Station thirteen: Darkness covers the earth

Bible reading

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Luke 23:44-49 (NIV)​

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Pause

As Jesus was dying on the cross, at mid-day, when the sun is usually at its brightest, darkness descended on the land. This must have been very scary. It meant that everyone, not just those at the foot of the cross, knew that something out of the ordinary was happening. I wonder what the chief priests and Pilate thought as they sat in the homes and palaces. Can you imagine the conversations later, as people shared their stories of what they were doing when it went dark and thought about what it might mean? Early in John’s gospel, Jesus is described as the light of the world, and Jesus talks to his disciples about being light. As the life drains from Jesus, a new type of darkness covers the earth. Christians believe that when the world feels full of darkness we can pray to Jesus and ask him to bring his light.

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Ponder

The children from St Nicolas CofE School, Nuneaton, produced this wonderful collage of what Jesus’ death means to the world. I love the way that the cross glows gold in the dark sky and brings down colours from heaven to the earth. What do you think it means when John says of Jesus:

• “ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”?