Light Wins

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 alarmed 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; 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 among them. 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 wouldn't stay awake to pray with Him then the betrayal kiss. It was a dark time in the life of The Messiah: arrested then led back up up Zion’s hill, the mockery of a trial, beatings and cursings, a cold dark pit. The darkness would continue for hours to come – He knew ... the darkest moment yet to come as He bore the weight of mankind's sin and shame on a Roman cross. Yet!  In the most solemn of the hours beyond the cross ... The Son's greatest work was accomplished: Satan crushed - Death defeated - Darkness banished! Light wins! Oh, yes yes yes ... what a Savior!