The World and Everything in It: April 5, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Kurt, I live in Purcellville, Virginia with my beautiful wife and three daughters. I’m a senior user experience designer and a lay elder at Hamilton Baptist Church. I hope you enjoy today’s program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

A first in American history with a former president indicted and entering a not-guilty plea. Legitimate legal pursuit or political theater.

NICK EICHER, HOST: We’ll talk about it today on Washington Wednesday.

Also today, our weekly roundup of news from around the globe on World Tour.

Plus, how music is helping people treasure God’s Word more deeply.

SPENCER MOREAU: Everyone was leaning in. People had their Bibles opened. There was definitely this kind of gasp in the room like, "Whoa!"

 And World commentator Janie B. Cheaney on the light that replaces darkness.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, April 5th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Time now for the news with Kent Covington

DONALD TRUMP: I never thought anything like this could happen in America, never thought it could happen.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: » Former President Trump heard there addressing supporters at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort last night, just hours after being arraigned on felony charges in New York.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced 34 felony counts against the former president.

ALVIN BRAGG: It’s not just about one payment. It is 34 business records — 34 false statements and business records that were concealing criminal conduct.

Bragg said Trump made hush money payments to hide damaging information from the voting public.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. And last night, he called the entire case an effort to knock him out of the 2024 presidential race.

TRUMP: This fake case was brought only to interfere with the 2024 election, and it should be dropped immediately.

Bragg insists that the prosecution is not politically motivated. Professor of History and Law at Cedarville University Marc Clauson notes this is the fulfillment of a campaign promise.

MARC CLAUSON: We know that when Alvin Bragg ran for district attorney, he said that one of his main goals was to go after Donald Trump.

Trump’s next in-person court appearance is slated for December 4th.

So far, there’s little indication that the indictment has damaged Trump’s campaign. Millions of dollars in donations have poured in since the indictment was announced.

TRUMP: Massive election interference at a scale never seen before in our country.

Finland » Finland has officially joined the NATO alliance, dealing a major blow to Vladimir Putin. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

JENS STOLTENBERG: From today, 31 flags will fly together, a symbol of our unity and our solidarity.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine persuaded Finland to join NATO, doubling Russia’s border with the world’s biggest military alliance.

Stoltenberg said he expects Sweden’s membership to be approved soon as well.

Soltenberg said Finland adds “substantial and highly capable” forces to the alliance.

President Biden celebrated Finland’s membership. He said, “When Putin launched his brutal war of aggression against the people of Ukraine, he thought he could divide Europe and NATO. He was wrong.”

Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto told reporters:

SAULI NIINISTO: It is a great day for Finland. And I want to see that it is an important day for Finland too.

Finland had a policy of neutrality since World War II, but fear of Russian aggression after the invasion of Ukraine changed that.

US Secretary of State Tony Blinken:

TONY BLINKEN: This is maybe the one thing we can thank Mr. Putin for because he once again here has precipitated something he claims to want to prevent.

Blinken and Kuleba in in Brussels / US aid » Blinken is in Brussels where he also met Tuesday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, ahead of a NATO meeting.

DMYTRO KULEBA: We will be discussing issues related to the deliveries of ammunition and weapons, and we very much appreciate everything that the United States [has] done.

The Pentagon just announced more than 2.5 billion dollars in additional aid to Ukraine.

Washington will send about $500 million in ammunition and equipment, and spend more than $2 billion to buy an array of munitions, radar, and new weapons.

Much of that aid is aimed at countering drone attacks in Ukraine in the months ahead, as Ukrainian troops gear up for a spring offensive.

Kansas trans law » The governor of Kansas is expected to veto a bill establishing stricter rules for single-sex public facilities. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: The bill requires transgender individuals to use the restrooms and changing rooms that match to the sex on their birth certificate.

The rule would also apply to jails, rape crisis centers, and domestic violence shelters.

The bill passed in both houses of the legislature with enough votes to override the governor’s veto.

Arkansas passed a similar law on Tuesday. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is expected to sign it.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Wisconsin Supreme Court » The Wisconsin Supreme Court is shifting to the left, just before it is likely to hear a major abortion case.

Pro-abortion Judge Janet Protasiewicz beat a pro-life candidate in Tuesday’s statewide election. She will replace a conservative justice who is retiring - swinging the court to a 4-to-3 liberal majority.

Political Science professor Howard Schweber:

HOWARD SCHWEBER - The current majority in Wisconsin court does not view the Wisconsin constitution for securing a right to abortion except in the most extreme of cases, it is widely expected I think correctly, that Protasiewicz say which was elected with a new court will find a much broader right to abortion.

Protasiewicz far outspent her opponent Dan Kelly in what was the most expensive state Supreme Court race in U.S. history.

I'm Kent Covington. 

Straight ahead: Analysis of the Trump indictment charges on Washington Wednesday.

Plus, Isaiah 53 set to music.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s April 5th, 2023. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Time now for Washington Wednesday. Today, the Trump indictment.

Well as you heard a few minutes ago, former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. At his arraignment yesterday in Manhattan, the judge read out 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in the first degree. Here’s District Attorney Alvin Bragg at a press conference.

ALVIN BRAGG: It's not just about one payment. It is 34 business records, 34 false statements and business records that were concealing criminal conduct. And the earlier question about New York State election law when we talked about conspiracy to promote a candidacy by unlawful means.

REICHARD: Joining us now to explain these charges and what they mean is WORLD legal correspondent Steve West. Steve was an Assistant US Attorney in North Carolina for more than 30 years. Good morning, Steve.

STEVE WEST, GUEST: Good morning, Mary.

REICHARD: Can you give us a summary of what the charges say? What does it mean to falsify business records in the first degree? Some may wonder why 34 charges for basically one alleged crime?

WEST: Sure, well the indictment alleges 34 violations of New York State law that Donald Trump falsified business records. That is, he called them one thing when they were really something else. And he did that with the intent to aid or conceal the commission of another crime. Those other crimes we heard are violations of New York State election laws in the capital federal campaign contributions, even though Trump doesn't have to be convicted of those crimes. And that's where the challenge is, was this a catch and kill scheme to bury a story or stories that might have negatively impacted Trump's campaign? Or was it an attempt to protect his family and friends from hearing this negative information? If the prosecutor can't demonstrate that intent, then falsifying charges is a misdemeanor, and it's one plagued by a statute of limitations problem, that simply means that too much time has passed to be able to charge that crime.

REICHARD: As you noted, apart from being able to demonstrate intent to defraud, the falsification of business records is a misdemeanor, not a felony. And I’d like to point out here that District Attorney Alvin Bragg has an established track record of downgrading criminal felony charges to misdemeanors … his office reported in November that he downgraded over half of his felony cases since taking office in January, 2022. So how, in this case, can Bragg justify raising a misdemeanor to a felony charge, or rather, 34 felony charges?

WEST: Well, that past practice will likely be part of defense attorneys’ argument that this is an improper and targeted prosecution of their clients, sometimes referred to as selective prosecution. But I'm really not surprised about the number of charges, something that was widely rumored and something that's also common in these cases. Multiple false statements and records that relate to essentially one event can be separately charged, each check for example. Yet I am surprised, given the broader sweep of the statement of facts, that there's not more here. The statement of facts certainly contains information, which suggests there were other payments, but these charges appear to relate only to the alleged hush money payment to one woman, Stormy Daniels.

REICHARD: Steve is there anything else you think would benefit listeners to know about this legal process?

WEST: Well, I think it's good to remember that in this case, just like in every criminal case, the prosecution still has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Donald Trump has been indicted. That means that the prosecutor met in a room with other jurors, when no one else was present, other than a court reporter and presented a summary of the evidence to those jurors. There may have been witnesses called, we don't know what happened in that room. And those jurors found probable cause to believe that a crime or crimes had been committed. Probable cause just means there's some basis for the charges, some reasonable basis. They still need to be proven.

REICHARD: Well, Steve West is WORLD’s legal correspondent. Thank you for your time.

