Dark with Mystery

‘There is no science in this world like physics. Nothing comes close to the precision with which physics enables you to understand the world around you. It's the laws of physics that allow us to say exactly what time the sun is going to rise. What time the eclipse is going to begin. What time the eclipse is going to end.’ Neil deGrasse Tyson - an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator

I drove out of the parking lot in the mysteriously reduced sunlight during the recent solar eclipse. I knew why everything was looking different, why the light was muted, having that eerie glow. Yet still it bothered me. When we reached home and turned on the television to watch what was happening elsewhere, the full majesty and mystery of this natural phenomenon became clear. I can well understand why there are people who travel great distances each time a total eclipse cones around, just to experience it again and again.

The pictures of this event have been awe-inspiring even in this age of instant communication through the phone, television, and over the internet - just some of so many new and exciting advances of the last 50 years. Yet even with all of this, we were amazed! We know that the earth with its moon revolves around the sun, We knew that what we were seeing was the moon coming between the earth and the sun. We were even able to predict just where the eclipse would be total and when. But the actual phenomenon still had the power to amaze us…one might almost say to strike us dumb with wonder.

Total eclipses were not unknown in the ancient world with several being recorded. According to Wikipedia, during the 1st century there were 248 solar eclipses of which 58 were total. How would these eclipses, whether partial or the total, affect people who had no idea what was happening? I can only surmise the fear, the anxiety that would accompany them along with the relief when they passed. ‘Knowing’, as they did, that the earth was flat and the centre of the universe, this was surely a sign from the gods that they were displeased!

So is it any wonder that we see what well might be a total eclipse occurring in three of the gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke. The earliest of these,Mark, wrote around 80 years after the crucifixion: ’At noon the sky became extremely dark. The darkness lasted three hours…’ [Mark15:33 MSG] Matthews version was similar. Then around 90 AD Luke elaborated just bit. ‘By now it was noon. The whole earth became dark, the darkness lasting three hours—a total blackout.’ Luke 23: 44, 45 MSG]. It is not hard to see how their memories of an eclipse could have been woven into their stories of the crucifixion. It would only serve to enhance the feelings of fear and anxiety in their story.

’The sun grew dark with mystery’ And so these words, from the hymn ‘ The Holy City’, flashed through my mind I drove away...

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