In The Midst of Darkness

The day I went to the garden tomb in Jerusalem was grey with a fine drizzle of rain that made me shiver. There weren't many people about, so the garden had a lovely stillness about it, a sombre atmosphere that kept me from speaking. A young man sat alone amongst rows of benches. He was hunched over, praying. Our tour guide spoke in a hushed tone as we stepped down toward the tomb, our feet made soft scraping sounds on the limestone. I glanced back toward the spot where some believe Jesus was crucified, then stepped through the opening in the rock.

It was much smaller than I had envisioned it, the low ledge where his body would have laid, a narrow gouge in the rough-hewn stone. I shuffled forward with the others, then moved slowly back toward the opening. I touched the edge of the rock as I stepped over the lip of the entrance and heard a soft voice behind me say, "It's empty." As I stepped outside, beams of sunlight were streaming through the trees. The rain had passed.

I remembered those images as a small phrase in the first verse of John 20 struck me. It's a phrase I hadn't noticed before, a simple description of the time of day. But the image of that garden, of the greyness of the day and that beam of light made it suddenly have meaning. The phrase - "while it was still dark."

The unfathomable mercy of Christ suddenly overwhelmed me. For it was into the darkness of this world that God sent His Son, it was in the midst of the ugliness and cruelty that he lived, it was while surrounded by His enemies and those who had betrayed Him that He died.

While it was still dark. "While we were still sinners..."(Rom. 5:8). He loved us enough to endure the torture and humiliation of the cross. "For the joy set before Him ..." (Heb.12:2). He knew the darkness would not last. Light would stream through that garden and He would be its source.

While it was still dark, Jesus rose. And now, in the midst of the darkness of our world, we are able to shout Hallelujah! May the hope of Easter take root in your heart.

Fantasy Football and the Glory of Easter By Marcia Lee Laycock

My daughter sent us a YouTube video recently, featuring the prowess of a few NFL football players. They were 'strutting their stuff' to prove they were worthy of being picked for the Fantasy Football Team. My husband loved the video and even though I don't follow the sport much, I was impressed. The young athletes were able to do amazing things. One even leaped through two open windows of a car, landing unscathed on the other side, with a football in his hands of course.

As I watched it I thought of the pressure these young men are under to perform. They have already achieved amazing things as athletes. They have trained every day, honed their skills until there is very little left to learn and then been able to put it all on display on a football field in front of thousands of fans. No small accomplishment. Yet they are still trying to prove they can do it. The refrain in the video was, "Look what I can do. Pick me."

It reminded me of times when I have been in a classroom full of fourth graders. They are anxious to prove themselves too, waving their hands energetically at every question. Even when they don't know the answer. Often they would come to me with the work they had finished, looking up with hopeful eyes for the teacher's praise. Even those who were able to do excellent work never ceased to try and claim the approval they were never totally confident they would receive.

We are all a lot like those fourth graders and Fantasy Football hopefuls. We keep trying to perform, to please God. We wave our hands to try and attract His attention, holding out our accomplishments and saying , "Look what I can do. Pick me."

It's easy to forget that God isn't looking at what we do or don't do. He isn't keeping track of the number of good deeds and wrongs done. He's not looking at what we've accomplished at all.

He's looking at what Jesus did. He sees the cross of Calvary and remembers the earthquake and the darkness. He feels the agony in that moment when He turned his back on His own Son. He sees the grace flow out upon us from the wounds on Jesus' body. He hears the weeping of the women and the assurance in that angel's voice when he said, "He has risen. He is not here" (Mark 16:6).

On that first Easter Sunday Jesus was telling us He wants to pick us all. We don't have to perform, we don't have to be perfect. All we have to do is acknowledge that He died for us, to pay the penalty for our sin. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" ( Ephesians 2:8 &9).

So now, when the Father looks at us, He sees a heart changed and His Holy Spirit living in us. He sees the glory of Easter.

And He is smiling.