WEST: Thank you, Mary.

EICHER: Well, as is the case with most high-profile legal cases, this one is not happening in a political vacuum. Far from it.

With an election looming next year and the race for the Republican nomination already in motion, there are several questions about what effect this will have…and is already having…on the race for 2024.

REICHARD: Joining us now to talk about the political fallout of today’s hearing is Marc Clauson. He’s a professor of History and Law at Cedarville University in Ohio. Good morning Marc.

MARC CLAUSON, GUEST: Good morning.

EICHER: In his news conference yesterday, Bragg told reporters that he is prosecuting this case now because a thorough investigation has concluded. The hush money matter has been known in the judicial district as the “zombie” case because of how many times it has resurfaced and then been discarded. Marc, what do you think of Bragg’s answer that we played for why he is prosecuting the first ever criminal case against a president while that person is campaigning for that same office?

CLAUSON: Well, you'd like to think, of course, the best. We know that when Alvin Bragg ran for the office of district attorney, he, he said that one of his his main goals was to go after Donald Trump. And this may be keeping his promise to do that. So So I unfortunately, I think it is politically motivated. That's not to say this is the first time that we've had a politically motivated prosecution. Those do occur, they have occurred in the past. But this one, of course, as you point out is particularly interesting to say the least because it's a former president.

REICHARD: So far, this indictment appears to be going according to plan for Trump’s opponents and his supporters. Opponents are happy to see Trump get his day in court while his supporters see him as a martyr of the radical left. But how could what happens in the days ahead backfire for Trump’s opponents? Conversely, how could it backfire for Trump’s supporters?

CLAUSON: Right, well, the main reason it could it could backfire is because the case is weak to begin with. We have issues already of venue and the unbiased or the biased venue. We have issues with statute of limitations, we have issues of the biased judge, potentially biased judge, and that's before the case itself. The case itself has weaknesses, because you have to deal with the issue of how do you prosecute this particular offense, which would be a misdemeanor by proving a felony on top of it, which is a federal crime to be prosecuted by the Federal District Attorney's, which they refuse to do, and so did the Federal Election Commission. So that kind of leaves you in a, in a strange situation as a prosecutor to try to try to make this case work. Now as for the other side? The fact is that his supporters, because of the fact that this is in New York City, let's assume the weakness of the case, let's assume that really there's nothing there. But he gets convicted anyway. Will that help him or hurt him? I think with his very with a very base of his base. I think he's going to look even better for them. They're going to see him as a martyr. They really are. With people in the middle, independents, people who aren't quite sure, people who are not exactly crazy about Trump personally but voted for him last time. They could be swayed away from Trump in that case, so they could be disappointed if the outcome is is a conviction of Trump.

EICHER: Marc Clauson is professor of History and Law at Cedarville University. Thanks for joining us today.

CLAUSON: Thank you.

EICHER: Well, regardless of what happens next, yesterday truly was a milestone in U.S. history, with a D.A. indicting a former, and maybe even future, President of the United States.

We spoke with a couple of attorneys who think the decision of that D-A has been misguided. You’re first going to hear from Bobby Higdon. He’s a lawyer now in private practice in Raleigh, North Carolina. But from 2017 to 2021 he was a federal prosecutor, serving as U.S. attorney for the eastern district of North Carolina.

BOBBY HIGDON: It's such an improper, in my mind, an improper place to be to have a prosecutor who has campaigned against a potential and now actual defendant. Mr. Bragg should have immediately recused himself from this matter, and allowed individuals that were not subject to those infirmities, handle it to its conclusion, make the decision about indictment about recommending to the grand jury and so forth and so on. I spent 30 years doing this. I never once looked for a crime to match up to a defendant, I found out about crimes and look to find out who did them. The opposite is happening here if you look at Mr. Bragg’s comments, and that's what's really troubling is we never want to be in a place where prosecutors are pursuing individuals just for the sake of settling scores or achieving some result. You look for a crime, then you try to figure out who committed it.

