FRIDAY of PASSION WEEK -- When Darkness Reigns

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

-- Mark 14:3-5

The most startling thing about Friday, of course, is Jesus hanging on a cross.  He hung there for six hours, from 9am till 3pm – A relatively short period of time to hang on a cross before dying.  It would typically take 12 to 24 hours for a person to die from crucifixion, depending on two things: (1) How badly the person had been beaten before being placed on the cross, (2) How quickly the Roman officials wanted the person to die.  If they wanted to speed things up they would break the person’s legs and stab them with a sword.  The stabbing would have the affect of draining the blood, and thus weakening the victim, and the broken legs would make it harder for them to lift themselves up on the cross. Unable to do that, the person would quickly suffocate to death. Jesus dying within six hours on the cross meant that they had already beaten him to within an inch of his life before placing him on the cross.  It meant that everyone was in a hurry to get this crucifixion over with.  So … six hours wasn’t very long.  Of course, if you’re the one being crucified, six minutes on a cross is too long.

Early Friday morning, while most of Jerusalem was asleep, Jesus was apprehended – Sold out by one of his closest followers.  He was taken to the house Annas, the patriarch of the High Priestly class.  Annas bought and controlled the high priesthood for more than thirty years.  For most of the first half of the first century Annas or one of his sons sat on the throne of the High Priest in Jerusalem. And he had become unimaginably rich in the process.  Imagine controlling a $500 million-dollar-a-year business for more than 30 years. At the time of Jesus’ arrest, it was Annas’ son-in-law, Caiphas, who was tapped to actually hold the title of High Priest.  But make no mistake about it – Annas was the power behind the High Priesthood.  That’s why Jesus was taken first to the house of Annas.  Annas then sent him to the house of Caiphas, so that he could be officially charged.

According to Jewish law, the trial of Jesus was illegal on numerous grounds.  It was held at night.  There were strict rules against that.  The full council was not there.  They didn’t have a quorum.  They had decided that Jesus needed to go.  It was a setup.  Everyone knew it.  The false witnesses. The chief priests.  Pontius Pilate. Herod.  They all knew that it was a setup. Of course, none of that matters when you believe that the ends justify the means.  Jesus has become too popular as a prophet and potential Messiah … he was too much of a threat to the ruling elite in Jerusalem.  He had to go. 

The crucifixion, then, was no accident of circumstance.  It wasn’t a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  It was a well-orchestrated, strategic move by the Jerusalem ruling elite to protect and solidify their power base.  Jesus was someone they had been concerned about for a considerable time, and as that concern grew to a fever pitch it became simply a matter of waiting for the optimum moment. Timing is everything.  Once Annas gave the green light, the dominos started falling.  But the dominos had been in place for quite awhile. 

By nine, Friday morning, Jesus was hanging on the cross, dying in agony.  Three hours later, at noon, everything went dark.  God covered the sun with his hand.  If you have ever suffered a devastating loss you can probably understand how the light seems to go out of your life.  Friday was the day that darkness reigned.

It would take a generation of post-resurrection witnesses to interpret exactly what happened in the darkness. 

Here are some of their conclusions:

“For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him”  (Hebrews 9:24-28).

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation …” (Colossians 1:19-22)

“He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin” (1 Peter 4:1).

In the darkness Jesus took all our sin into himself so that when he died, it would die with him.  Thank God it worked.

Reflection and Action

Take time today to reflect on how your sins have hurt you and those you love.  Thank God that he has eradicated those sins and will heal your pain.

Call someone you love and tell them how you feel about them.