Darkness is Finished

Introduction

Set up new series

Tetelestai - “It is Finished”

Instinctively know that something unique happened in that moment

Jesus’ death and resurrection changes everything

Darkness is a problem. Humans typically have a primal fear of the dark. Don’t if you remember the soccer team in 2018 who were trapped deep a cave in norther Thailand. Imagine: 18 days without seeing the sun. Seeing your supplies dwindle. Watching your cell phones and flashlight batteries slowly give out one by one. Darkness encroaching on every side, with no way of knowing how they would get out or if anyone was even looking for them. I can’t image a more horrifying place to be in.

We may not be lost in a cave, but we have all experienced different forms of darkness that press against our soul. Dark situations. Dark thoughts. Dark views about God. I can’t imagine the overwhelming relief those boys had when the first cave diver surfaced and they knew that there was a massive team putting together a rescue plan to get them out. Someone was looking for them, and they would come and rescue them from that place. Darkness is a problem, but our gospel passage today tells us plainly that darkness is finished.

“It is finished” means that the Shepherd has come to rescue us from dark places.

Their light problem

Science tells us, at least it used to, that darkness isn’t a thing. It’s the absence of a thing - light! The only way to fix darkness is to bring light into that dark void.

This is the situation happening in our passage. John gives important details. This exchange happens during the feast of Dedication, what today is more commonly known as Hanukkah. It commemorated the re-dedication of the Temple after it had been profaned by the Seleucid Empire. Around 167 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes set up a statue of Zeus in the Temple and sacrificed a pig on the alter. This launched what would be called the Maccabean Revolt. Judas Maccabeus led a guerilla-style warfare offensive against the Seleucids and finally overthrew them in 164 BC. Then he authorized the re-dedication of the Temple.

This festival was also known as the festival of lights, for Jewish history tells that a miracle happened during the rededication. They were only able to find one jar of oil with which to light the 8-branched menorah in the Temple, which should only last about a day, yet that one jar continued to burn for 8 days until more oil could be consecrated.

So this entire exchange with Jesus is happening around the festival that has to do with lights and dispelling darkness. But the people still felt like they were in darkness. Now the Romans had conquered their nation and controlled them with an iron grip. They had no self-rule, they paid exorbitant taxes to a foreign power, and daily they saw their own countrymen hung on crosses along the roads leading to the city.

“How long will you keep us in the dark?” This is the question they are really asking Jesus. “Shed some light on who it is you are claiming to be” would be another way to say it. What is ironic is that, in the midst of this light festival, the light of the world was present, but they were unable to see it.

They don’t recognize the Light that is standing in their midst. They have a light problem.

Our light problem

We have a light problem too. It doesn’t look like being trapped in a cave, but it is darkness nonetheless. There are several sources to our darkness:

Circumstances - we all go through situations that feel out of our control. They bring about what is called “the dark night of the soul” where we question where God is and if he is really good. It might be a health crisis, a family crisis, or a financial crisis. Whatever the specific circumstance, it feels like darkness is closing in.

Unbelief - like the Jews in our passage, at times we struggle with unbelief. Jesus pointed to the works he had done as proof, of who he was, but that wasn’t good enough. We also want Jesus to make himself plain. We want him to prove himself. We read the testimony of Scripture, and we hear the testimony of others, but because it didn’t happen to us directly, or that it didn’t happen the way we want it to, we flounder in the CHOICE of unbelief.

Comprehension - the Jews had a darkened understanding of who God was and what he was like. So much so that, when he came and stood before them, they couldn’t recognize him. Their understanding was darkened. We too get confused or misunderstand who God is and what he is like. We are often handed little more than caricatures of God. And old man with a long white beard who is more like a grandfather. An angry dude who just wants to smite people. A parental figure who is impossible to please. And our spiritual enemy works overtime to reinforce these false images of God.

Lostness - the biggest problem the Jews faced that day is that they were spiritually lost. They zealously searched for truth, but it was often the blind leading the blind. They were groping in a cave with no direction on which way to go. Many of us can remember that time in our life, our BC years, where we were looking for light in all the wrong places and making a mess of our lives.

These and more characterize the light problem Jesus listeners had and that we still have today. Do you recognize the Light that is standing in your midst?

The gospel for them

The good news for them is that into their darkness the Good Shepherd had come. He was a light that would lead them out of their darkness. He had been saying it all along:

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture” (John 10:9).

“I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11).

He had come, not to necessarily deliver them from all their problems, but bring them light and salvation. God, the shepherd of Israel, had come in person to give them light and life that was unending. He would make his ultimate case in a short while by rising from the dead. When a guy dies and rises by the dead by his own power, you listen to him! When Jesus said “It is finished” what he meant is that darkness had had its day - and lost! The time of darkness was finished for the shepherd has come to lead them out of darkness into light.

The gospel for us

The Shepherd has come for you. You may be in the middle of some painful or dark circumstances. God doesn’t promise to deliver us from every bad thing that can happen. But he does promise to come to you in your dark circumstances, and he leads you through them and will bring you to a place of peace in the midst of them. He promises “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

He comes and challenges your moments of unbelief and calls you to faith. He is faithful to remind you that the world - and your life - is filled with evidence of his hand if you choose to open your eyes.

He comes to your darkened understanding and reveals who the Father truly is. Listen, this is perhaps the most profound truth I know: God is like Jesus. So whatever view you have of God that doesn’t look like Jesus - you need to look again! Jesus reveals the Father perfectly!

And Jesus the Shepherd comes when you feel like you’ve lost your way. I love this promise from the Old Testament: Isaiah 30:21 “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”” What an amazing promise God makes to you, and in Jesus Christ he fulfills it.

“It is finished” means that the Shepherd has come to rescue you from dark places.

Conclusion

What would it look like this morning to truth this Shepherd? What difficult circumstance to you need to yield to him? What area you are finding it hard to trust him in? What place do you doubt God’s goodness or character? Where do you need guidance and direction?

In a moment I’ll invite you to come forward to receive prayer for these or any situation.

Maybe the lostness I’ve described this morning is the lostness of not knowing this Shepherd, having never made a commitment to follow him. Would you like to do that this morning?

Admit you have made a mess of your life and that you need God. This is what the Bible calls confession and repentance.

Place your trust in Jesus, believing that he died for your sins and rose from the dead, and now gives you eternal life.

Follow him. This means more than just assenting to some belief statements, but giving your allegiance to Jesus as the one who you will obey above all others.

Ministry time…

Communion

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” When we come to the Communion Table, we are reminded of Jesus’ ultimate act of shepherding. He is truly the shepherd who sacrifices his own life so that his sheep may live. We eat this meal giving thanks for what he has done, and in the confidence that he will continue to guide us the rest of the way home.

I’m going to change things up a little, and rather than praying the Lord’s Prayer this morning, it seems appropriate to pray Psalm 23. Make this prayer your own as we recite it:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

The Lord’s Prayer

Words of Institution

Invitation

This is the table, not of the church, but of the Lord,

It is made ready for those who love God and for those who want to love Him more.

So come, you who have much faith and you who have little;

You who have been here often and you who have not been here long;

You who have tried to follow and you who have failed.  

Come, because it is the Lord who invites you.

It is His will that those who want Him should meet Him here.