Easter Darkness

The Darkness was coming. It rushed across the land like a flood of black water. Whole villages and towns were smothered within its dark shadow. But this was not nightfall. This was something far more ominous and sinister. This, was the End. The Shadow. The Evil. The Darkness…

It devoured the countryside. It completely engulfed the cities. It flowed too strong for mountains to stop it. It ran so deep that the valleys couldn’t contain it. It simply rushed along, swallowing all in its dark embrace.

It wasn’t that the people weren’t strong enough to stop it. It wasn’t that they couldn’t save themselves. They WANTED the Darkness. They worshipped it. As it covered the land, the people danced in the streets. Some broke into the bars and manned the pumps. Beer and Ale flowed freely. Everyone danced and screamed and caused destruction in their revelry. Many were killed. Many more did the killing. And still more danced on the bodies of the slain. Many crimes were committed against each other’s bodies. Mobs of crazed people ran through the streets doing as they pleased. There were no rules. There were no more laws. There was only Darkness.

One by one the Darkness fell over the cities. One by one all the villages and towns were covered in its inky black grasp. But there were none who opposed it. None who stood against the tide of Darkness that now consumed the land. No one cared. They all wanted what they could get for themselves, which was exactly what the Darkness offered.

Still, there was one place the Darkness could not cover. One place it could not spread its blanket of icy blackness. That place stood on a hill in the center of a sea of darkness. It was a cave. A tomb.

There was within the tomb the body of a Man who had never succumbed to the Darkness. A Man in whom there had never been any taint of the black shadow of the Darkness. But, He was dead. He had been killed by those now reveling in the streets. He had shown them the way to true freedom, but they had rejected Him and hated Him for having shown them they way. And so, they killed Him.

They had taken Him to a hill outside of the city, and nailed Him to a tree. They had driven foot long stakes into His hands and feet. Then, they had let Him hang there. They wanted Him to suffer. But, He had died sooner than they had thought.

As He died, the Darkness flooded into the world from the four corners of the globe. It spread swiftly. It flowed faster and faster with each moment after the death of the Man. The Darkness had always been there, waiting. With the death of the Man, it had seized the chance and taken the world. It now held it all in its grasp, save for the tomb on the hill.

Three days passed since the death of the Man. Three long days of Darkness. Three days filled with evil. And yet, as if in unison, the dancing in the streets stopped. The revelers stopped their merry making. The drunkards struggled to their feet. Those who had killed, wiped their hands of blood. And all the people looked, as if of one mind to the light on the hill. The tomb of the Man.

The rock at the entrance cracked and shook as though all the hammers in the world were beating at it from the other side. It shook and creaked and cracked and shook. And it started rolling! It rolled away from the entrance to the tomb. It rolled UP THE HILL! And light burst forth from the entrance!

All the people of the world covered their eyes as the light burst from the tomb. It shone across the land like a beacon. And across the world, smaller lights could be seen. The lights in the hearts of those who had refused the darkness. They came forth from their hiding and looked up to the tomb. To the tomb on the hill. The tomb, of the Man.

A hand emerged from the entrance and grasped the side of the tomb. The people looking at the hill shuddered. A face emerged. The face, of the Man. Even from their distance, the people could clearly see that it was Him. The Man they had killed. He was alive!

He emerged slowly from the cave, but not wearily as one who was weak. He moved with purpose and power. He moved as one in authority. And He stood at the entrance to the tomb and raised His head and scarred hands to heaven. “It is finished.”

One of the people who had the light of the Man in his heart and was nearest the hill with the tomb turned to the others and raised his hands and head to heaven and shouted, “He is risen!” In one motion, all the others raised their heads and hands likewise and echoed, “He is risen indeed!”

And the light in their hearts and the light coming from the Man grew and exploded in a flash of pure white light. The light clashed against the Darkness, and the Darkness held for just a second. And then, with a “whoosh!” the Darkness fled back to the corners of the earth. All that remained were stains on the hearts of those who did not have the light of the Man.

Though the battle was won, the war continues, even to this day. Do you have the light of the Man in your heart? Or is the stain of Darkness still there? Don’t wait to change. If you need to talk, leave a comment. I’m here for you.