During Eastertide, we lift high the good news that God’s saving work in human history has been accomplished solely through the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus. We proclaim that in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and that salvation is not earned by any human effort at all but received by faith in the finished work of Christ.

But let’s be honest: Sometimes this all sounds too good to be true – a well-meaning sentiment, but not terribly helpful when confronted with day-to-day reality. In the face of darkness, despair and death, we need resurrection, not sentiment.

We know all too well that life is filled with suffering. Some of us feel paralyzing guilt and condemnation because of the sins we’ve committed. Some of us feel overwhelming shame because of the sins committed against us. Some of us feel despair because of the impulses and addictions that seem to have power over us. Some of us are shrouded in the darkness of depression. Some of us are suffocated by grief because death has taken a child, a spouse, a parent or a friend.

Rather than minimize darkness, despair and death, Jesus experiences it and comforts us in it right now. The one who stepped out of the grave on Easter morning has the last word. We’re comforted knowing that Jesus Christ, God himself, knows what it’s like to suffer, and that his Resurrection is a guarantee of our future resurrection to eternal life. Because Jesus conquered death, we know that darkness is not the end of the story or the last word on us. The risen Christ says the last word on us is “hope.”

The Bible teaches that our suffering is a place to experience God’s sustaining grace in our weakness (2 Cor. 1:8-9, 12:9-10). Grief, Scripture clearly says, is a natural response when we experience loss, but it can be tempered by the good news of Christ’s Resurrection. Because of his victory over death, all threats against us are tamed. He conquers all our enemies: Satan, sin, hell and the grave. The Resurrection not only readjusts our horizon, but it completely transforms our understanding of the future as well.

Where darkness, despair and death had reigned, Jesus breaks in with light, liberation and love. A picture of this comes from Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of “Treasure Island,” who lived in Scotland in the 19th century. As a boy, he and his family lived on a hillside overlooking a small town. He was intrigued by the work of the old lamplighters, who went about with ladders and torches, lighting the streetlights for the night.

One evening, as Robert stood watching with fascination, his nurse asked him, “Robert, what in the world are you looking at out there?”

With great excitement, he exclaimed, “Look at that man! He’s punching holes in the darkness!”

Jesus Christ, “the light of the world” (John 8:12), has entered our suffering to punch holes in the darkness and lead us into the dawn of his grace, love and eternal life. While it is true that in the midst of life, we are in death, what’s more true is that, because of the Resurrection, in the midst of death, we are in life.

This reflection was adapted from Bishop Holcomb’s Easter sermon at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando, March 31, 2024.