Death : How will you die? Choosing to sit in darkness

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

John 3:17-21

DAILY BYTE

Tonight, we ponder the meaning of tenebrae - a word, which means, darkness. There is a time in every person’s life where the path leads to darkness - because of a choice we have made or because of an experience that has been thrust upon us. Even if most of the time, life feels bright and full of possibility, light cannot exist without the contrast of darkness.

Services of Tenebrae often begin with these words, taken from the scripture passage for today in the Gospel of John:

God is light, in whom there is no darkness at all. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and we loved darkness rather than light.

We loved darkness rather than light.

Often, when given the choice - do we follow the light? Do we follow the example of Christ? We choose no.

And as we confess together that we love darkness rather than light, we find ourselves wrapped up in the passion and darkness of Christ’s death on the cross. Each time I sit in the darkness of a Tenebrae Service, I find that although I was not actually there as darkness descended and death came to Jesus, somehow it feels as I if I was - as if the choices that I have made that have brought darkness to myself and others are all there in the darkness, too.

The darkness of Christ’s death should not be cause to drown in a pool of guilt. But it should convict us of the ways we have fallen short - the ways we have chosen not to shed greater light on the world.

And sometimes it is important for us to sit in that darkness - to pause in our fast-paced decision-making instead of breezing straight through without reflection. How important it is to have moments of reckoning, where we acknowledge that we are not perfect. That we are responsible for the decisions that we make. That we even commit sins without consciously realizing the way our lifestyle often brings spiritual and physical death to others in the world. If, for at least one day out of 365 in a year, we contemplate the darkness that exists in the world and our complicity in causing it, our hearts might learn to see differently. Perhaps then, after choosing to sit in darkness for a short while, we might better appreciate the light and seek to live in it more fully. Have you been choosing to live in darkness out of sin or choosing to sit in darkness so that you might be more aware of your sin? When given the choice, which do you choose - darkness or light?

Questions for reflection:

1. What areas of your life feel dark? Are you choosing to sit in that darkness?
2. What might God be revealing to you in times of darkness? To sense the darkness more tangibly, take some time simply to sit quietly in the dark. What do you sense? When everything else fades away, what does God speak to you?
3. Even in the darkness of death on the cross, how might God’s saving purposes for your life shed light on the options before you and the choices you are currently making?

PRAYER

Jesus, I confess that I love darkness rather than light. As I sit in this darkness, show me your path of light and life. Amen.