An Easter message: The victory of light over darkness
Commentary from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Reverend Michael Curry:
Sometime in the mid-1980s, I heard Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak. This was during some of the most painful times in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. Nelson Mandela was still in prison, and the ruling parties in South Africa were arresting anti-apartheid protesters in the night.
The darkness threatened to overwhelm.
We can identify similar themes in our current moment.
But on that day decades ago, Archbishop Tutu said something astonishing. I am paraphrasing, but it was something like: "I believe that one day my beloved South Africa will be free. I believe she will be free for all of her children - Black, White, Asian, Muslim, Hindu and Christian. I believe it because I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead."
The Gospel of John introduces the meaning and message of Jesus with the words, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it."
Every Easter, Christians celebrate the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, which is actually God's message for the entire human family – that a light will shine in the darkness, and the darkness has not, cannot, and will not overcome it.
The miracle of the resurrection is God's message that love is, as Jesus taught, the very light of life, the hope for humanity, and that not even death can destroy or defeat it. And the reason is that the source of love is God, whom the Bible says is love.
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Story produced by Julie Kracov. Editor: Carol Ross.
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