the Light is coming!

The power of Light.

Last Sunday, all around the world, people celebrated Palm Sunday. The celebration was a reminder of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We joined in the praises, shouts and cheers the people directed toward Jesus.

You can’t imagine that day without a bright, sunny and cheerful setting. It’s the high point of Jesus’ ministry. He’s a hero. Everywhere you looked on Palm Sunday the light was shining.

Then the night comes.

Darkness enters.

I’ve always thought of Good Friday as a dark day. It feels appropriate to me if it’s cold and rainy – which is possible in Kansas City this year. The weather fits the day. On Good Friday darkness entered the world in a way we’ve not experienced before or since.

This year, I’ve come to realize the darkness extended well beyond Good Friday. It feels like non-stop night as I read the stories between Palm and Easter Sundays.

Here is just some of what happens that week: life-ending plots, back alley betrayals, final meals, desperate prayer meetings, secret trials, the crucifixion and hurried burials. Combined they give the sense of darkness and despair. You feel it in the disciples and see it in Jesus.

Night has come.

Don’t be fooled…the Light is here.

 

You may know exactly how Jesus and his disciples felt that week. You may be struggling with your family, your finances, your marriage, your faith. It may feel as if night has come, and the day simply won’t dawn.

Initially, Jesus death intensified the dark. The disciples hid behind locked doors and muted voices. Everything they gave their lives for the preceding several years was rocked by Jesus death. If it was a murky dark the Passion Week, it was pitch black the hours after the cross.

Yet darkness can only hold light at bay for so long.

Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb.  -Mark 16:2

According to Mark, 3 women – Mary, Mary and Salome – woke up in the dark. They woke and dressed to literal darkness. They trudged through this darkness of despair making their way to Jesus’ tomb.

However as they walked the sun began to rise. It’s one of the few times in the narrative we see light appear. It signals not just the rising of the sun, but Jesus’ resurrection power breaking into their darkness.

Jesus was alive. Jesus is alive. The Light has come!

You too may not realize it, but the Light is here. If you let it Jesus resurrecting power will invade the darkness of your reality. You may not want it. Peter didn’t; he thought himself unworthy. Thomas didn’t; he was unbelieving.

Sometimes the light invades anyway. Jesus found Peter and forgave him. Jesus tracked down Thomas, so he would believe.

The Light is coming. The Light is coming. The Light is here.