Why We Remember the Dark

“This author likes to torture her characters,” is a complaint I’ve had leveled against my stories.

And while I would argue that no, I don’t purposefully torture my characters (in general), I do give them a pretty deep Black Moment before I raise them back up, victorious, into the light.

What is the Black Moment?

It’s the place in the Hero’s Journey when everything seems lost for the protagonist. All hope is gone. There is no one to help; no one to turn to. The hero’s strength is gone, and Darkness seems to have won.

It’s the moment that Aslan is on the stone table, bound with ropes and cold to the touch after the White Witch stabbed him to death, and all Susan and Lucy can do is look on and weep.

When Belle returns to the Beast’s castle to find him dead in the garden.

When Finola’s dwarf is blind and helpless after he’s given everything to save the princess he so dearly loves.

“Now, why would we focus on remembering those moments?” you might ask. “Why not focus on the light? On what happens after?” After all, we don’t laud the hero that finishes the story bleeding and in the mud. We proclaim the victory of those who rise from it.

But did you hear that last part?

Of those who rise from it.

If you’ve also asked why we focus on remembering the Dark moments, I’ll give you the answer:

We remember the Darkness so we don’t cheapen the Light.

It’s easy to take the sun for granted at the end of August when we’re being smothered by its light and warmth. But ask someone whose heater has gone out in a January blizzard what they think of the sun, and you’ll find a desire that goes deeper than words.

This, my friends, is why we celebrate Good Friday. Because we cannot truly praise God for the resurrection of Christ the LORD with full thanks and humility without first seeing what Christ had to do to save His children.

In truth, Christ’s entire life before the cross is really a part of Good Friday. Because He did what Adam failed to do. Adam wasn’t able to resist temptation. He sinned, damning all of humanity with him by taking Satan’s offer:

Want to be like your Creator? Then disobey Him. Take from Him what should by right be yours!

And when the Bible says Satan offered Adam the chance to be like God, he didn’t mean that Adam would be able to love and reason in God’s image. Adam had already been made in the imago Dei – the image of God. No, what Satan was (falsely) promising Adam was the chance to be a god of his own.

He wanted to be on par with the Divine.

And just as surely as the devil lied to Adam, Adam failed. In eating the fruit, he strove to steal the glory that is God’s own. And he got his just wages in the death that comes with the betrayal of God. Not only him, but also all of his descendents. From that day forward, all humans would be born in sin – sin passed down from our father, Adam.

But then Christ came, and before He ever touched the cross, He began to do what Adam didn’t by living a sinless life, obeying all of God’s laws in a way none of us ever could. He resisted Satan’s temptations when He was at His weakest, and He kept God’s law perfectly – something none of us could ever hope to do. This was no walk in the park, however. Christ left His glory and His throne in order to come to a place where he was attacked, lied about, hated, despised, rejected, and ultimately killed in order to save a people who, by nature, hated Him.

Jesus suffered the Darkness long before the cross.

That wasn’t enough, though. Not only did He have to live the perfect life no human could ever live – He had to die the death we all deserved, taking the punishment for our sins.

Did you know the word “excruciating” comes from Roman crucifixion? The pain was so unspeakably vivid that there wasn’t a word to describe it. Seven-inch nails were driven into the wrists and ankles so that the condemned would have to push himself up on those nails in order to breathe so his lungs wouldn’t collapse. The death was agonizingly slow. And for Christ, this all happened after He received thirty-nine lashings with a leather flail that had bits of metal and glass tied to the ends of it. Thirty-nine because forty would generally kill the one being lashed.

So they created one that came from the word crucifixion itself. And yet, not even THIS was the worst of Christ’s sufferings.

The Darkest moment of all – the ultimate unspeakably horrific moment in time – was when God the Father turned His back on Christ. Because God cannot abide sin, and according to 2 Corinthians 5:21.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin…

Christ became sin for sinners. He took their sin into Himself. And in doing so, He became so grotesque that the Father had to turn away.

This was the Black Moment.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. – John 19:31

If you’ve never been to a Good Friday service, I highly recommend you attend one this week. Unlike most worship services, it doesn’t end in joy. Usually, people leave in a somber mood. Some churches walk out in silence.

Why do they do this? “What a terrible night to remember!” you might say. “Why would I want to participate in that?”

