Journey to the Cross - Jesus' Darkness

Tucked away in the darkness there is a supply of light bulbs. Little thought is given to these priceless things until that sudden last flash of  one-gone-bad.  Jesus’ final week was eventful and prospered God’s kingdom: using parables, prayer, a righteous display of emotions, personal and quiet moments with His closest friends.  The sudden turn of popular opinion surely perplexed His followers, then one of His inner circle: “And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them. They were glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowd.” (Luke 22:3-6).  My dating curfew was 11:00, right up until the day I married, and it was my parents’ general opinion nothing good happened after that time of night.  Well, the same thing can be said of darkness.  Luke wrote Judas “went away” – far enough from Jesus and the other disciples to do Satan’s work. Matthew Henry writes of this passage, “It is hard to say whether more mischief is done to Christ’s kingdom, by the power of its open enemies, or by the treachery of its pretended friends; but without the latter, its enemies could not do so much evil as they do.” The plot to betray and arrest Jesus was set into motion, and even as He shared a last intimate meal with the men closest to Him, Jesus knew “the hand of the one betraying” was present. What a somber walk it must have been from Jerusalem to Gethsemane to pray.  There in the darkness of the garden, Jesus struggled with redemption’s price – the cross set before Him.  What more would the darkness bring: friends who would not stay awake to pray with Him and one of His closest yet to betray Him. It was a dark time in the life of Christ: betrayal by friends, a lonely walk back up Zion’s hill, the mockery of a trial, beatings and cursing’s, a cold dark pit.  The darkness would continue – He knew – with the darkest moment to come when The Father would look away from the terrible weight of sin He would bear.  Yet!  In the darkest moments of the Savior’s life, God did His greatest work: Satan crushed! Death put to death!  Light wins over darkness!  Will you say it with me: Oh, what a Savior!