Next we’ll hear from Daniel Suhr. He’s an attorney who works on religious liberty issues, but has experience as senior adviser to the governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker, and as a law clerk in a federal appeals court. Suhr is also a contributor to WORLD Opinions.

DANIEL SUHR: We don't talk about the bill of attainder clause very often, right? But like the bill of attainder clause exists in the US Constitution, and it says, you know, you can't target one individual for going to jail. We can't pass a law that says Bobby must go to jail. But the the principle underlying it, the constitutional value is very real here, in that we don't want prosecutors running on prosecuting specific individuals, right, there's a huge gap between saying, ‘We should crack down on corrupt public corruption,’ and ‘I will go after public corruption as your DA and saying, I will go after Donald Trump, if you elect me.’ Right, there's there's a, there's a meaningful gap there, it reflects this constitutional value that's been with us since the founding.

This case is officially titled People of the State of New York v. Donald Trump.

It’s not likely to go to trial until early next year, but in the meantime, the court of public opinion will be pretty active as politicians, legal experts, and potential voters argue the case.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with Onize Ohikere, our reporter in Africa.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Kenyan protests end - We begin today’s roundup in Kenya, where an opposition leader has paused two weeks of anti-government protests.

SOUND: [Protest]

Demonstrators looted businesses and set cars and places of worship on fire.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga had called for the protests that began March 20 over his electoral loss back in August. Three people have died.

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld President William Ruto’s victory. But Odinga, who has lost five presidential bids, insisted he won.

He warned his supporters would take back the country in fresh protests some tagged as “Mega Monday.”

But in a late Sunday statement, Odinga said he has listened to religious leaders and others who have spoken to him about the crisis.

RAILA ODINGA: They have implored us to give dialogue especially during this holy period of Easter and Ramadan.

Odinga said he will follow Ruto’s call for a bipartisan parliamentary (par-luh-men-tree) resolution. But he warned the demonstrations will resume if no meaningful response emerges within one week.

Finland’s new leader - We head next to Finland, where conservative parties have taken the lead after a tightly contested vote.

SOUND: [Chanting]

The center-right National Coalition Party barely clinched the most votes Sunday. The right-wing populist Finns party and the ruling Social Democrats trailed behind the winner with nearly one percentage point difference.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who emerged as one of the world’s youngest leaders at 34 back in 2019, conceded defeat.

SANNA MARIN: [Speaking Finnish]

She says here democracy has spoken and the people made their choice.

The National Coalition Party is now tasked with forming a ruling coalition. Party leader Petteri Orpo:

PETTERI ORPO: I trust the Finish tradition to negotiate with all parties, with all parties, and try to find the best possible majority government for Finland.

Orpo’s campaign focused on a stronger economy. He also pledged continued support for Ukraine. Finland shares a land border with Russia and formally joined NATO yesterday.

Ukraine monks - We head next to Ukraine.

SOUND: [Court]

A court in Kyiv has placed a top Orthodox priest under house arrest on suspicion of justifying Russian aggression.

Metropolitan Pavel is the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, one of the most revered sites for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Monks there have resisted a March 29 deadline to vacate the complex.

The metropolitan denied the charges against him. Authorities sentenced him to two months under house arrest and placed a monitoring bracelet around his ankle.

PAVEL:  [Speaking Ukrainian]

He says here that he leaves the prosecutors to God’s judgment.

Ukraine has cracked down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church … over its historic ties to the church in Russia. The church has insisted it is loyal to Ukraine.

SOUND: [Singing supporters]

Dozens of supporters have gathered outside the monastery to oppose the monks’ eviction.

Iraq book fair — We close today in Iraq.

SOUND: [Visitors] 

Hundreds of Iraqis of all ages have climbed the steps onto a docked ship in the southern city of Basra.

The attraction? Rows of books on board the Logos Hope ship. The floating fair has sailed across several countries loaded with books since 2009.

Logos Hope’s collection includes books on science and languages, and also books for children.

SOUND: [Speaking Arabic]

This lecturer from Basra University says he came to check out music books… since they are rare in the country.

Edward David is the managing director of Logos Hope.

EDWARD DAVID: We have more than 300 people from 70 different countries right now. And the expectation, the level of interest, in wanting to experience Basra is incredible.

The Logos Hope will head to the United Arab Emirates next week.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: A little more than a week ago a series of destructive storms rolled through the south. Twenty-six people would die that day. But during one live television weather alert, a Mississippi weatherman watched as radar showed a strong tornado on the ground headed for Amory, Mississippi. Audio here from WTVA:

MATT LAUBHAN: We got a new scan coming in here as we speak. Like northside of Amory, this is coming in. Oh, man, dear Jesus. Please help them. Amen.

Matt Laubhan knew without a doubt that if people didn't act right that minute, the result would be devastating. Later, some people in the town said Laubhan’s instinct to pray made them realize just how dire the situation was—and they did take shelter immediately. The town suffered a direct hit, but no loss of life.

Laubhan talked with CBN last week:

LAUBHAN: You know, we've always taught the kids that if you have something in your heart, say it. God understands it. And in that moment I could feel that what I was saying was insufficient. So I, I do think that it just kind of came bursting out.

The praying weather man says he doesn't plan to pray regularly on the air.

But he's glad he did, when he did.

LAUBHAN: And if God can use me in any way, I just pray that He does.

That appears to be another answered prayer.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, April 5th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: With His wounds we are healed.

Those words from Isaiah 53 will be spoken and sung around the world this week, as we turn our attention to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

EICHER: Well, our friend and cohost Myrna Brown met a singer/songwriter who put that entire passage to music.

REICHARD: Yeah, let’s listen!

ADAM WRIGHT: When I think about the Word, the Bible has always been around in my life. My parents, we’d read it together when I was a kid. It was present in our church growing up.

MYRNA BROWN, CORRESPONDENT: But as a music major in college, Adam Wright says he never considered adding crescendos, chords and choirs to God’s Word. That all changed in 20-13. Wright was working as a worship director for a church in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.

WRIGHT: I had the idea. I was like, I wonder if anyone had done this before. And I found a few things and wasn’t super impressed. It really didn’t resonate with me and I said, I’m going to sit down and try to do this in my own style and see what happens.

Ten years and eight albums later, Wright is still putting passages from the Bible to music. Wright uses the ESV or the English Standard Version as his translation source. His album, With His Wounds We Are Healed, divides the end of Isaiah 52 and all of 53 into five songs or Movements that foretell the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus.

WRIGHT: You think about the beatings, the insults, being nailed to a cross and suffocating just the immense torture that he endured for his people. And so there’s a balance of mourning his suffering, but also rejoicing in the fact that it is finished.

Wright’s handling of that delicate balance is what makes this project one of the most well done and memorable Easter albums you’ll likely hear this year. Its strength hinges on the instruments Wright has curated for the project. For instance, Movement One covers the last three verses in Isaiah 52. The string instruments are vibrant and upbeat, almost dancing as the scripture reveal what Jehovah’s Servant has accomplished.

MUSIC: [Movement One: Behold my servant shall prosper. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.]

MUSIC: [MOVEMENT TWO INTRO]

In Movement Two, Wright uses swells of strings, piano flourishes, along with the mandolin and upright bass to support the first three agonizing verses of Isaiah 53.

MUSIC: [Movement Two: Who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?]

MUSIC: [Movement Three: He was pierced for our transgressions.]

If you are an admirer of the cello and its deep, rich sound, you won’t be disappointed with Movement Three, which covers verses 4 - 7 of Isaiah 53. Wright’s strong harmonies are also worth noting. And he seems to instinctively know which parts of scripture to accentuate or, in musical terms, tag.

MUSIC: [Movement Three: And with his wounds we are healed. And with his wounds we are healed.]

If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard of Adam Wright or his Corner Room ministry, it’s likely because he’s an independent artist who actually records his Scripture songs at his church in a tiny corner room.

WRIGHT: I have an old shell of a piano that I converted into a desk. I’ve got my recording equipment. I’ve got a handful of microphones and a keyboard. And I think it’s been really helpful to not think too large, but just faithfully on a very small level.

Wright says he doesn’t need to seek a bigger spotlight. He’s already seen God enlarge his territory.

SPENCER MOREAU: In about 20 minutes or so we’re going to begin a five movement musical project based on Isaiah 53.

More than 650 miles east of Birmingham, a worship band in Coppell, Texas is planning its 20-23 Good Friday service. Wright’s music will once again be featured.

GRACEPOINT CHURCH: By oppression and judgment he has taken.

This is audio from last year’s service. Worship leader Spencer Moreau says every man, woman and child at that service was engaged.

MOREAU: Everyone was leaning in. People had their Bibles opened. There was definitely this kind of gasp in the room like, "Whoa!"

MUSIC: [MOVEMENT FIVE INTRO]

Well said! Both Movements  Four and Five are hauntingly beautiful. Movement Five covers the final three verses of Isaiah 53 with piano, strings, percussion, and a choir. Wright uses all of it to paint a vivid picture of Christ’s atoning work on the cross.

There really isn’t anything to dislike about these Scripture songs. I do think, however, the five additional instrumental versions of the songs are probably unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong, the music is every bit of excellent, but the music without the inspired Word of God is like, well, a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Bottom line: Don’t miss Adam Wright’s With His Wounds We Are Healed. This is music you’ll go back to beyond Easter weekend.

SOUND: [BELLS TOLL OVER WRIGHT SINGING: Behold my servant shall prosper, he shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.]

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, April 5th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney now on the empty tomb of Easter, and how that changes the way we grieve.

JANIE CHEANEY, COMMENTATOR: Jesus wept.

That’s the verse every Sunday-school kid used to know, because it was the one you could always recite during Bible memory drills. Besides being the shortest verse in the Bible, it’s also one of the most intriguing.

Why did Jesus weep at the tomb of Lazarus, knowing that he would soon call Lazarus out of that tomb? Commentators speculate on the Lord’s sorrow at the loss, however temporary, of a beloved friend. Or perhaps Jesus was grieving the wages of sin and its effect even on pious, upstanding people like Lazarus and his sisters. Or he was contemplating the ugliness of death itself, and how the warm hand he had so often grasped, and the full lips that smiled wide in greeting and the eyes that crinkled with laughter at the corners—all that, even now beginning to shrivel on the bones. To stink, as his sister indelicately put it.

Plenty of reasons to weep, but there might have been something else as well. Did Jesus, facing the tomb of Lazarus, consider the tomb that was waiting for him?

When Jesus first heard that his friend was gravely ill, he deliberately waited for death to come. Like Jairus’s daughter, whom he described as merely sleeping, and whom he brought back from death by taking her hand and telling her to get up. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,” he told his disciples, “but I go to awaken him.” It would be his final miracle, or sign, performed so that many would believe in him. In movies and plays it’s often staged as a triumph, with Hallelujah choruses and joyful hosannas.

But after Lazarus was unbound and the witnesses joyfully moved on to make the funeral meal a feast of celebration, I’m wondering if Jesus remained at the tomb, staring into the darkness.

Just before his journey to Bethany, he had spoken to his disciples about night and day: “If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not him.” And . . . what does that have to do with Lazarus?

Perhaps this: that there’s no darkness deeper than death, and the tomb his friend stumbled out of now yawned wide for Christ himself. But. Darkness could not confine the Light of the world. He would not stumble, but kick out the back wall of that tomb—and of all tombs that hold his beloved friends.

There is weeping in Nashville for three beautiful children and three fine adults.  

But at the back of the tomb darkness breaks, for good. The Light of the world stands on the other side, smiling his welcome through our tears. He is risen, indeed.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow, the ethics of generative AI. We’ll talk about that photo of the Pope in a puff coat and talk ChatGPT with a technology ethicist.

Also, a visit to the Holy Land.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

Peter the Apostle wrote: I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” Acts chapter 11, verses 16 and 17.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.