Can you imagine a more hopeless, despairing scene than that which faced the disciples at Christ Jesus' crucifixion? Their Teacher and Master, invincible in every conceivable human situation, was now hanging, apparently helpless, on the cross. He had told them that he was "the light of the world," but now darkness covered everything. The Bible says that "from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour." Matt. 27:45.
The authority of Rome, represented by the Roman soldiers, must have seemed absolute, impenetrable. Unable to counter this overwhelming show of power, the disciples had fled in confusion and fear—all of them, that is, except one, "the disciple ... whom he [Jesus] loved." This disciple, traditionally identified as John, never left Jesus' side. He was, this same Gospel tells us, "standing by" at the crucifixion (see John 19:26).
In retrospect, it is amazing that the other disciples left Jesus. After all, he had taught them; he had brought them along progressively to that point and had, finally, specifically told them what would happen. That they still doubted and were overcome with fear is an indication of the hypnotic nature of material sense and the belief in evil. Evil can seem so final and irrevocable. But it never is. And it never will be. The triumph of Spirit, of everlasting goodness, as promised throughout the Bible and as demonstrated by Jesus and the prophets, is always a present possibility.
