by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Jesus has consumed our sin.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
John 8:12 English Standard Version

It’s hard for us to conceive of living in extreme darkness. The people of Jesus’ day lived in such murkiness. If it were not for the stars, it would be hard for them to see their hands in front of their faces on a moonless night. Imagine a world without street lights, without huge car lots turning night into day, without headlights blinding you.

And yet, even with all our evening lights, we still might fear the darkness. There is a small child in all of us who sees a monster under the bed, a stranger ready to attack us, a ghost to surprise us. We are  comfortable moving about in a world that is lit with the sun’s rays.

And yet so many of us walk in darkness. Not only do we walk in darkness, we embrace the darkness and might even be afraid of the light. The darkness of sin has become a good friend to many people, even some of us who claim to walk in the light of Christ. This is not an us versus them issues. It is a statement of reality about our human nature.

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”
John 3:19 English Standard Version

Even as we battle darkness, we need not be afraid. Darkness consumed Jesus on his cross. A strange darkness fell on him as he hung dying, symbolic of his taking into himself the darkness of sin. We now follow Jesus who has conquered our darkness and buried it with him in his grave. We follow Jesus who rose from dead that we might see his light guiding us through the dark alleys of life. We might struggle with the effect of sin, but it will not rule over us because of Jesus the light of the world.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado