Today is Good Friday. Christ went to the cross and gave up his spirit willingly so that we might have a chance at life. Christ came to liberate. To set free. To give life. We aren’t liberated from an oppressor we can fight ourselves. The darkness of this world has a single origin. Darkness consumes everything. It binds everything. It oppresses everything. It kills everything. Darkness can only be overcome by one thing: Light. This light is Christ. God in the flesh. Emmanuel. He allows darkness to do its worst to him. He allows himself to be taken to hell by darkness. Being consumed by darkness. The single origin of all darkness, sin, pain, suffering, hate, and rage unleashed itself on Christ on this Good Friday.
Today is Good Friday. Twenty-Four years ago, a government building in Oklahoma City was bombed by a domestic terrorist. Having lived there for a collective decade, I’ve heard the stories of horror people experienced and I’ve shed tears at the memorials. Turning on the news for only a moment sheds darkness on our day as we see the terrors or war, displaced peoples, violence, and corruption of our world. All of this darkness is embodied in an image this week of Notre Dame burning. This iconic symbol of Christendom in the Western world saw the darkness of history come and go, surviving the French Revolution and both World Wars. It will be rebuilt but this reconstruction points to a greater reality. Sunday is coming. In the day of resurrection, Christ stands at his throne and proclaims, “Behold, I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). When we look to Revelation, we look through the lens of the Resurrection of Christ to a reality that the hell of this world will be overcome. The darkness will be turned to light. Mourning will turn to dancing.
Out of the darkness, we hear a new song. The drums are beating. The song builds and you feel its pulse. You can’t see it yet, but you know it moves. There is a new song emerging. When you hear it, you cannot help but dance. Your body moves. You cannot tell if you are moving your body or if the music moves you. You can’t help but listen more intently. Intimacy with the song is all you crave. It changes the way you experience the world around you. You hear the new song and you catch the movement of the harmonies in everything you see. As this song overtakes you, the darkness lifts. The world is illuminated by the music. Everything has an energy to it that you want to feel deep in your bones. The pulse of the music is the light of life and you see the world in a new way. The old way is gone. Friday is only Good because Sunday has come, and you have a new song to sing (Revelation 5).