I’m not the ultimate fiction fan, but I have seen plenty of movies. There are two scenes that come to mind when I think about hope in the darkness. One scene is found in The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers and the other is in the 9th Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi. In both films, there is a moment when the light goes out and you feel mounting tension that begs the question, “Will this work out? Surely this moment resolves, but how?!” And in the final hour, the good comes through. There is light and hope again. 

We love heroism. And there is something righteous about the fact that light casts out darkness. 

This is why I think we have certain ‘feels’ during holidays like Christmas and Easter. There is a magnificent and magnanimous juxtaposition between light and dark.  

Easter is the deepest recognition of hope in darkness. It was the turning point in all human history when Christ was beaten, killed, and buried. The physical darkness felt over the land and the spiritual darkness felt in the hearts of the people was unmatched. The man that had come, performed miracles, taught in ways that had never been heard before, and claimed to be the Son of God… was gone. But the story didn’t just end. Three days later, there was hope, because Christ was alive again. The tomb was empty in the biggest plot twist ever.

But even before Easter, there was Christmas. Before Christ's incarnation, there was a different darkness that the people were facing. It was the darkness of the law, which bound the people to rules and obligations that paid for their sins. The darkness was that the law could only serve as a placeholder for redemption. But in the dark of the night, there was a light- a northern star in the sky shining over a stable where a young mother was about to give birth to a baby. The baby who would be the light the world did not expect, but desperately needed. The one who would one day cast out all darkness and give us an opportunity to live in the light as well. The hope that was born that day was Christ. And we rest assured in this hope as 1 John 1:5 says, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 
 
When you feel the light has gone out or that darkness surrounds you, be encouraged that in Christ there is no darkness. Hope abounds.