Day 32 :: Darkness
“When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.”
Mark 15:33
“HELLO!
Makes you notice doesn’t it, a little bit of darkness. Refines the senses. Focuses the mind.
It’s time to enjoy the big screen experience, with no distractions, no sudden ringtones, no glaring screens, no talking.”
If you’ve been to a Vue cinema, you’ll have heard this message. The trailers stop, the lights go down, the voice booms ‘HELLO!’
It’s an intentionally stark piece of communication, designed to hush the crowd by grabbing their attention with the combination of darkness and silence, followed by the loud greeting. And it works!
As the sun-dials ticked over to 12pm in Jerusalem, they suddenly stopped working.
It was the day that Jesus hung on the cross. He’d been mocked, beaten, tortured, and nailed to big lumps of wood. And everything went dark.
But why the darkness? This was no coincidental solar eclipse. The Passover happened during full moon, and a solar eclipse can only happen during a new moon.
And in that day—
this is the declaration of the Lord GOD—
I will make the sun go down at noon;
I will darken the land in the daytime.
…I will make that grief
like mourning for an only son
and its outcome like a bitter day.
Amos 8:9-10
Amos prophesied this day and this darkness. It came as a mourning for God’s one and only Son on the most bitter of days.
Darkness was also a sign of God’s curse. At the Exodus, as God’s people were freed from slavery in Egypt, there was darkness across the land as the Passover lambs were slain.
At 12pm the daily evening sacrifices would have usually been offered at the temple, so Jesus hung on the cross as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered. This time though, the ultimate sacrifice was being made. From this moment onwards, lambs would no longer need to die in the temple. The true lamb was dying to take away the sins of the world. He was taking on the curse deserved for sinners.
For three hours, darkness engulfed the land by God’s decree, as his Son was abandoned. Creation bowed to mourn its’ Creator.
The darkness of the cross was a sharp message. It was both the greatest travesty in history, and the greatest victory in history. The sinless Saviour became sin, so that he might take the fullness of judgement for his people.
“For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.”
2 Corinthians 4:6
This moment of very real darkness is the source of true light. In this dark world, we need to hear the light of the Gospel clearly. When we confess our dark, sinful, ruined hearts, we find light at the cross. There Jesus took the punishment for every lustful thought, every angry word, every violent action, every selfish desire, every proud motive, and the rest.
‘The vilest offender who truly believes,
that moment from Jesus, a pardon receives.’
There is no sin so vile, so dark, that it cannot be forgiven. There is no person who is so far gone that they can’t come to Jesus. There is no dark suffering that we might endure that cannot be overcome. The light of the world took on darkness, so that his people might live in his light. Let’s confess our darkness, praise Jesus for taking it on the cross, and live in his light today.
Passages to read: Mark 15:33, Matthew 27:45, Luke 23:44-45a
A thought to remember: Jesus is the light of the world
A question to ask: How might you be tempted to live in darkness rather than in the light of Jesus?
A song to sing: To God Be The Glory