You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16
This week is the beginning of Holy Week. On Sunday, we celebrated Palm Sunday, Jesus entering Jerusalem for Passover. It’s hard to believe the range of emotions we go through this week in the Christian religion. Within one week we go from excitement with Palm Sunday, to anguish with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, to overwhelming joy on Easter Sunday.
So often we want to skip all of the bad stuff and go straight from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. We seem adverse to even wanting to remember or feel the sadness or the anguish. We don’t want to remember the reasons that Jesus died – that He died for us and for our sins. We don’t want to remember that our human actions can cause such pain.
If we skip all of the bad things, we skip the true meaning of, not just Easter, but Jesus’s reason for being. His message was of forgiveness. His message was of seeking God as a greater justice among all. His message was of humbling ourselves in order to praise God.
Yesterday, a terrible event occurred. The Notre Dame in Paris burned, collapsing its iconic spire and centuries-old roof. It was a terrible tragedy, not just for Paris and France, but for the world.
I’ve been watching the news updates for most of the day, coming to tears several times. I’ve been to the cathedral. When I was very younger, younger than Little Mister, my family traveled there. This historical place was more than just a tourist destination. It was a landmark. It housed centuries of history in its walls.
Why does this relate to today’s beatitude? Because I believe it’s the perfect example of why it was a light to the world. And why we, as Christians, should use it as a model.
Notre Dame means so much to so many people. It is essentially the birthplace of western music, having been where some of the first composers of polyphonic music wrote. It houses art and beautiful stained glass. It houses a golden crown of thorns. It is a landmark. And yet, it is also a symbol and a home of Christianity. When you strip away the art and the artifacts, you are left with God. This symbol of GOD has united a world. Individuals who may not identify as Christian still mourn its destruction. This symbol has brought together individuals of a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds. It has broken through the barriers that so often define us and provided a place where we can become united.
This is not the end of the Notre Dame. I have faith that it will be rebuilt. I believe that they will bring it back from the ashes. I know that it will continue to be a symbol of God amidst a world of secular symbols. We cannot have a resurrection without first a death.
And isn’t that part of the Easter message in the end? That when the bad things happen, when the unthinkable seems to shake us to our very core and we question who we are, we find something or someone who defies all odds and brings us back to our faith. In spite of the bad, in spite of the hardships, we persevere and spread the word and love of Jesus.
Jesus met the women at the tomb and told them the good news – Christ had risen! Now it is our job to spread the good, to be the light amongst the dark, and to show how Christ’s love can be like a healing balm to those who need it.
Discuss with your kids
Three days after Jesus died, some of the women who were his followers went to His tomb to finish preparing his body. When they arrived, the stone was rolled away and Jesus was no longer in the tomb. He had risen!
They became the first “lights” for Jesus Christ. They spread the good news of Jesus’s resurrection to his other disciples and – even further – to other towns.
After events that seemed devastating and disheartening, groups of people found reason to celebrate. If you found something to celebrate, something bright and amazing, would you hide it from the world, keep it to yourself, not share its awesomeness with others?
No! You want to show others how amazing it is. You might even brag about it or how it makes you feel. You want to make sure others can share in the awesomeness.
This is Christ’s love and how we should be Christian. It can be scary sharing your faith in today’s world. There are a lot of people who believe different things, who might say mean things, or who might not believe you. But Jesus told us that the persecuted are blessed, that the merciful are blessed, and that the peacemakers are blessed. We can rest assured that no matter what happens, Jesus wants us to spread His message. He wants us to be the light of the world and be shown to everyone, not hidden because of fear.
Questions to ask
- What does Jesus want us to do with His message?
- When are we the light? Can we be a light in the darkness, in the fear, and in the doubt?
- When is it hardest to be a light for Jesus’s message? How do we hide our light when things get hard?
- Why does Easter represent a light in our religion?
- How can we spread the Easter message and the light of Christ?
How to spread His light
Talk. Talk about your faith. Don’t hide it or avoid talking about it. It’s a common held belief that religion is one of those things that you shouldn’t talk about. So many are afraid of offending someone or causing an argument that religion is avoided at all costs.
But what if you miss that moment when someone could really use the message that Christ provides. What if, because of fear, you avoided spreading the light of Christ to someone who was in a really dark place?
The light of Christ’s message, that we are forgiven our sins and our mistakes because of Him as long as we seek Him, is a powerful balm to a broken and hurting heart. The women who went to the tomb were hurting. A resurrected Christ was healing to them that day just as He can be to others, as long as we help spread His word.
So talk. Talk about His message. Talk about His kindness and love. Talk about your experiences within Christianity. I’m sure it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, but it’s important to talk about why you persevered and why you still have your faith in Christ.
Talk about all of this with your children, with your family, with your friends. Show your children that the sadness is ok, but that, through Christ, there is light at the other end. It is our responsibility as Christians to share that light and that saving grace. By demonstrating to your children the ups and downs and how you spread the light of Christ, you are encouraging them to share their experiences with you and with others.
Blessed are those who are followers of Christ, who spread His word, who seek truth through His resurrection, and who humble themselves before God, seeking help in their human nature. Blessed are those who go through the roller coaster of emotions that is Holy Week. Blessed are those who find themselves to be meek at some times and persecuted at others. Blessed are the Christians and followers of Christ.
Happy Easter!