That is where our walk stopped
after 7 weeks, at the foot of the cross watching Jesus suffer a horrific death.
That would be so sad to end our walk at the cross of death. Every religion in
the world ends with the death of its leader or founder. Not Christianity. It is
not a religion, it is a relationship – not any relationship – it is a
relationship with the eternal living God. If we walked with him to his death,
we will also walk with him in a new resurrected life. Romans 6:3-8
Don't you know that all of us who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We
were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just
as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may
live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in
his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin
might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7
because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we
died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
A woman named
Mary Barbour
remembers her walk (or run) from darkness to light and life. Mary Barbour was ten years of age the night
her father awoke her and led her to the wagon which would carry them to
freedom. Before you hear her words,
picture her seated on a porch in Raleigh, NC being interviewed. It’s 1935. Mary
Barbour then was over eighty years old. She rocks as she thinks. Her tiny body was swallowed by the large chair. Her frail fingers tremble as she rubs her nose.
Old but eager eyes stare out as if she is gazing into a land far on the
horizon. You lean against the pole and listen to her story.
One of the first things that I remembers was my pappy
waking me up in the middle of the night, dressing me in the dark, all the time
telling me to keep quiet. One of the twins hollered some, and Pappy put his
hand over its mouth to keep it quiet.
After we was dressed, he went outside
and peeped around for a minute, then he comed back in and got us. We snook out
of the house and along the woods path, Pappy toting one of the twins and
holding me by the hand and Mammy carrying the other two.
I reckons I will always remember
that walk, with the bushes slapping my legs, the wind sighing in the trees,
and the hoot owls and the whippoorwills hollering at each other from the big
trees. I was half asleep and scared stiff, but in a little while we pass the plum
thicket and there am the mules and the wagon. There am the quilt in the bottom
of the wagon, and on this they lays we young’uns. And Pappy and Mammy gets on
the board across the front and drives off down the road.
I was sleepy, but I was scared too, so
as we rides along, I listens to Pappy and Mammy talk. Pappy was telling Mammy
about the Yankees coming to their plantation, burning the corncribs, the
smokehouses and destroying everything. He says right low that they done took
Marster Jordan to the rip raps down nigh Norfolk, and that he stole the mules
and the wagon and escaped.
Glimmerings of
deliverance. Lingerings of the liberation. Seven decades later the wind still
sighs in the trees and the whippoorwills and hoot owls still holler at each
other in Mary Barbour’s memory.
The walk to freedom is never forgotten.
The path taken from slavery to liberation is always vivid. It’s more than a
road, it’s a release. The shackles are opened and, for perhaps the first time,
freedom dawns. “
I reckons that I will always
remember that walk…”
Who remembers
there walk from darkness to light and life?
(walks related to
the resurrection)
(Via Dolorosa) –
Jesus walked a dark road to his death. 3 days later, he also experienced
the greatest light (in the tomb) and life. John 8:12
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of
life."
Joseph of
Arimathea & Nicodemus walk, carrying the lifeless body of Jesus from
Calvary to a garden where Joseph has a new unused tomb.
Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna & Salome walk in the
darkness of a Sunday morning, which had been dark in their lives since Friday
afternoon when their friend and savior had been crucified. They are coming to
the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body for what
should be his
permanent
resting place.
Peter &
John, don’t walk, they run with dark thoughts that someone has stolen
Jesus’ body from the tomb. John arrives first, then Peter…who enters the now
empty tomb.
Cleopas and the
other disciple on the road to Emmaus
Luke 24:13-32
Now that same day two of them were
going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were
talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and
discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along
with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked
them, "What are you discussing together as you walk
along?"
They stood
still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the
things that have happened there in these days?"
"What things?" he asked.
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.
"He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed
before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over
to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was
the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day
since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went
to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told
us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of
our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but
him they did not see."
He said to
them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer
these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the
Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning
himself.
As they
approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were
going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay
with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he
went in to stay with them.
