How did you react to Mack's encounter with Sophia in the cave? What perspective, does this scene offer on questions of judgement and justice? In what ways do you think we are all tempted to act as judges- both of other people, and of God himself?

The beginning of Chapter 12 marks a crucial shift in The Shack: the end of The Great Sadness, or depression, Mack had been experiencing since Missy's disappearance. On the first page of Chapter 12, as Mack returns from the cave where he met with Sophia, Mack thinks, "The Great Sadness was gone...Its absence felt off, perhaps even uncomfortable. For the past years it had defined for him what was normal, but now, unexpectedly, it had vanished. Normal is a myth, he thought to himself. 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" (172). This quote, especially Mack's reflection on Missy's feelings, shows that most of what drove Mack's depression was feelings of guilt. Since he felt that he failed her as a father, he carried around guilt as a way of somehow making it up to her. His conversation with Sophia, and seeing Missy playing with Jesus, proved to him that Missy was not judging or blaming him for her death. Getting rid of this guilt tied to Mack's relationship with Missy allows Mack to confront even bigger problems, including his relationships with his own father and with Missy's killer, in the remaining chapters of the book.