We hadn’t even finished the cake from Easter before the world reminded me that there are a lot of reasons to be sorrowful. It’s like the enemy took a look at our joy-filled celebration and listened to our songs of victory and said, “Oh yeah? You think you have something to be joyful about?” And with that he let loose a world of hurt. Joy is a slippery thing in a sin-soaked world.
Only a few days earlier, we were pondering the weighty penalty for sin and the wonder of Christ taking our place on the Cross. Most Christians would agree sin is a terrible thing. But it becomes something else entirely when sin brings death to someone you know and love. When sin isn’t just an abstract idea but an enemy at your door. When one person’s anger or hatred or selfishness has robbed you of something good, of someone beloved. What’s so good about Good Friday then?
My friend said through tears, “What about when you get so mad at the wrong that you finally just do something about it?” Isn’t this what God has been doing all along? “I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them” (Exodus 3:7-8). The Son of God didn’t die to simply illustrate the seriousness of sin. He didn’t die merely to make us debt-free or to relieve us of the burden of our guilt. Christ died to bring about our deliverance – to remove us from the reach and influence of evil, to set us free from the enemy (Matthew 6:13).
That’s as true on the weary days after calamity strikes as it is during our joy-filled celebrations.
God uses tragedy to reveal sin in all its repulsiveness and to wean us of our love of the world and its things. He overcomes the evil the enemy intends by bringing something good from the ashes. He instills in us a love for good and right things and assures us that He is in the process of restoring all things, removing our sorrow, making all things new (Revelation 21:4-5).
When I look at the world around me, I’m not so much surprised by the sorrow and brokenness I see as I am by the fact that there’s so much hope. We’re all on the lookout for someone who can bring some light into this darkness, some laughter to these tears, some life into this grave. And that’s really what we’re celebrating at Easter. Even when it seems as though we’ve lost everything and evil has won the day, the story isn’t finished. There’s a greater Power and plan at work that no tragedy can take from us. There’s joy that’s not based on anything a dying world can offer but on the infinite possibility of an empty grave.
God doesn’t remove us from this world; rather He sends us out into it as beacons of light, as carriers of hope. We cry out in the midst of suffering, Take heart! He has overcome the world!
This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. Hebrews 6:19