I know many people are excited about seeing the eclipse today. Some of them are traveling to see “totality.” We will have a partial one here, while still close to the path, and are looking forward to it with special glasses at the ready.
Given all that, I thought I’d share a thought that was new to me when we discussed it this year at Easter. Right before Jesus died on the cross, both Matthew and Mark tell us, “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” (Jesus died the 9th hour.)
I was always thinking metaphorically, or you know, maybe dark storm clouds. But my husband has always assumed it was an eclipse. Wow. That that possibility had never occured to me.
Then after Jesus died, there was an earthquake too. Just saying, but we had an earthquake on Friday (and yes, it shook our house quite a lot!) and now an eclipse on Monday. Both separately are incredibly rare. But together in the same week? Beyond unlikely.
Makes you kind of wonder how such things could have been orchestrated with perfect timing for the crucifixion, doesn’t it? We are talking about power so HUGE it is mind-boggling to contemplate.
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The ” weather ” events associated with the gospel accounts of Jesus’ death are best regarded as artistic touches, not literal description. Albert Schweizer’s 1908 ” The Quest of the Hisrorical Jesus ” remains the best summary of what is known about the ” historical ” Jesus. That is next to nothing.
I think we’re faced with a paradox. We can affirm that Jesus lived and died in our history, but our history is largely irrecoverable. -
A great deal could be said about this topic but I had always assumed that there was an eclipse as well and a real earthquake! We know that our state of thought creates our experience. Some years ago when the tidal wave hit Aceh and demolished the whole area I wasn’t at all surprised as there had been a lot in the news about the corruption and gang warfare in the area for some time . The immediate thought that came to me was that the immense dissension in that place was “ reflected” by its environmental destruction. (Note MBE states that the only power of evil is to destroy itself)
So getting back to Jesus on that terrible day… can you IMAGINE the intensity of darkness that fell upon the hearts and minds of all those who knew and understood / followed Jesus!? Imagine the immense and deeply felt rocking of the people’s very foundations of hope when this happened?! As for the veil of the temple being ripped … from what I’ve learned this was no “ veil” as we think of one ( thin and filmy material) . It was a large, thick, richly embroidered material. This thing was reversed to an extent as it was an important part of the Pharisees temple . Can you imagine the intensity of feeling against the symbol of what killed Jesus ? The strong wind was the starting point of the change that came about after the crucifixion as the “followers of the Way” as the early Christians were called became very strong and numerous after this . To me the proverbial winds of change ,( that we still say today) started with the wind that started Christianity and showed the people and I’m sure , the Pharisees what they had done.
Just because these events may seem like artistic embellishments because they seem unbelievable doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. Everything Jesus did must have seemed unbelievable at the time but they happened.
Nothing is impossible to God . -
This makes me think of Sir Arthur Eddington’s photo of the 1919 solar eclipse, proving Einstein’s theory that light bends. But more fascinating than that was his spirituality:
“…it is difficult for the matter of fact physicist to accept the view that the substratum of everything is of mental character. But no one can deny that mind is the first and most direct thing in our experience, and all else is remote inference.”
We can say things like that freely without fear today. Not so much 2000 years ago.
