Good Friday – Darkness captures the Light
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land[l] until three in the afternoon, 45 while the sun’s light failed;[m] and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last. 47 When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’[n] 48 And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49 But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Thought for Good Friday
God’s story seems to have come to a shuddering and shocking end. Death does that. It ends things. Death is never ever nothing at all. The final breath is always just that. St Paul’s description of death as the final enemy is utterly appropriate. God’s story had of course come to a shuddering and shocking end before; whether that be in the Garden at the beginning of creation when the first human couple disobey the divine command or when those who were the covenant people chose exile rather than obedience. When the Light seems to have gone, precedents within God’s story are hidden. They are shrouded within the shadows. For patterns and precedents to be discerned, time needs to be taken in the darkness; that requires courage. Courage is always possible even when what is familiar has gone.
Prayer
God of hope and darkness
God of grace and glory
Give us to courage to wait in the stillness
In the Name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.
lurchersontheedge 