Magyar Egyház, 1992 (71. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)

1992-02-01 / 2. szám

6. oldal

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

THE TRUE LIGHT WAS COMING INTO THE WORLD

(THOUGHTS FROM CALVARY TO EASTER)

Text: John 8:12.

“Again Jesus spoke to them: lam the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

The Good Friday story tells about the darkness that fell upon the world when Jesus died on the cross. The Easter story speaks of a shining light that surrounded the empty tomb. Old Testament prophecy, through Isaiah, expressed the great hope that the people who dwelt in a land of deep darkness would see light shining upon them: the Prince of Peace would come. There is a lot of symbolism in this: we associate goodness, happiness, good news, peace, joy with light, with brightness, with radiance; while horror, evil, bad news, bad moods and misery are darkness.

Darkness and light are also the symbols of our life and our world: wars and our longing after peace, crime and our hope for a safe society, the fear from a devastated world as the result of an atomic war and the vision that when we cross the threshold of the third millennium what we will see. will not be the oncoming doom of mankind but the rising of the brightness of the golden age.

During the past few days we spiritually experienced the Darkness of Calvary and now the Light of Easter shines upon us. The mixture of Darkness and Light revolvingly flash around us. Light is a beautiful reality hut we cannot ignore Darkness. As Christians we turn to Scripture to resolve this contrast. There we find it in God’s own light given in Jesus Christ.

After the resurrection of Jesus he stayed with the disciples for forty more days. We know but a few episodes — like that memorable conversation between Jesus and Peter, or the miraculous catch of fish. We know, however, well enough to be sure that Jesus has not been idle during those forty days. We can say that Jesus used them for a last intensive training period. At the farewell meeting — as well described in the Gospels — he charged the disciples to go forth into the world to communioate his Gospel of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. They were told that he would not be with them any longer in the body. Which meant that they could not come back to him to report success or run back for comfort and encouragement in case of failure.

During these forty days, we may safely assume that Jesus did not teach them any new things, ideas, did not give them new commandments. Their sessions must have been rather summaries, recapitulations. Such as “Remember what I said ...,” “Don’t forget...,” “Always keep in mind and

ben” — a körülmények, politikai helyzet és a nacionalista indulatok ezt lehetségesítik és valószínűsítik. Okom van tehát a félelemre, és nyomós okom van félteni családomat. Szélesebb értelemben okunk van félteni a halálos veszedelemtől egész megnyomorított társadalmunkat, különösképpen ugyanazon erők által megfélemlített és fenyegetett népemet.

Védekeznünk kell. Tisztánlátással, kellő bátorsággal, Isten erejével, egymás hite által, egymással szövetkezve. És segítségét kérve a külföldi demokráciáknak elvbarátainknak és testvéreinknek.

Nagyvárad, 1992. január 8. Tőkés László

püspök

so on. And so also the symbolic Word must have come up when Jesus bluntly said, “I am the Light of the world; no follower of mine shall wander in the dark; he shall have the light of life.”

Let us get it once more: Jesus said, “I am the light of the World.” He did not say, “I am the light of Heaven.” Heaven does not need extra light given by God; heaven is the radiant presence of God. It is the world which so badly needs light and by giving Jesus to the world God caused light shine in the darkness.

Jesus also said, “no follower of mine shall wander in the dark; he shall have the light of life.” Easter brought the light of life. If we believe in this light then we must see him in the midst of this dark, smoggy world polluted by chemicals and human sin. If we say we see this light that does not mean to believe in a distant God, to flee from the dark world to the God in bright heaven but to find God in the light He caused to shine in the darkness of the world. In Jesus.

The New Testament testimony is that Jesus, the light of the world, shines in the darkness of this world, of this life. Darkness is still here. We see it. And in it we are groping for our way, we are stumbling and falling and hurting. But we also must see the light, so we can find our way, so we can stand up and live. We must see both darkness and light at the same time. Because this is life as we have it, the whole life: flowers blooming in the sun and flowers dying from frost; kind strangers and hate-filled relatives; honest officials and corrupt leaders; decent people and gangsters; the truthful and the swindlers; the gentle and the bulies; the just and the crooks. This was the world of Jesus and this is our world. Jesus became the light then and he is the Light now. By his light one can clearly see what is good and what is evil. This light, the Jesus-light, is not far away, it is not a mirage, it is not passing dream. Only, we must not shut our eyes. Jesus has not come to protect us from seeing what’s evil, the darkness of human sin. He came to make us see it in the fullness of its horror, in the Calvary story culminating in the Cross. Then, on Easter morn darkness turned into light. Still, the two, darkness and light stayed on together up to this day.

The drama from Cross to Easter was God’s renewed emphasis on the freedom of man. Calvary and Easter are God’s demands for human choice. Look carefully at the sequence of choices. In the Garden of Gethsemane when Peter reached for his sword to strike the High Priest’s servant Jesus commanded Peter to put up his sword saying, “Do you suppose I cannot appeal to my Father who would send at once to my aid more than twelve legion of angels?” But then evil men would not have much choice left, would they? They would have been destroyed by supernatural powers not by their own choices. Or later, when mocking bystanders called to Jesus on the cross, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” If Jesus had pulled the nails and walked off before the eyes of the dumbfounded onlookers, the choice would not have been left for them in view of a miracle. Miracles leave no choice. God does not move beyond the freedom of man’s choice. Some of the witnesses under the cross had their choice. One robber crucified with Jesus cursed him, the other begged him to think of him in his kingdom. Some soldiers cast lots for the rugged clothes of Jesus, the centurion, the commander of the execution squad was moved to the amazing confession: “Truly, this was the Son of God!” The chief priests held out in their hatred, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathia have become disciples. All made their choices.