#011: Why Pastors (and Christians) Should Read Murder Mysteries
Reading to Be Reminded of Our Deepest Desires
“Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.” - Psalm 58:11 ESV
Fantasy and Sci-Fi are my favorite genres to read generally - Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time, Brandon Sanderson, Dune, Red Rising - you get the picture. I love the way those stories can uniquely deal with such themes as good vs. evil, what it means to be human, morality, and so much more.
But, I often love to sneak in a murder mystery between large epic series. Aside from being a great pallet cleanser and change of pace, I am also fascinated by them - the action, the mystery, the intrigue, the scandal, the stark reality of human brokenness, the justice and vindication. But above all, I love being taken on a journey, getting to the end, and when the big reveal happens, realizing how little I knew!
Isn’t that everyone’s favorite moment? When the detective brings all the parties involved together and reveals the truth of everyones actions, motivations, and of course who the real killer is! Whoever your favorite detectives are (mine are cliché, but nonetheless the best of the best - Poirot, Holmes, and the Dark Knight himself, Batman!), we all love when we get to the end and realize we were shown everything we needed to know and yet we couldn’t figure it out, and the detective reinterprets the events to reveal the truth.
Maybe you’re not a mystery-detective-whodunnit fan, but you can’t deny their popularity and resonance with the masses. Most TV shows made today are crime, mystery-thriller, detective/cop shows. Some of the biggest podcasts in the world are true crime productions. And Agatha Christie’s whodunnit mysteries are the best selling books in the world second only the Bible and Shakespeare. It seems that we are all fascinated by and obsessed with having mysteries solved, justice done, and the killers caught.
Why is that, though?
One of my favorite pastor-theologian-writers is Eugene Peterson. I look forward to a future day in the New Creation where I can thank him for his impact on my life and my formation as a young pastor. In his memoir, The Pastor, Eugene talks about his struggles with the lows of ministry that all pastors face - times where purpose and mission are lacking and you feel aimless, times dealing with difficult and toxic people, times where you wonder if anything you are doing is even worth it or making a difference. In the midst of that angst, he wrote this:
“When I don’t know what to do, I read a murder mystery. Murder mysteries are the cleanest, least ambiguous moral writing that we have. All the while you are reading, no matter how confused you are about motives or the significance of clues, you know that eventually the murderer will be identified and justice done. Just stay at it long enough and everything will be sorted out.”1
When we are in the midst of deep frustration, desert seasons of ministry and life where motivation is lacking and you wonder whether it’s all worth it. When you’re questioning if there’s any point or meaning to what you are doing, if God will come through on his promises - whodunnits can be a comfort. They can remind us of our deep desire and need for someone to make sense of the darkness and despair that we must all come face to face with.
Whodunnits and murder mysteries are Christian in their pathos - they get at our deep desire for someone to make meaning and purpose out of the chaos and darkness of the world, our desire for justice to be done for the oppressed, the victims, and the helpless, our desire for the killers to be caught and evil to be punished.
This is a very christian desire - as much as voices in our culture might say there is no meaning and no divine judgement on evil, they have not changed or silenced the latent desire under the surface of our hearts. Just look at how popular these stories still are. We tell these stories again and again in all kinds of mediums because our hearts are crying out for truth, righteousness, order, and justice in the world. These stories are windows into human desire for God’s Kingdom.
So why should Pastors and Christians read murder mysteries and whodunnits? Because they let us look at the darkness that often plagues the human experience - murder, scandal, evil, sin - and reminds us that justice will be done for the oppressed and the righteous, that there is someone who can make sense of the confusion and darkness of the world and lead the way to goodness, truth, and beauty, that justice will be done and things put right again.
If you are staring down the darkness of life, the pain of tragedy and loss, the fear that all of this will be for nothing - read a murder mystery. We all desire to see victims given justice, wicked men caught, and meaning revealed amidst so much confusion, scheming, and despair. Be reminded that eventually One is coming, who can be with you now, who will reveal all, and set all things right in the end.
Hic Sunt Dracones.
Peterson, Eugene H.. The Pastor: A Memoir Kindle Edition. HarperCollins, 2011, 250-251.