component of tragedy, an ancient Greek concept, is the "anagnorisis." This is the moment in a story or a play where the central character comes to realize his or her own fatal flaw or the situation in which they find themselves, which then often takes the story on a turn for the worse. 

 

What do tragedy and random Greek theater terms have to do with the Bible, you might ask?

 

Everything. 

 

You've probably heard the Bible referred to as the "great Story," the inspiration for the stories of history. While we can't know how much known fiction has been influenced by Scripture, perhaps the impact of the Bible and its inspiration - the God who created words themselves - is more far-reaching than we might expect. 

 

In the book of Genesis, we meet Adam and Eve. God has placed them in the Garden of Eden - a beautiful, perfect place - and they live each day in a good (nay, best) situation. However, it was not long before Eve and Adam partook of the fruit – an explicit disobedience of God’s loving, protective command – and our first parents experienced a sort of anagnorisis. The two suddenly realized what they had done, and all they had now lost. Their situation began to quickly worsen and they found themselves in a downward spiral as a result of their disobedience – a downward spiral in which humanity is still stuck today. It would seem that the core of humanity's story matches up with this ancient understanding of tragedy, wouldn't you agree? 

But it doesn't stop here. 

The ancient Greek work for tragedy literally means "goat song". Yes, I chuckled too. For ancient tragedy, this name was very relevant to many of the tragedies performed on the Greek stage, for in tragedy often a sacrifice was required. This could be a voluntary or involuntary sacrifice of a character - the "goat" of the "goat song," if you will - for the good of others.

 

This is starting to sound familiar. 

 

The great tragedy of humanity was set into motion with that act of disobedience. The anagnorisis had occurred, our story continued to proceed on a downward spiral. However, there was a sacrifice. A voluntary one. Jesus Christ became the "goat" of our "goat song," the sacrifice of our tragedy. And His sacrifice brought salvation and hope, a way out of the downward spiral of the human tragedy.

In fact, friend, if the heart that beats inside of you as you read these words has been saved by Christ, then you also are defying this downward spiral. You and I were on a tragic trajectory, one we had made for ourselves. But our anagnorisis has come. We have realized our tragic flaw - sin. But this anagnorisis, this realization, does not have to result in despair. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus - the goat of our goat song - our story no longer has to be a tragic one. Our lives can indeed experience a sudden plot twist. A twist that brings hope, beauty, and meaning to our stories, from start to finish.