Sun Stopped Shining.

Thoughts from Luke 23:44-49.

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining.

It is high noon. A time normally for the sun to shine brightly on an ordinary day. Today is not ordinary. From noon to 3pm there is a marked contrast to an ordinary day. The normally light hours are dark that day. The sun stopped shining. We are not told that it was cloud cover. The sun that burns at 10,000 degrees fahrenheit, stopped shining. Darkness covers the whole land.

And the curtain of the temple is torn in two.

Something earth shaking is happening. The entrance into the glorious, holy presence of God is being opened. Ripped open even. Torn in two, revealing that the holiness of God is accessible. The glory of God is invitational. All while darkness seems to be winning.

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit My Spirit.”

The Savior’s last words.Words of intimacy. Words of trust. Words of surrender. Abba, Your hands, my spirit. Talking to His Abba right in the thick of the sun standing still. Right in the thick of no light. Right in the thick of darkness. It’s so dark and Abba and son are talking. God the Son knows how deeply Abba Father listens in the dark. He knows.

When He had said this, He breathed His last.

At these words, my heart grows still. I am quieted. My soul hears their echo because somehow I know those words are for me. And you. Can you hear that last breath escaping those holy lungs? And literally, only God knows what the darkness beyond the darkness that the Savior entered was like.

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”

Seeing in the dark. The centurion could see the light of the savior right in the midst of the complete darkness. The contrast is so bright. That light stands out so radiantly in darkness. The light of righteousness in a dark world. In a dark heart.

When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. And when light shines brightly in the darkest dark, the light is hard to take in. Our heart eyes squint. We can barely take it in. We can’t fully fathom the magnitude of this light. And some don’t want the light.

But all those who knew Him, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

You can know this light that you are intrigued by. You are invited out of the darkness and into the glorious light. Wait for it dear heart. Wait for it.

Darkness covers our hearts. It is the darkest dark.

And there is invitation to flood the darkness with glorious light.

Talk to Abba about flooding your darkness with light.

The lighting of my heart comes at the greatest cost to the Savior.

He breathed it in and breathed His last.

May praise erupt out of the darkness in these hearts.

May we be overwhelmingly drawn into the light of Jesus Christ.

Even when the sun stops shining and our hearts are the darkest dark.

Now, we wait for it.

We wait for it to burst forth.

Jesus, we honor you in what you experienced in the darkest of dark.

We don't know about it.

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.