John 1:3-5: “in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
So begins St John’s Gospel. And it’s no accident that after beginning his Gospel with the theme of light, John brings us back to this light/dark theme at the story of the resurrection.
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked inat the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (John 20:1-8)
“While it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb.”
When John speaks about dark, he means so much more than mere physical darkness.
Mary is the first person to visit the tomb and the first to see Jesus after his resurrection.
Mary was there at the darkest time. She had watched Jesus die: horribly, brutally, as a criminal. Doesn’t get any darker than that. And when she comes to the tomb in the early morning, it is still dark. She has had a wretched weekend. She is still deep in grief and horror. The sun could have been shining brightly… it doesn’t matter. For Mary, it is dark... dark... dark.
But John wants to tell us more than that Mary has had a bad weekend. His theme is that Jesus is the light of the world, and no amount of darkness can snuff that light out. What John wants to show us is how Mary rediscovers that light and what happens as a result.
The resurrection happened sometime in the night.... whilst it was still dark…and nobody knew until Mary went and looked.
Spiritually, this is our hope. Everyone passes through dark times. When you can’t see what’s going on around you because there’s too much grief and pain and doubt, that’s when we may feel tempted to give up on God …believing that God’s never going to do anything to help us, believing that God simply doesn’t care about what happens to us. It’s easy to pull the covers over our heads and give up.
But Mary went to the tomb whilst it was still dark. Despite her terrible grief, despite her fear, she got up and did something. She went to the last place where she knew Jesus had been. Even though it was his tomb, and she knew he was dead…she went. She needed to be where Jesus was to give her comfort in the dark.
Mary shows us what faithfulness in the dark looks like. Her message is, ‘Hang in there.’ When our prayers seem to hit the ceiling and fall back down on our heads, we pray anyway. When reading the Bible is just so many words on a page, we read anyway. When church seems to be just going through the motions, we go anyway. We go to the tomb…the place where we last saw him…whilst it is still dark.
Then comes that time when we discover that God has been at work…even in the darkness. Things are different. The tomb that we expected to stink with rotting flesh has been swept clean. Panic…what’s going on? Is something even worse adding to our misery? But Mary is determined that she will find Jesus. And in her faithfulness, the scene shifts. She turns around and there is someone else…the gardener maybe…but as the gardener speaks her name, the light dawns and she can finally see. It’s Jesus! He is risen. Tears vanish. Her prayers are answered; she goes out in joy as the first evangelist to tell the others the news.
And it all happened to her because she was faithful whilst it was still dark. No matter how bleak and impossible the situation looked, she went back to be with Jesus. Even when he wasn’t there, she stayed, unwilling to take his absence as an answer. And Easter dawned.
The resurrection had already happened in the night. But the reality of the resurrection didn’t make the slightest difference in Mary’s grief until she screwed up the courage to go out into the dark and face whatever was there.
Christian life is like that. We meet Jesus at some point…we enjoy life with him…the healing, the teaching, the acceptance of us as we are. But there comes a time when it all seems to go up in smoke. We question. Our spiritual lives run dry. There’s no point, we think. He wasn’t what I thought he was. He can’t save me after all…he couldn’t even save himself. Darkness descends.
When we feel like that, listen to the witness of Mary. He is my Lord, dead or alive. If a tomb is where I must go to be with him, then that is where I’ll go. And as you go and weep… then, out of the dark… be prepared - someone calls your name. And you know it… you know the voice. He is alive! The stone is rolled away. The dawn has come.
“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The darkness cannot overcome it. It never has and never will. Light always overcomes darkness. Life and light make the whole world new.
But the experience of Easter grows out of being faithful in the dark. Thomas, after the first Easter Sunday evening, heard the news, but there was no Easter for him. He didn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe that the darkness had overcome the light. Easter didn’t come for Thomas until a week later when he met Jesus himself and saw for himself the wounds in his hands and feet. Only then does Thomas acknowledge the reality of Easter.
What about us? Is it still dark in your life? Dark times come to everyone…even to Jesus. Darkness is not a sign that you have no faith, but it does provide us with the opportunity to grow our faith, just as Mary did on that first Easter Sunday. Darkness is the time to get up and face those fears head on…to go to the tomb. It is the time to recognize that Easter happened whilst everybody was depressed and still in the dark. They thought it was all over, maybe God was a sham after all…. but in actual fact, God was doing the greatest work of all. So they went to the tomb, and they saw that it was empty…. and they believed.
So get up…go to the tomb. Jesus is alive, and if you come to him, he will speak your name. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The resurrection has happened. Jesus is alive. The darkness has vanished. The stone is rolled away. Receive this good news.
May the light of the risen Christ, rising in glory,
banish all darkness from our hearts and minds.
Dear Lord, may I realize afresh today what Your death and resurrection mean for me. Forgiveness, freedom, and the ability to walk with You through this fallen world into eternity. May I always find my peace, my hope, my life in You and Your willingness to offer Yourself to me. In Jesus' Name, Amen
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