【双语灵修】暂时的黑暗DARKNESS, FOR NOW

路加福音 23:44-49

那时约有午正，遍地都黑暗了，直到申初， 日头变黑了，殿里的幔子从当中裂为两半。 耶稣大声喊着说：“父啊，我将我的灵魂交在你手里！”说了这话，气就断了。 百夫长看见所成的事，就归荣耀于神，说：“这真是个义人！” 聚集观看的众人见了这所成的事，都捶着胸回去了。 还有一切与耶稣熟识的人和从加利利跟着他来的妇女们，都远远地站着看这些事。

4月3日

暂时的黑暗

“那时约有午正，遍地都黑暗了，直到申初，日头变黑了。” - 路加福音 23:44-45

当你听到“黑暗”这个词时，你会想到什么？

孩子们常觉得黑暗很可怕，即便长大了，大多数人仍然更喜欢光明。从《创世记》到《启示录》，黑暗代表着任何与神隔绝的空间、时间或现实。在创造之前，“渊面黑暗”（《创世记》1:2）。在《启示录》所描述的末后日子里，黑暗是与神隔绝的迹象之一。

当耶稣挂在十字架上时，黑暗在正午笼罩了大地，而那时本该是太阳最明亮的时候。神离弃了祂的儿子，因为祂正将世人罪恶所带来的一切败坏与丑陋，以及神对此的可畏审判，都担在自己身上。当神与祂的爱子分离时，黑暗降临，耶稣死了。

路加对那一天的记载还提到了另一件令人惊奇的事。圣殿里的幔子—一直以来象征着圣洁的神与不圣洁的百姓之间的隔绝，奇迹般地从上到下裂为两半。我们因罪而与神的隔绝即将结束。这是好事！但这需要一场可怕的黑暗才能成就。

光正在战胜黑暗。神和祂的子民将再次团聚。一个新的创造正在形成！

祷告

噢基督，感谢你使自己变得不配得着神的同在，好叫我们这些真正不配的人，能被算为配得与祂同住。我们在你里面领受了何等珍贵的礼物！阿们。

Luke 23:44-49

FRIDAY, APRIL 3

DARKNESS, FOR NOW

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. —Luke 23:44-45

What do you think of when you hear the word “darkness”?

Children often think of darkness as scary, and when they grow up most of them still prefer the light. From Genesis to Revelation, darkness is whatever space, time, or reality is separate from God. Before creation there was darkness “over the surface of the deep” (Genesis 1:2). In the last days, as described in Revelation, darkness is one of the signs of separation from God.

When Jesus hung on the cross, darkness came over the land in the middle of the day, when the sun should have been at its brightest. God had abandoned his Son, who was taking on himself all of the corruption and ugliness of the world’s sin and God’s awful judgment on it. As God separated himself from his beloved Son, darkness descended and Jesus died.

Luke’s account of that day notes another amazing occurrence as well. The curtain in the temple, which had long symbolized the separation of the holy God from his unholy people, was torn in two, miraculously, from top to bottom. Our sin-generated separation from God was coming to an end. That was good! But it took an awful darkness to make that happen.

Light was conquering darkness. God and his people would be together again. A new creation was forming!

O Christ, thank you for making yourself unworthy of God’s presence so that we, who truly are unworthy, can be counted worthy to live with him. What a gift we receive in you! Amen.