There was Darkenss over the whole land

Introduction

There are certain important themes that float all the way through the Bible that have their final fulfillment in the cross or at least are there present. You see the idea of Sacrifice, its pretty well documented that on the cross Jesus is the great sacrifice for our sins. You see the Idea of Exile…Jesus is carried outside the walls of the city. You see the theme of passover, shame and honor. The theme I wanted to spend a few minutes on is darkness and light.

Genesis 1:1–4 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

Before there is anything in the Bible there is only the Chaos, the void in the deep. Waters… (note in Ex Nihilo)This Chaos is there before God makes any revelation of himself.

Let there be light! And what does the light do? It dispenses the chaos. Suddenly there is not a darkness touching everything. There is Light and light give time, and it give order.

This is not just about what you could see at the beginning of all things, its not just about marking the first days. It is also about relation. In Genesis light is revelation brought in by Gods Word “Let there be light.” Calvery is about extinguishing revelation and losing the light…loosing the word.

There is a quote I love about revelation from Helen Keller about the day she discovered language. : We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.

The word brought consciousness, it brought light. Suddenly her life was not a series of unexplained sensations. It was organized by language by words, and it was as if that blind woman could see. We see because God is light and he give us revelation

So we go back to our text. for this morning

Mark 15:33 ESV

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

The God who spoke creation into existence is being killed by his own created ones. The bringer of light and revelation mocked and spit on. And in response the Land goes dark.

Jesus even predicts this. Earlier in the Gospel narratives he says the following And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (Jn 3:19).

Jesus does not let the people off the hook for making a mistake. For making a thoughtful evaluation of all the facts and getting it wrong. Jesus pronounces judgement on the people. They love darkness rather than light. Their works were evil. The people preferred what was wrong to what was right.

This should cause us a moment of introspection for we are those same people who love darkness instead of light. We call into question and systematically dismantle the very things the very order around us. Marriage, family, sex, life, what is a human, who is God. On and on we try and play god embracing darkness instead of light. And nowhere is that clearer than on the cross as the people crucify the Lord, attempting to snuff out light.

The Irony is that the punishment for such wickedness is being paid as you watch the crime take place. The wickedness and sin of forsaking and crucifying the light of the world is poured onto Jesus and he is paying that price on the cross.

We are all guilty of rejecting light and embracing darkness. And the only way to be cleared of our crime is for one to pay the price who has never sinned. That is Christ on the cross. Holy week is end of lent where we look at the cross with grief that Jesus the innocent is killed and we look with grief because he is there because of our sin.

The light of the world extinguished, revelation forsaken, because we love darkness more than light. Brother and sisters we can live forever because Jesus has become the object of our rejection. We should be forsaken, but instead Jesus is forsaken. Jesus should be exalted, and instead at Easter we celebrate that we are exalted.

This week will end in celebration. Keep one eye there. But for this moment let us focus on the light. Jesus is the light of the world and we rejected him because we loved wickedness.

But because of his triumph on the cross, he will give us the Holy Spirit that makes in us new hearts that not want light and can reorder our lives, not to be extinguishers of light but bringers of light.

Let us now return our attention onto our light giving God as he meets us at the table giving us grace and mercy where there should have been judgement. Where he give us spiritual nourishment instead of spiritual abandonment.