Post Tenebras Lux

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   Welcome to the time of year we often refer to as "Holy Week." As I've been preaching my way through the Gospel of Mark, one of the things I've encouraged the congregation to do from time to time is to put themselves in the sandals of those who were living at the time Jesus walked the earth. This particular week, I would imagine, would have been a roller coaster of emotions for the followers of Jesus, not just His immediate disciples. You would have had the high of the Triumphal Entry, which we celebrated this past Sunday, followed by a series of confrontations with the religious leaders throughout the week. Then the darkness seems to gather with the Lord's Supper, Judas' betrayal, and ultimately Jesus' crucifixion. Saturday would have seemed truly dark for His followers, not knowing what the future held for them. Then everything would change in a moment when, on Sunday morning, news spread that Jesus had risen from the dead. Light had conquered darkness.

   John writes in the opening of his gospel, "There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God (John 1:9-13)." 

   One of the mottos of the Protestant Reformation was the phrase, Post Tenebras Lux, "After Darkness Light." However dark things seem to be for us right now (and things seemed very dark during this week 2,000 years ago), the darkness is not the end because Christ the Light has conquered the darkness of sin and death. Christ the Light came into the world to dispel the darkness in the world and in our hearts. We as His people are now given the honor and privilege to be ambassadors of the Light into the dark world. During this week of all weeks, let us make known this hope; let us be faithful ambassadors as those who have been called out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).