Reflections on Holy Tuesday

In her 2019 sermon at the funeral of her dear friend, Rachel Held Evans, Nadia Bolz-Weber spoke about one of the great gifts that Evans had shared with the world, which she described as night vision, an ability to see with clarity and hope in the darkness. Bolz-Weber remembered the story of Easter morning and Mary Magdalen’s night vision, which made her the first to witness the resurrection. She said, “I think Mary was chosen because she knew what it was like for God to move - not when the lilies are already out in church and the lights are on - but for God to move while it is still dark. Because unlike when the men looked in and saw only laundry, when Mary Magdalen looked in the tomb, SHE saw angels. Mary Magdalen saw angels because she was not unfamiliar with the darkness -  she had the kind of night vision that only comes from seeing what God does while it’s still dark.”

Holy Week drags us into the darkness, the darkness of the Gospel story, the darkness of the world around us, and the darkness of our own lives. We enter into the betrayal, the lies, the corruption of power, the pain, the fear, the violence, the shame, the shattered dreams, and we become more than just distant observers, we share in Jesus’ suffering — or rather, he shares in ours. Holy Week hurts, but we have the benefit of knowing that the story didn’t end at the tomb and that Easter Sunday is just around the corner. 

In this story, we have been given the gift of seeing God’s love shining like a light in the deepest darkness so that we can move through the world with a sort of night vision, an ability to see with clarity and hope even when, or especially when, things are dark. On this Holy Tuesday, may we heed Jesus’ call to become “children of the light” for one another and for a world that so desperately needs it.