Good Friday April 18, 2025
“The Light” Luke 23:44-45
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
We do a lot with darkness this evening. I don’t wear my Alb this evening, I wear a cassock – all black – to convey that darkness. (Though every year it seems to shrink a little more). In our sanctuary we use a dimming of lights as the Stations of the Cross builds, until darkness is all we see. We put black veils over banners and paraments. Black is the chosen color for Good Friday.
Why do we do it? Because on the first Good Friday from noon to three, darkness covered the region of Jerusalem. That is what we read. “It was about the sixth hour (noon), and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour (3:00), for the sun stopped shining.” (Luke 23:44-45) Something like that has only happened twice in the whole history of the world. It first occurred around 1500 BC., when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt. God wanted His people, the people of Israel, to leave their time of slavery in Egypt and head to the Promised Land that He would give them. But Pharaoh was obstinate, and though he saw miracle after miracle, he wouldn’t let his slaves go free.
God then brought the ninth plague on him and all of Egypt. He brought the plague of darkness, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt – darkness that can be felt.’ So Moses stretched his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all of Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in their places where they lived.” (Exodus 10:21-23)
What was this darkness? Was this a solar eclipse? Last year our Administrative Assistant, Dawn Munson, and her tall husband Tom, requested time off from work so they could head to McKinney, Texas. Why? A solar eclipse was coming there and they wanted to be among the hundreds of thousands to see it there.
Is that what this was? A solar eclipse? I remember seeing one of those about 10 years ago in my back yard in Littleton. I was given the special solar glasses so I didn’t damage my eyes worse than they are already damaged, and looked at the eclipse. But an eclipse lasts only 7 minutes. And light comes again. And you get in your car and spend the next two days driving in a traffic jam from McKinney, Texas north to Denver, Colorado.
No, this was not a solar eclipse. It was God’s sign to the world. The light of the world, Jesus Christ, was dead. Darkness carries with it a certain dread. More crimes are committed at night than during the day. It seems that awful things happen about 2:00 in the morning, when the bars close. Even though no monsters live under our beds, children are afraid of that possibility only at night. They have no fears during the day, but when the light goes dark, imaginations run wild. When we see a strange shape or a shadow at night our pulse runs faster until we can figure out what that thing is.
God brought the darkness to Egypt for three days, and in Jerusalem for three hours, to gather the attention of all people. God’s Son was dying because of the darkness that exists in human hearts. We know about darkness. We know when sin rules in the heart – we say what we shouldn’t have said, and did what we should never have done. Darkness is so destructive. It hurts us. It damages those whom we hurt. Jesus says in John 3, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19-20)
You might notice something that we do here at the very end of this service. We whisper the Lords’ Prayer. By now the service has moved to a hush. The loud noise of the tomb being sealed is made – and for all who have fallen asleep they now are fully awake. The final candles on the altar have been extinguished. It is dark, darkness, as the book of Exodus says, “Darkness that could be felt”. And then the Christ Candle, the symbol of the one who is the light of the world is removed from the sanctuary. We want to tell you – He really did die. But then the organ begins to play, “I Know that my Redeemer Lives”, and the Christ Candle is slowly returned to the sanctuary.
Light comes into darkness. That is what Christ does. Like Psalm 139 tells us, “Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Verse 12) The darkness of sin and guilt, the darkness of depression and hopelessness, the darkness of our frailty and mortality has the light of Christ shining on them and on us. John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not overcome it.” (Alternate reading) I John 3 says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (Verse 8)
On Easter, what do the Gospel writers tell us? They tell us about the light. The angel who rolled back the stone and then sat on it had an appearance that was lightning and clothes as white as snow. (See Matthew 28:3) In Revelation it tells us that Jesus had a face like the sun shining in all of its brilliance. (1:16) As dark as it was that day, the light of Christ’s ultimate victory took over all the darkness.
Darkness and light. The world experienced it on that first blessed Good Friday. Our Lord experienced it that day. And so do we. May, we by it, grow in a true repentance and a glorious faith. Amen!!
