And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
Comment: It is important to remember that the day began in Jesus’ time at what is to us 6am and our noon was the sixth hour etc. Jesus is the light of the world. Blackness is the opposite to light. At the crossing of the Red Sea, God lightened the way for the escaping Israelis and turned His back on the ensuing Egyptians so that for them it was black. Blackness is often seen as the colour of evil. Can we read anything into this opening sentence when it says that ‘there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour‘? The very next sentence is Jesus cry “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Had God turned His back on His own Son? Only the remaining partner of a ‘beautiful’ union or the parent of a child whose child is ripped from them in some horrible way can begin to understand the anguish of Jesus’ cry! This separation made all of His physical suffering not less tragic but insignificant in comparison to an broken eternal relationship!
‘And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.’ John in his gospel tells us what Jesus cried out. ‘It is finished‘ is the often English translation of the Greek, which is probably better translated ‘It stands complete’! The ‘finished’ doesn’t mean ‘I’m finished’ but emphatically ‘I’ve done what I was sent to do!’ And Mark tells us in very plain terms, if we understand the Old Testament Scriptures, that God heard the triumphant cry of Jesus! The heavy veil which separated the people from the mercy seat of God in the temple was torn from top to bottom to open away for sinful people to enter into the very Presence of God! And startlingly even a Roman Centurion could see what the Jewish leaders had failed to see! Can you?
2 Corinthians 5: 21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Prayer: I fall to my knees, in thankfulness and adoration, Lord Jesus.
As I read it! 