On Wednesday, July 2008 a post, in the blog Herescope, connected the God, Elousia, in The Shack to the archetypal Black Madonna that is found around the globe. The post references an article by Matthew Fox: The Return of the Black Madonna: A Sign of Our Times or How the Black Madonna Is Shaking Us Up for the Twenty-First Century.
In his article, Fox describes the Madonna as being calling her followers to self-indulgent grief. William P. Young countermands Fox’s idea and has the Christian turn away from grief and let it go.
A Call to Grieve
According to Fox, the Black Madonna calls us to grieve. He says that the “Black Madonna is the sorrowful mother, the mother who weeps tears for the suffering in the universe, the suffering in the world, the brokenness of our very vulnerable hearts.” He says that compassion is the Black Madonna’s special gift to the world. He says that she invites us to name our grief and learn what suffering has to teach us. He says that “Grieving is an emptying, it is making the womb open again for new birth to happen.”
He goes on to quote Andrew Harvey as saying that the Black Madonna is the queen of hell “that force of pure suffering mystical love that annihilates evil at its root and engenders the Christ-child in the ground of the soul even as the world burns.” As a result the Black Madonna holds both creativity and destruction in her.
Letting Go of Grief
In The Shack, Mack’s grief is referred to as The Great Sadness. After Mack is allowed to see Missy in heaven he realizes that the “The Great Sadness would not be part of his identity any longer. He knew now that Missy wouldn’t care if he refused to put it on. In fact, she wouldn’t want him to huddle in that shroud and would likely grieve for him if he did. He wondered who he would be now that he was letting all that go—to walk into each day without the guilt and despair that had sucked the colors of life out of everything.” (171-172)
Moving From Grief to Healing and Restoration
In Scripture, Jesus grieves for the pain of those around Him. He grieves deeply and thoroughly and then He heals and restores. When Lazarus lies in the tomb, Jesus grieves for him and for his sister’s Mary and Martha. After Jesus is finished grieving. He heals Lazarus and restores him to life.
Ultimate healing and restoration can only be found in Jesus. It is Jesus who heals and restores all who believe in Him to eternal life.
Young, William P. The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity. Windblown Media. 2007.
Read more about William P. Young and The Shack at Suite101.
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