When he was
at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give
it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he
disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked
with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
Luke 24:33-36
They got up
and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with
them, assembled together and saying, "It is
true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two
told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he
broke the bread.
While they
were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
"Peace be with you."
It
is amazing to look at all of these stories about taking a walk from darkness to
light…from death to life. Notice how the disciples are all starting to share
their stories of their encounters with the risen Lord. Imagine if people were
to overhear our conversations and all we were talking about were our encounters
with the risen Lord and Savior.
In
a church, nothing breeds new life like new life. As we hear those stories we
need to rejoice and celebrate the one who has made them come true – the one who
was first to rise from the dead to live forever – Jesus. These are the things
we should be talking about. Our conversations must engage what it means when a
person takes that walk from darkness to life and celebrate that new life and
give praise upon praise to Jesus for being the light on our path to life
everlasting.
Tigyne’s Story
Tigyne belonged
to the Wallamo tribe in interior Ethiopia. In the years preceding World War II,
missionaries carried the message of Christ to this Satan-worshiping tribe. One
of the early converts was Tigyne. Raymond Davis was the missionary who knew
him…and freed him.
Tigyne was a
slave. His decision to follow Jesus displeased his master who refused to allow
Tigyne to attend Bible studies or worship. He frequently beat and humiliated
Tigyne for his faith. But it was a price this young Christian was willing to
pay.
There was
another price, however, he could not afford. He couldn’t purchase his freedom.
For only twelve dollars his master would release him, but for this slave who’d never
known a salary, it might as well have been a million.
When the
missionaries learned that his freedom could be purchased, they talked it over,
pooled some money, and bought his freedom.
Tigyne was now
free – both spiritually and physically. He never outlived his gratitude to the
men who had redeemed him.
Soon after his
day of liberty, the missionaries were expelled from Ethiopia. Twenty-four years
passed before Raymond Davis returned to Wallamo. During this quarter of a
century, Tigyne proclaimed his vital testimony about his walk to freedom – yes
from slavery to being a free man but more so from the darkness of sin to the
light and life of freedom he found in Jesus Christ! He longed to see Davis
again.
When he heard
that his friend was coming back, he went to the mission station several days in
a row to wait. Dates on the calendar or time on the clock had no significance
for Tigyne, so he came daily to search for Davis.
Finally, Davis
arrived, riding in a car driven by a fellow missionary.
When Tigyne saw
the vehicle come around the corner, he ran to the window and took Davis’s hand
and began to kiss it again and again. The driver slowed the car so Tigyne could
run beside it. As he ran, he yelled to his friends, “
Behold!
Behold! One of those who redeemed me has returned!”
Finally the car
stopped. Davis got out and Tigyne dropped to knees, put his arms around his
friend’s legs, and began to kiss his dusty shoes. Davis reached down to bring
him to full height and they stood with their arms around each other and wept.
When is the last
time you told someone about your walk from darkness to light, from sin to
forgiveness, from spiritual death to eternal life? My walk was a car ride from
Columbus Ohio to Zanesville Ohio on Monday night Nov. 4
th, 1974,
then it was a walk down the isle of the auditorium where I met Jesus through
the music ministry of the Good News Circle, the preaching of Bob Laurent, and
the invitation to be there by my friend Bryan Hitch. Why do I repeat that story
so often? Why do I want you to know my story? Why has my facebook profile
picture always been and always will be one of me from high school wearing a
shirt that says “One Way Jesus”. The answer to all that is because what
happened on Nov 4
th 1974 is the single most important thing that has
ever happened in my life – Jesus came into my darkness – a darkness I didn’t
even realize I was living in, until he showed up and a light like I had never
known shown so bright I could not help but respond and walk in that light and
even more so, walk into a newness of life as I walked in the foot steps of
Jesus who in that moment I knew not only died for me, but was also raised from
the grave to conquer death once and for all!
As
I walk through this life I celebrate my…………..Jesus!
Invitation: Song - “King of
kings”
