The Shack: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

As Mack makes his way to the lake, he realizes that The Great Sadness is no longer a part of him—after all, Missy would not want it to be. He meets up with Jesus, who is skipping stones. Jesus explains that the woman in the cave was Sophia, a personification of Papa’s wisdom. She is not a separate persona of God but a part of Sarayu’s mystery. Mack and Jesus talk about whether any of the conversations at the cabin and the lake are “real,” or simply taking place in dreams. Jesus assures Mack that either way, the truths he’s learning are extremely real.

Mack says he can’t stop thinking about Missy alone and terrified in the truck. Jesus stops him and says Missy was never alone—he, Sarayu, and Papa were with her the whole time. Jesus says he and Missy talked during that time, and Missy was calm, worrying only about how her father would feel. Mack feels himself begin to sob, but he doesn’t feel alone. He feels a sense of relief.

Mack begins to walk into the lake without hesitation, trusting that he will be able to walk on the water as before. Instead, he is surprised to see the water well up around his calves like usual. But unlike before he knows Jesus is there, so he doesn’t have to worry. Sure enough, Jesus soon joins him, and, with Jesus buy his side, Mack rises up out of the water and is able to walk on the surface. Jesus says Mack has been keeping dark fears inside him for a long time, because it feels safer. But, as Mack learns to accept the love of God, they will join him on his life’s journey and help him to be less alone. Jesus says he, Sarayu, and Papa have been trying to show Mack the truth about Missy for a long time, but he wasn’t ready to receive it.

When they reach the dock on the opposite shore, Mack asks if he was seeing Missy in heaven, even though it didn’t resemble the pearly gates and gold-plated heaven he had envisioned. Jesus says that that image of heaven is derived from an image of Jesus’s bride, the church. Mack says the image of the church as a beautiful community of individuals forming a spiritual city does not align with his experience of church, and Jesus agrees that Mack is referring only to the institution of church, not the community of people who symbolize the church for Jesus.

Jesus says that the way to become part of the church is by embracing relationships and sharing life. Instead, people have formed bureaucratic institutions that have nothing to do with Jesus and are even contrary to his purpose. The creation of institutions, like marriage, politics, economics, and religion, are simply the works of humans playing God, and don’t represent Jesus’s actual intentions. These systems provide a false sense of security.

Mack feels much of the conversation going over his head, but he wants to try to understand. Jesus explains that in order to live a full life of friendship and openness, humans need to embrace Jesus—otherwise, it would be like trying to walk on water without him. As they stand up from the dock, Jesus tells Mack that even though many institutions and systems of power created by humans are inescapable, he can help Mack find freedom from them by opening himself up to love. Mack can be in the world but not of it. Jesus heads back to his workshop, with a final word to Mack, telling him that letting Mack see Missy earlier was Papa’s idea. Mack goes into the shack to try to find her.