I have perceived that it has been a particularly dark Lent this year, which seems funny to say as a couple of years ago we were going through a pandemic during Lent. Yet then there was a sense of keep calm and carry on and we seemed to muster good will from somewhere. Now we are on the back end of the pandemic and instead of feeling joyous about things returning to some semblance of normality, it feels like we’re all a bit exhausted! On Good Friday one of the poems we had at the Tenebrae service was called Love as warm as tears by C.S Lewis and in it he talks about how when you cry you have this heavy feeling in your head. This is how Lent has felt to me this year, a heaviness that doesn’t seem to go away.

However on Easter Day the light breaks through and the heaviness lifts. Mary appears in the garden in darkness, just before the sun is about to rise and she realises the stone has been rolled away. She has witnessed the pain and death of Jesus’ crucifixion and now believes that Jesus’ body has been taken away. Yet as the light begins to grow, the realisation hits the other disciples. The linen clothes that were wrapped around Jesus are there and if Jesus body had of been taken away by grave robbers these would not have been removed. Mary then sees the angels and they ask her, ‘women why are you weeping?’ She explains through her pain and confusion as her mind is still in darkness, that she just wants Jesus body back.

Witnessing Jesus death it is no wonder she doesn’t trust what she sees at first in the dimly lit garden. She can only understand earthly things like, that she saw Jesus die, rather than heavenly things, that she is witnessing the resurrection.

 As I have mentioned before this Lent we have been thinking about Christian hope and how it is based on our relationship with God and how time and time again God has never given up on us. In one of the reflections from the Lent course, Dr Carlton Turner said how life is a paradox. In some cases, the richest people are the least happy, or often the most empty. Many very famous people self- sabotage or end their lives and we cannot understand why. In other cases, the most oppressed people are the most alive, creative and resilient . . . often the strongest people you meet have been fighting battles in areas of their lives that we have no idea of.

 Carlton is so right, I have often found that people who have had the most difficult times in their lives are able to speak about God so prophetically and with so much passion. Think about in Luke’s gospel and the story of the sinful women who washes Jesus’ feet with her hair. Whatever reason there was for her to be known by those around her as a sinner, I’m sure it means that she had a difficult life. She shows her thanks and gratitude to Jesus through her tears that will wash the feet of Jesus. On the other hand the Pharisee Simon who was a privileged and powerful figure in his community,  shows no such gratitude and rather than taking care of his guest is quick to judge him, because he allowed a sinner to touch him.

 In Carlton’s reflection he continues by saying, ‘I am an African Caribbean man. My ancestors were slaves. The experience of plantation slavery has shaped my outlook, my imagination and my spirituality. In my culture, the Psalms are important to us precisely because they do not sanitise the utter tragedies of life. Instead, they point to a God who holds our lives in the midst of the chaos. My culture also knows of a depth of hope in a God who holds time itself in his hands, and knows that every injustice, every oppression, or every painful circumstance of life does not have the final word.’

 For every dark and heavy Lent, there is an Easter morning. No matter how dark and hopeless it feels, these moments never have the final word, because Jesus rose from the depths of darkness and brought us the greatest of lights to lift us all.

 I think what I have learned this Lent is that it’s ok to have those moments of darkness and confusion like Mary did when she first came upon the tomb. Events in our lives can knock us down and it can take time to get back on our feet again. But no matter how dark it gets, Christian hope breaks through, because we know that God is alongside us brining light to the path we are yet to tread. He has been with us since the dawn of creation and as part of that creation, we are loved with an unending love that cannot be extinguished. A love so deep and strong that God’s son was sent to suffer and go to the depths for us. God is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, not even death has the power to extinguish the light of God forever and Jesus’ resurrection proves that with God anything is possible.

 Mary’s confusion brought her greater enlightenment on what Jesus’ ministry truly meant and she was the first to come face to face with the risen Lord. The dark times in our lives do not have to be the final word, there is so much more yet to come. This doesn’t mean that dark times will never come upon us again, the disciples and the early Christians had many dark times ahead after the resurrection. But their struggles happened in the knowledge that God sent his only son to us and with Jesus resurrection, we have a new beginning. As it says in this mornings psalm, this is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes. The resurrection is a singular event in history that changed the world, yet it does not come out of nowhere. Again and again God shows us enduring love and this day that the `Lord has made reveals his purpose and promise for all creation. The knowledge of this means that we can always seek the light, no matter how dark things have become. Even if we are lost and confused for a long time, the moment we put our arms out to grasp for the light, God will be there. So let us give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118)    

 Amen.