Page 26 - Living Light Spring 2024

Friday March 29 - Creation hides its face
...was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until
three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. Luke 23:44-45
Reaction to the death of Jesus was not limited to human beings. It involved the very fabric of creation. Luke mentions two features of this: the sun stopped shining and the temple curtain was torn in two. Matthew 27:51-53 mentions two others, an earthquake and resurrections from the tombs. Why should this be?
Darkness at noon symbolises many things. Melito of Sardis, in the third century AD, wrote of ‘the lights of heaven’ turning away from the sight of their naked creator being unjustly murdered on the cross. Creation itself finds its creator's treatment too shameful to watch. Light and life belong together. When the life-giver was killed, the light was extinguished. Darkness also suggests evil (see John 1:4-5). Here evil is doing its worst and killing the holiest man who ever lived. Darkness equally alienates people from each other and, as Mark 15:33-34 recalls, Christ experiences in the darkness the anguish of separation from his Father because of mankind’s sin.
Some other reported features are more positive. Even if heaven was not ripped open and God didn’t step in to deliver his Son from the cross, the crucifixion’s effect was to rip open the way for others to know God. The temple curtain – representing a barrier to people entering fully into God’s presence – was ripped apart. And when Matthew mentions earthquakes and the tombs opening, he’s signalling that the death of Jesus inaugurated a new creation.
Creator God, help me to view Jesus’ death ‘on the wide screen’, as it heralds a new cosmic creation. Amen.
Saturday March 30 - The ultimate prayer
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit.” Luke 23:46
Jesus’ final words were not words of defeat. Moments before his life expired he placed his destiny in the hands of God. There is no more affecting prayer than this.
It oozes confidence. He prayed ‘with a loud voice’. For all his suffering this was no whispered prayer of resignation, but one voiced so others could take note. It affirmed his belief that God was sovereign, even in this cruel and tragic event. And it showed the unbreakable bond between the Son and his Father. Their bond had been challenged as he cried out in desolation (Mark 15:34), having ‘become sin for us’ (2 Corinthians 5:21). But he was unshakably God’s son, willingly serving his Father’s good and redeeming will.
It demonstrates the trust Jesus had in his future, beyond the cross. Everything could be safely left in God’s hands. Beyond the grave his spirit would live and his body would rise. The new creation would break through. Jesus’ final words quote Psalm 31:5, where the expression of trust develops into a prayer for deliverance. Praying the first would automatically lead to the second. God would deliver!
Here’s a pattern for our praying, especially in dark times. We should pray with confidence, out of our relationship with the Father, voicing trust in him for our futures, knowing that he works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28).
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Merciful Father, I trust to you the things I don’t understand and those that trouble me, knowing that you always work for good. Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY