Don't Fear the Dark: Part 3

"No Trespassing” Signs Don’t Scare Jesus

We’ve all seen the signs: 'No Trespassing.' Do not enter. My favorites: “We’re tired of hiding the bodies,” and “Prayer is the best way to meet God; trespassing is the fastest.” As a teenager, I ignored those signs for dumb reasons (ask me about the egging incident, the police spotlight, and me camouflaged as a bush). Jesus ignored them for holy reasons.

In Mark 1, the Spirit drives Jesus into the Judean wilderness—enemy territory in Israel’s imagination. That’s where demons dwell, and hope goes to evaporate. Mark adds the detail: “He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him.” Translation: where Adam lost the plot, the Second Adam starts repossessing the property. Cue heavenly “No, you get off My lawn.”

Jesus doesn’t stop at deserts. He walks on the chaos of the sea (Matthew 14), like God “treading the waves” (Job 9:8). That’s the ultimate tough-guy move—Hollywood does slow-mo from explosions; Jesus does brisk-walk on whitecaps. He feeds crowds on both sides of the border—twelve baskets in Israel (team hometown), seven in the Decapolis (team “other people”). He has to go through Samaria when everyone else sets their GPS to “avoid discomfort.” And at Caesarea Philippi—the spiritual Vegas of His day—He plants a flag: “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

So here’s our play this week: stop treating complex spaces like off-limits zones. The tense workplace, the skeptic group chat, the neighbor with the inflatable 12-foot werewolf—Jesus is already there. You’re the porch light.

And yes, flip it on for Halloween/Reformation weekend. Offer good candy (full-size bars, not those dentist samples that taste like regret). Offer prayer. Offer presence. Let your house whisper, “You’re welcome here.”

Don’t fear the enemy’s territory. The earth is the Lord’s—and every square inch is reclaimable.

Prayer: Jesus, drive me where I’d rather not go—and make me a porch light with delicious candy. Amen