The Dawn of Joy

Introduction

Has there ever been a time in your life where you’ve found yourself in a dark place? Not a physically dark place, but a dark life place? To me, a dark place is a season of your life where you are looking around, looking for options, and there aren’t any. No ways out. Nothing to put your hope in, nothing to take joy and happiness in, nothing to signal a new direction in life. It’s just constant groping around in the darkness, searching for a door or a semblance of light or relief.

Have you ever been there? Maybe your their right now? Don’t be ashamed by this; I would be surprised if you haven’t been there before.

What’s interesting is that the pervasive belief over the last two centuries is that the human race has been moving steadily, by its own evolved intelligence and morality, toward a world of greater safety, prosperity and freedom. There is a sustained hope out there that, overall, every generation of people will experience a better world than the previous generation.

As recently as 2017, in fact, a bestselling book was published entitled Homo Deus, ”human gods”, where the author argued that people no longer need to turn to God because they have become gods themselves, blessed with all the resources and tools to rein in every social disorder, things like famine, plague and war. So since we now have the power to control and determine our own happiness and security, we no longer need to keep up the illusion of divinity, of some God figure that can save us from things we cannot control.

First of all, that book did NOT age well, given the current state of things. And second, most of us admit that darkness still overtakes each of us at some point in our lives, particularly when we are seeking the way out on our own. And despite the allure of human progress and innovation, despite the measures and indicators that suggest our happiness and comfort and hope should be on the rise, the data reveals that the most advanced human societies are plagued by a myriad of maladies: profound discontent, depression, drug abuse, despair, addiction, loneliness. And I would hazard a guess that if we were to explore the dark corners of your life, we wouldn’t find famine, plague, or war. Because our darkness is not “out there;” it’s “in here,” in the deepest recesses of your own heart.

I’ve come to the conclusion that despite our audacious, grandiose visions for a life lifted by light and possibility and freedom and hope and joy, despite our every battle for control of the outside forces that may threaten our happiness and peace, you can never escape a darkness that grows from within. Somehow, someway, we need a light that we cannot produce on our own to overcome the shadows. We need the dawn to break forth, for the sun to rise on our hearts and turn the night of despair into day of joy and hope.

That’s what Easter is all about. It’s about the dawn of something new. It’s about how darkness turns into light. It’s about how despair turns into hope, how loneliness turns Into love. It’s about how sadness turns into joy.

PRAY

The Day the World Went Dark

Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire, under the compulsion of the Jewish community, hung a man on a wooden cross by his wrists and ankles. He had come into the city of Jerusalem a week prior and immediately caused a huge scene in their house of worship. He flipped tables and drove out merchants and shouted that the leaders there had turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves (Matt. 21:3). Then, while he was there, these physically afflicted people came into the place, and he healed them, and so people started calling him the Son of David, basically the anointed king over their nation. This freaked out the leaders, so over the next few days they would question him and debate with him, and every time the man had an answer that baffled them. And huge crowds started following him around and listening to his teachings and watching him do miraculous deeds that reversed hurt and pain and loneliness, and the people started to think, maybe this guy really will bring light to a dark place.

But the leaders were shrewd, and they hatched a plan to arrest him under the cover of darkness. They charged him with insurrection and blasphemy; he claimed to be God, after all. They spit on him and beat him and slapped him. His friends made themselves scarce. The crowd that followed him around, it turned out they just wanted a spectacle, and so the same people who shouted “Save us!” (Hosanna) a week earlier were now shouting “Crucify him!”

And so here the man hangs. He has done nothing wrong, and yet his brutal lynching is nearly complete. The leaders and the crowd and even the criminals hanging next to him are taunting him, daring him to save himself from death. And it seems like once again, darkness will win out. Let’s jump into the story right here in Matthew 27:

Matthew 27:45–50 (CSB)

From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling for Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and offered him a drink. But the rest said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

But Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.

When Jesus dies, the night falls. And darkness overtakes the world.

Look at Jesus right here, on the cross, suffering and dying because of the bitterness and selfish desires of the human race, but also to put and end to it. Jesus knows the darkness you have felt in your life. He knows what it feels like to be abandoned, to be spit on, to be slandered, to be misunderstood, to have all your options taken away from you. Jesus knows the pain you’ve suffered. Jesus knows the anxiety that riddles your emotional and physical state. Jesus knows the loneliness you’ve experienced. Jesus understands how things can get dark in your life, and it seems like there is no way out.

So, you may be asking yourself at this point. Okay, so we all have this darkness inside of us that we can’t seem to shake at one point or another. And Jesus, the son of God, he’s felt it too. That’s great, so… what now? Do we all comisserate in the darkness? This is the most downer Easter message I’ve ever heard!

The Dawn Comes

Yes, it’s dark. But with God, the dawn always comes.

I need you to know something. No matter how low your life gets, no matter how many doors seem to shut in your fact. no matter how hurt you are or how lost you feel or how distant your family or your friends or even God seems from you, God is still there, working to turn everything around. There is no darkness that cannot be dispersed by his light, no death that cannot be defeated by his life, no depression that cannot be destroyed by his joy, and no despair that cannot be dispelled by his hope.

Matthew 28:1–10 (CSB)

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.

The angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you.”

So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell his disciples the news. Just then Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

When the night falls, sorrow comes because God seems distant. But when morning comes, joy is found because Jesus is alive, and God has drawn near once again.

Jesus’ followers come to the gravesite filled with grief. But that grief is shaken away when Jesus explodes from the grave. Fear and uncertainty fade away as the Jesus greets them by the road. The very first words that Jesus speaks when he overcomes death and decay, when light overcomes the dark?

Jesus says, “do not be afraid.”

Now, I get that there’s a practical reason for why Jesus says this. Prior to this moment, he was a dead man. And if you saw a dead man standing before you, full of life and joy, I imagine fear would be your response. But there’s a deeper reason why Jesus would speak this out.

I searched for the words “Do not fear” and found about 50 times where the phrase is used throughout the BIble. And the vast majority of times, you find accounts of people who have run out of options, and who have run out of reasons for hope. A man and a woman struggle with infertility. A woman feels disgraced by her community. A man fears for his life after trying to be faithful and getting attacked for it. A small nation wonders how long it last as enemy countries surround it. Story after story after story, people lose hope and come to the end of themselves because their situations feel absolutely overwhelming. And these words show up because God shows up. Because his presence means a new path forward opens up, and the promise of the morning removes the fear of the night.

When Jesus defeats death and stands before these two women, his first words are “do not be afraid.” These are words of hope, that reach deep within the core of who they are, beyond their circumstances, beyond their anxieties and their grief and their despair and discouragement. Because it means that God is with them. This man, who loved them and lifted their burdens and healed their hurts, who was crucified and killed not for his own sins, but for the sins of all humanity, who rose again to life, is no mere man. With those three words, Jesus reveals that he is more.

The Great Overturning

Church, here’s the point of all of this. The Resurrection of Jesus gives you a reason for joy. All that God has ever wanted for you is to for you to be filled with abundant, overflowing life that never fails, with a joy that cannot be contained, and a hope that never fades.

I think that’s what every person wants for themselves, really. Do you want life, to bring air into your lungs and experience all the beauty and wonder that you can? Do you want to be truly happy, not just momentarily, but completely satisfied? Do you want hope, to believe that there is rescue from hardship, relief from pain, restoration from lost relationships? I do!

And so you fight for it. You use every tool in the book, every option this world has to bring about life, hope, joy. And each one succeeds, but only for a second. Our addictions and our anxieties are borne out of this relentless pursuit to find rest for our souls that leads to these things. But the tragic end to all of that pursuit is that no matter how much you gain, no matter how hard you push, the end of the road is always death.

Except for one place. And that’s with Jesus.

Because only Jesus has conquered death once and for all. Only Jesus possess a life that can not be defeated. Only Jesus brings true joy. Only Jesus offers eternal hope.

And here’s the best part. When Jesus draws near to you, the darkness that consumes you is blown away by the new light of day. The Bible says that the resurrected life that Jesus has been passed on to you. The life that Jesus has, the hope that he brings, the joy that explodes home him, they become yours.

How, do you ask, is that possible? What do I have to do to experience this life? Friends, these are questions you have sought to ask your whole life in pursuit of the light of joy and hope. But what do you have to do to bring about the morning? What power must you possess to expel the darkness with the dawn? You do not find the light. The light finds you. All you have to do is open your eyes and welcome it in. You may be here, holding your hands over your heart, keeping everything in the dark, because to welcome in the light means leaving behind an old way of living. But can I ask, how is that old way working for you? As hope fades and joy dims, is it a life worth living?

The risen Jesus is standing before you today, and he says, “Do not be afraid.” He draws near to you. Will you welcome in his light?

PRAY

Baptism

Today we are going to celebrate that a boy in our church community has welcomed Jesus in and he has received this life. Fear no longer has a hold of him death can no longer take him despair can no longer destroy him. He has found life joy and hope because he is safe in the arms of Jesus. And the way that we celebrate that is through the the sacred practice of baptism.

Baptism is the immersion and raising of a follower of Jesus a sign of spiritual death, resurrection, and new life in, through, and with Christ. If you participate in baptism, you are declaring that you have repented of sin—the ways in which you have worshiped creation instead of Creator—and have confessed faith in Jesus, that you trust him completely, and that you surrender to his good leadership over your life. When you are dipped under the water, you declare that you have died to your old life, your old ways of thinking, your old selfish wants and desires; when you are raised from the water, you declare that you have found a new life with Jesus, one that will not fade, only flourish, and you are joining the community of transformed people known as the church.

So this morning we are going to be baptizing Sam Inoue. At this time I’d like to invite his father and his grandfather to introduce him.