Letter on Black Friday

[Guest guest]

[An excerpt from a letter to a friend who is Christian, among other things:]

 

It is the black day, and I almost hesitate to write to you now...

 

Did you ever notice what the gospel writers say happened when Jesus died?

Mark, the earliest writer (thought to have been a young man who knew Peter

in Rome), says "there was darkness over the whole land" from the 6th hour

until the 9th hour. And then "Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his

last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom."

That could be a symbolic statement, but Mark is not a Gnostic writer, not

given to heavy symbolism... he writes in a fairly simple and

straightforward way.

 

Matthew, who was certainly a Jew and was concerned with Jesus' genealogy

and with relating his life to the words of the Jewish prophets, says

specifically that there was an earthquake. He also reports "darkness over

the whole land" from the 6th hour until the 9th hour. Then Jesus died.

> And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to

>bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were

>opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised...

>When the centurion and those who were with him [the Roman soldiers at

>Golgotha], keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took

>place, they were filled with awe, and said, "Truly this was a son of God!"

 

He also reports another earthquake later:

> Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week,

>Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre. And behold,

>there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from

>heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.

 

Luke, who was writing "an orderly account" for a man with a Greek name,

Theophilus, "concerning the things of which you have been informed,"

reports:

> It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the

>whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed; and the

>curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud

>voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" And having said

>that he breathed his last.

 

A footnote in the RSV says,

>Or _the sun was eclipsed._ Other ancient authorities read _the sun was

>darkened"

 

So there was darkness that day in Jerusalem and possibly an eclipse. At

about the time Jesus died, there was an earthquake, sufficient to split

rock. In the area of rock tombs, rocks were moved about and apparently

some bodies were uncovered or unearthed. A later quake or after-shock

moved the stone away from the doorway of Jesus' "rock-hewn" tomb. If the

line about the veil of the temple being torn is not symbolic, it may mean

that there was earthquake damage in the temple itself at the time of the

first quake. No wonder the Roman guards at Golgotha were scared!