MYSTERY ENDING

By Cynthia Ruchti

"Welcome back to the show Rudy's Reflections. I'm your host, Rudy Rudman. We're speaking with our guest, noted mystery writer, Claire Logenthall. Have you read her latest offering, Don't Answer the Phone After Dark, listeners? You won't want to miss this one. Or maybe you will."

"Excuse me?"

"Ah, Ms. Logenthall. Your book has been said to have the most intensely unsatisfying ending, according to reviews and those who have posted comments on our program website."

"I worked very hard on that ending."

"You must admit that a reader has certain expectations."

"Yes. And a good author will stretch the limit of those expectations." 

"Would you not admit, Ms. Logenthall, that when a person picks up a mystery novel, it is expected that the mystery will be solved by the end of the story? Isn't that the whole point? What made you think you could pull off a mystery novel in which the mystery is not eventually resolved? The attraction of a mystery lies in the hope of its resolution. How could you not tell us whodunit?"

"It got me a spot on your show, didn't it, Rudy? My plan worked, then."

"This was a plot? A gimmick? You intended to disappoint your readers?"

"I intended to shock them, not disappoint them."

"As a publicity stunt?"

"As a calculated risk. An opportunity-maker. A conversation-starter. Conversation about God."



"God?"

"It was a gimmick, if you want to call it that. I hoped readers would react the way they did. it enables me to talk about the mysteries of God. How unsatisfying would it be if God left His mysteries unresolved?"

"I'm not what you'd call a person of faith. But aren't there always things we humans don't understand about God and how He acts?"

"That's because of our ignorance. Not because He failed to tell us the answers They're all there."

"Where?"

"In the Bible. No true, devoted reader will reach the end of His book and wonder whodunit or what's next or what the Author wants in a response."

"Even I know the word mystery is mentioned more than a few times in the Bible."

"As a mystery writer, I was intrigued by how the Author of one of the consistent best selling books of all time deals with the subject. I found to my surprise that most of the verses addressing the idea of Gods' mysteries are immediately followed by verses that reveal the mystery's answer."

"Time for a word from one of our sponsors. Right after this commercial, we'll return with...with another topic for your consideration. This is Rudy of Rudy's Reflections. Stay tuned."

***

God's mysteries are not forever hidden. They have clear answers. He entrusts His mysteries to those who love and follow Him.

Matthew 13:11 (TLB)--Jesus (speaking to His followers) said, "You have been permitted to under the (mysteries) of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others have not. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge."

Ephesians 1:9 (TNLB)--"God's secret plan has now been revealed to us: it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to His good pleasure."

God's very purpose--and ours too--is laid out clearly in Colossians 2:2-3 (NIV). "My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

The answer to the great mystery of life. Christ.

Mystery solved.