Light in the Darkness
by Alina Gauthier
I did not grow up with liturgy or much structure to spiritual observance, so for me there is an added joy in reading the Bible or praying with purpose. This week I’m taking a pause from my normal devotional, interestingly in Exodus, to meditate on Luke 19-24 as part of Holy Week.
Today, I read Jesus’ trial and crucifixion in Luke 23. I invite you to take a moment and read it over for yourself. As you read, look for individuals or groups of people—“observers” who had been directly affected by Jesus’ death or who interacted with him. Here are the ones that stood out to me. Pilate and Herod—they became friends through the passing back and forth of Jesus during His trial. Simon of Cyrene—he literally helped carry Jesus’ cross. “A great multitude of the people and women lamenting”—mourners. The criminal who would be with Jesus in paradise. The centurion—who at the foot of the cross praised God. Jesus’ acquaintances and the women who followed Him from Galilee, including the disciples. Joseph of Arimathea—a member of the Jewish Council, the man who laid Christ in the tomb.
So many lives touched by the death of Jesus. So many different reactions to his death. I read of the mockery, the humiliation, the pain he endured, and I cried. I wondered how it all would have felt to them as they watched him breathe his last, his weakened body suspended in the sky. Heartbreaking. Unbelievable. Surreal.
Luke 23 ends with, “On the Sabbath day they rested, according to the commandment.” The story breaks and pauses right before the joy of the resurrection. These people were in the middle of observing Passover, remembering the deliverance out of Egypt (fresh in my mind), recalling the goodness of God. Then they see the Man who is supposed to be the Messiah, a rabbi, a teacher, a prophet. Crucified. And then they pause, to observe the Sabbath. I know the Sabbath is a day of rest, but I wanted to know more. So like the nerd that I am I went and looked it up. My Jewish Learning has a helpful article to understand Shabbat in the Jewish tradition.
Shabbat begins at sundown Friday. It’s meant not only as a time of rest but as a reflection of enjoyment. It starts with a prayer read over bread and wine.
The sixth day: And the Heavens and the Earth and all they contained were completed, and on the seventh day God desisted from all the work that he had done. And God rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on that day he rested from all the work which he had done in creating the world.
[Leader:] By your leave, rabbis, masters, teachers!
[Diners:] To Life! Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine. Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments and favored us, and given us in love and favor his holy Shabbat as an inheritance, as a remembrance of the act of creation. For this day is the beginning of all holy days, a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. For you have chosen us and you have blessed us from among all the nations. And you have bequeathed us your holy Shabbat in love and favor. Blessed are you, Lord, who sanctifies Shabbat.
The timing of it all was ordained. On the very same day they watched the Messiah die, they have to say a prayer of thanksgiving and joy. I can only imagine the thoughts racing through their minds. I bet some felt numb, or unsure how to feel. Maybe they didn’t have time to process it all. Maybe some felt angry, vengeful. Perhaps others felt shattered, abandoned. Hopeless.
The Lord let it all be. God intended for them to wait. To sit in the grief. No, to WORSHIP in the grief. To meditate, center, and focus on Him. To know that the plan for redemption was so much more than they could see at that present moment. God saw everything. He saw the grief and pain, but He didn’t address it right away. First, He said, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). He redirects them. “Me.” He says, “This is not about you, what you’re feeling, or your enemies. It’s about Me. My power. My holiness. My love.”
Is this not where we are right now? We’re grieving the loss of normality—of life with friends, of hugs and being outside and grocery shopping without anxiety attacks or stress dreams (what, this isn’t me, noooo). We’re in a state of crisis, so the news tells us, and don’t we feel it? We’re enduring an experience that is going to change the very nature of how we go about life from here on out, and while I hold on to hope eternal, some moments it’s hard and my heart is burdened by the weight of it all.
But look up again to that Shabbat reading. The parallels are clear: the prayer said over bread and wine, our communal elements, the Paschal Lamb of Passover, Jesus as the Sacrifice for our sin. And creation—I’m reminded of John 1:1-5:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The gospels tell us that darkness covered the land for 3 hours during Jesus’ death. And yet, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” After the waiting, the resting, the worshiping, came the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Ultimate and final redemption from evil. If there was still hope on the literal darkest of days, how can there not be right now? If Jesus can save us from the desolation of our souls, how much more can He save us from an earthly pandemic?
I know this, but in that instant of fear or grief or whatever emotion I might be feeling at the given moment, I need this reminder. Perhaps you do, too. Right now we are being asked to be still and worship in ways that feel foreign and strange in a time of trauma and grief where we can’t see an end in sight. But the resurrection reminds us that Jesus conquers all. And though the end of this season may be hard to see, His plan and His timing are perfect.
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