Several reasons, actually.

First, because this is what Christ the LORD did to save His children. It’s what He had to do. So why would we purposefully try to forget such sacrifice? If your earthly father died a painful, sacrificial death to save you, would you wish to forget his sacrifice? There’s a reason we observe Memorial Day each year. It’s to remind ourselves to be grateful. And truly, if you’re a Christian, can you truly doubt that God loves you if you recall what He did to adopt you?

Many people object to the idea that God is good because bad things happen. But the truth is that God Himself suffered the most unjustified murder in the world in order to save sinners.

Second, but really, it’s related to the first reason, Christ’s victory over sin and death is only as powerful as it is because of His death.

If you’re not sure what I mean, think of it this way:

Lord of the Rings wouldn’t hold so much meaning if Frodo hopped the first eagle he saw and chucked the ring into Mount Doom. But this wasn’t an option, and because of it, we have one of the most inspiring and moving stories of all time in the hobbit’s journey.

Narnia wouldn’t be so powerful if Aslan simply bit the witch’s head off and left Edmund to suffer his just desserts.

Ella of Frell wouldn’t mean so much to us if she hadn’t needed to give up Char in order to save him and her kingdom from her evil stepmother and stepsisters.

Easter can only hold the wonder and beauty that it does because we know what Christ had to suffer before He rose again. Christ didn’t just take a nap and wake up to a happy morning. He suffered the most gruesome and unjust death in all of human history, taking not only the abuse of the very humans He was dying for, but most importantly, the turning away of the Father as He bore the weight of the sin of those He loved.

We remember the Darkness because it makes the Light that much more glorious. For truly, we couldn’t be filled with awestruck wonder at the Light if we didn’t see it compared to the Dark. We do this in stories, and we ought to do it in our hearts.

Now, I’m not saying people MUST attend a Good Friday service. There’s no order in Scripture to force the issue. But I am saying that we can’t ignore Christ’s suffering and death if we truly want to value His victory. The word death has no meaning if we don’t know what death is. But when we know the truth, we can sing the hymn in victory:

Where, O Death, is now thy sting?
    Hallelujah!
Dying once He all doth save,
    Hallelujah!
Where thy victory, O grave?
    Hallelujah!

Which, of course, comes from 1 Corinthians 15:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, dear friend, you may be sitting in the Darkness. You may be despairing because you don’t know where to turn. Perhaps you feel as though you’re being buried beneath the weight of your sin. You can’t escape it, and with Paul, you cry out,

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  – Romans 7:21-24

Christ can. Christ can deliver you from your sin. For His yoke is easy and His burden is light. To be adopted into His family, you don’t need to keep a certain number of commandments or keep particular covenants or promises or prove yourself worthy. For what did Christ preach?

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Repent of your sins and believe. Believe on Christ. Believe that the Bible’s good news is true!

“But what about obedience?” you might ask. God commands a lot of loving in the Bible through the Ten Commandments.

Given, obedience is a true mark of a Christian. But it’s the fruit of a heart that has been brought from death to life. (Ephesians 1:4-5, 2:4-14). When we’re born spiritually dead in our sins, we can’t bear good fruit. But fruit of a joyful, thankful heart, is pleasing to God. For it’s the gift of His child who wishes to please Him – not to gain Heaven – but because that child loves Him.

Because Christ suffered in this world, living through its Darkness without sinning once…

Because Christ suffered a death He didn’t deserve on a cross that wasn’t His…

Because He died in our place…

The resurrection is beautiful. Glorious. Overwhelming. Most powerful than words can express.

Because the resurrection was the death blow to death itself. It meant that not only had God conquered evil, but just as Christ became sin for us…

For our sake he made him to be sin ^rwho knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (Emphasis mine) – 2 Corinthians 5:21

So for those of you who feel lost in the Darkness, look to Jesus. Because I promise with all of my being…

There is Light.

I’ll leave you with this call from Isaiah 55:1-3a

“Come, everyone who thirsts,

come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear, that your soul may live;

That your soul may live.

Here are a few of my favorite Easter songs. And though most of my work is fiction-related, please know that if you ever want to know more about Christ, please don’t hesitate to ask.

After all, I write the Darkness into my books… because I wish to share the Light.