Darkness

“For the wages of sin is death...” 

Romans 6:23

Saturday.

For Jesus' friends, this is the Sabbath. It's supposed to be a day of rest, a gift from God. But today, not so much. This Sabbath day certainly doesn't feel like a gift.

Because Jesus is dead. Sealed in a tomb.

No matter how beautiful the day may be, it will be a day of darkness for Jesus' friends.

Darkness is the appropriate metaphor for the day. In the tomb, there is nothing but darkness, deep darkness. And for Jesus' friends, it is a dark night of the soul, a time of profound grief.

And for people everywhere, darkness is an all-too-familiar reality:

For the person whose spouse has just said, “I don't think I love you anymore, and I don't know if I ever did,” there is darkness.

For the person whose pay envelope this week contained a pink slip, there is darkness. 

For the person who is losing the fight against cancer, there is darkness. 

For the person struggling with mental illness, there is darkness. 

For the person laying flowers at the grave of a loved one, there is darkness. 

For you and for me, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, there may be darkness.

Darkness is a terrifying reality. Nobody wants to be in the darkness. In the darkness we feel all alone. In the darkness we can't see our way through, and we feel lost.

In the midst of your darkness, though, you should know this: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Jesus is right there in the darkness, with you. Jesus knows exactly what you're going through, because he, too, has descended into the deepest darkness the human soul can experience.

You see, it was necessary for Jesus to suffer all the consequences of human sin—including abandonment by God, and death; it was necessary, because only humans have sinned and therefore a human must pay the price. Jesus, who had no sin, took our sin upon himself. Jesus, who had no sin, took our entire range of human experience so that he could redeem every single bit of brokenness in us. In order to redeem us from all our troubles, from all our darkness, Jesus had to experience it all himself.

Jesus knows what your darkness is like, because he's been there.

Jesus knows what your darkness is like, because he's there with you right now.

I'm going to resist the temptation to jump ahead to Easter. If I were to offer a “don't worry be happy” word, or a “God works all things for the good” word to you, that would fail to acknowledge how very real your darkness is. And so today, Saturday, I'm going to have us remain in the darkness. Darkness is too serious to take lightly.

But know that you are not alone. Because Jesus is in the darkness with you.

And he will bring you light.