The utter darkness of Calvary and the brilliant sunrise of Easter

Kaka D. Iralu

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]alvary (crucifixion) and Easter (Resurrection) are the two events that divide human history from darkness into light. Calvary signifies the utter darkness of man lost in sin while Easter signifies man made alive again through the redemption of Christ.But I believe that dark Calvary and bright Easter also has a different meaning for our lives as Christians in the here and now.
Now, it is true that on Calvary, the condemnation of the law and the penalty of death thereof were all nailed to the outstretched hands of Jesus our savior. And as our savior hung on that cross, all the darkness of human sin-past, present and future- were poured unto his spirit, soul and body. And as this darkness enveloped his broken body, even the sun refused to shed her light upon that utter pit of darkness from 12 noon to 3 p.m (Mat.27:45). At the end of the third hour, our savior cried out: “Eli, Eli, lamasabach-thani (My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?)
Now, coming to our own lives, in our human relationships, even when all our friends or even loved ones have forsaken us, we always still have a last refuge to turn to. We can always turn to God on our knees and seek companionship and comfort by pouring our grief and loneliness to Him. And I am sure many of the readers of this article have experienced such situations when they were abandoned even by their own loved ones and were left with no other options except to fall on their knees and seek God’s comfort.But in the case of Jesus, as he hung on the cross that day, his experience was one where even that last refuge of turning to God in despair was found missing and void. In his case, all his disciples had earlier abandoned him. All those thousands of admirers and followers had also either gone into hiding or were standing afar off on mount Golgotha that day.This included his own mother and brothers. And then, in the midst of that utter abandonment and forsakeness, that pitiful cry of “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” pierced the darkness of Calvary.
For all of us who have believed in the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have all reaped the richest rewards of dark Calvary and have received our personal salvation all free. But besides this most wonderful gift, we can also now be comforted by the fact that we now have a High Priest who can understand our deepest griefs, sorrows and even abandonment. This is because our savior and our Lord has already been to the deepest depths of betrayal and abandonment on the mount of Golgotha. What this means in our own personal lives is that even when we meet situations where we feel that we have been forsaken by everyone else, we can still find comfort and hope at the feet of Jesus-our Advocate and also High Priest. This is precisely because our savior had already trodden that path of despair and helplessness himself. In his case, he had not only experienced “human forsakeness” but even “God forsakeness”. He went through that experience not in some immune and divine body that could not experience mental distress or physical pain. He went through that experience in human flesh and blood just like ours. Therefore, the scriptures, in regards to this fact says: “ For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may find grace to help in times of need”. (Heb.4:15&16)
Our real Easter-that of the resurrection of our bodies- is still in the future. Scripture tells us that it will happen only at the event of the Rapture when Jesus returns to earth with his saints (1 Thess.4:13-17) But for the present times, as we continue to walk our Christian lives, I believe this is our brilliant Easter sunrise- THE JOY OF HAVING A RISEN LORD WHO UNDERSTANDS OUR DEEPEST SORROWS AND GRIEFS. Indeed, no human made pit of despair is too deep, that God’s love is not deeper still. (Words expressed by Corrie Ten Boon, survivor of the 2nd Word War German concentration camp). This, I believe, is our Easter sunrise!