High Noon of the Dark Night
Photo by Amauri Mejía on Unsplash
For many readers, the previous post on befriending the darkness might not offer much hope. If you are a trauma and abuse survivor, isolation isn’t just subjective feeling but objective reality. So I want to end these reflections on the dark night of the soul by pointing to Jesus, the one who calls us “friend” (John 15:14). When Jesus laid down his life, embracing the darkness of death, he did it for his friends (John 15:13). Perhaps, then, Jesus did what only he could do: he himself befriended the darkness. While I can’t give you a chapter and verse prooftext for that idea, I think a close reading of John’s passion narrative suggests that conclusion.
When reading the Gospel of John, one interpretive question that frequently bears fruit is asking how John’s account differs from the other three Gospels. The time at which the crucifixion occurred is one of those significant differences. All four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, agree that Jesus was crucified at noon, that is, the sixth hour. However, only the three synoptics mention that “darkness came over the whole land” for three hours (Matt 27:25; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44). With John’s characteristic juxtaposition of light and darkness (eg 1:5; 8:12; 9:4-5; 11:9-10; 12:35-36, 46), why would he omit such a detail?
John’s references to light and darkness become more subtle after ch. 12, but no less symbolic. When Judas left their gathering in the upper room, “it was night” (13:28). When Judas brought the Roman and Jewish officials to arrest Jesus, they were looking for the Light of the world, and yet, being spiritually in the dark, they still needed lanterns and torches to find him (18:3). After Peter betrayed the Light of the world and fell into darkness, he warmed himself by a fire (18:18).
Subtly and ironically, as the narrative gets closer and closer to the death of Jesus, it is those on the side of darkness that possess light (including Peter, if temporarily). And yet, for all that, John 1:5 remains true: “The light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.”
“Even the Darkness is not Dark to You”
So, while it may be historically accurate, John didn’t feel compelled to include the mention of the sun’s obscuring when Jesus was on the cross:
It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon [the sixth hour]. Then he [Pilate] told the Jews, “Here is your king! ” (John 19:14)
John is portraying theological truth that goes deeper than surface reality perceived by the senses. Assuming his readers knew that “darkness came over the whole land” when Jesus was lifted up, by omitting that detail John showed that the light of Jesus was still shining, even in that moment.
Actually, for John, the phrase “even in that moment” would be an unacceptable concession. It was especially that moment, when the Son of Man was lifted up, which was the hour of the Son’s glorification (John 12:32; 17:1). While the light does indeed shine on the new day of the resurrection, it is especially in the darkness of the cross through which “we observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). As Martin Luther put it in his Heidelberg Disputation, “true theology and recognition of God are in the crucified Christ.”1
When you feel that “darkness is my only friend,” know that Jesus has been there, too. He went there before you so that darkness could become your friend, rather than your enemy. For Jesus, Psalm 139:12 is especially true: “even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you.”
Don’t Fight the End
In the previous post on befriending the darkness I used the title of Tremonti’s new album, The End Will Show Us How. Befriending the darkness is the opposite of another song written by Mark Tremonti and his other band, Alter Bridge, called “The End is Here.” The chorus goes like this:
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published
“For the rest of my life I will find the answers That were always here I will find the meaning this time I will fight the end Until the end is here End is here.”
Isn’t that our tendency? Rather than give in, we fight the end of the dark night: fight for meaning, fight for answers, fight for light, so that we avoid the end. But “end” is ambiguous, because it can also mean purpose. When we fight the end, we fight the purpose; we want relief from the darkness, and we are left perpetually waiting for the end.
Everyone’s journey is unique; there is no GPS map for the journey that is the dark night of the soul. But maybe, just maybe, the end arrives, not by fighting, but by surrendering to the end. I’m going to repeat that line in poetic form to invite further meditation:
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published
But maybe, just maybe, The end arrives, Not by fighting, But by surrendering To the end.
We can do this, trusting and resting in the light of the Son which shines so brightly that it obscures the darkness of the cross. Not visibly or sensibly, but for the eyes of faith.
Quote from Martin Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation
“Thesis 22: That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the “invisible” things of God as though they were clearly “perceptible in those things which have actually happened” (Rom. 1:20; cf. 1 Cor 1:21-25).”
“Thesis 23: He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross…So, also, in John 14:8, where Philip spoke according to the theology of glory: “Show us the Father.” Christ forthwith set aside his flighty thought about seeing God elsewhere and led him to himself, saying, “Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). For this reason true theology and recognition of God are in the crucified Christ, as it is also stated in John 10 (John 14:6) “No one comes to the Father, but by me.” “I am the door” (John 10:9), and so forth.”
1 See thesis 22 and 23, https://bookofconcord.org/other-resources/sources-and-context/heidelberg-disputation/.