Holy Week & Hope
(During Lent, we have invited members of the Peace of Christ Church Community to share their own reflections, stories, or poetry about what Lent means to them. This Reflection comes from Peace Community member Joyce Holley.)
What to do in the darkest of times? Do we huddle in lament? Do we wait it out, hoping the times will right themselves? Do we find some way to actively engage in a fight against the forces of dark? In the midst of our bewilderment and growing alarm over the dismantling of norms and safeguards, what do we do?
Holy Week is upon us. It’s the week when the light of the world seemed to go out forever for the followers of Jesus. It’s the week when violence and betrayal and fear seemed to have won. The disciples hid, terrified they would be the next ones headed for execution. The Savior they had counted on to protect them had been killed by the regime that they thought he had come to overthrow. That they thought he had the power to overcome. What chance did they have?
The women amongst Jesus’s followers prepared the burial spices. They had a job to do, one which had been delayed because of adherence to Jewish law and customs about the Sabbath. They came to the tomb as soon as the morning light hit to unwrap the death linens and apply the spices that would mask and, maybe, stave off the decay of death for a while. It was a ritual based on love. They talked about how to move the stone covering the tomb on the way, knowing their mission would be in vain if they couldn’t. They went on ahead with hearts full of purpose and grief.
They were met with a fantastical scene. Men dressed in dazzling white perched atop the tomb. The heavy stone they had dreaded had already been moved. The tomb was empty. The men in white, called angels in one Gospel, gave them a message: “The one you seek is not here. He is risen just like he said he would. Go and tell his disciples.”
The message lit a fire inside of them. The one who had the power to heal, to walk on water, to calm a storm, to raise Lazarus from the grave, had surely arisen. They had not been wrong to put all their faith in him. Those vague words about destroying the Temple and raising it on the third day may have appeared in their minds. Could he have been talking about himself? They ran to the disciples to share this news and became the first evangelists for the resurrected Christ.
The disciples heard their message. Two of them, according to John’s gospel, ran, not walked but ran, all the way back to investigate this story for themselves. The hope that had been buried deep in their hearts, the tiny flame not yet completely snuffed out, rekindled.
What do we do in the darkest times? We do what needs to be done like the women who came to tend to Jesus. We don’t completely give up hope. We look for the signs that light is still present in these times, and we move, maybe even run, towards it.
Joyce Holley has been in the Peace family for six years. They have been six years of learning and growing her reconstructed faith. And hanging out with some of the most wonderful, loving and creative people she’s ever known.