About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice

Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This man is calling for Elijah!" Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink. The rest said, "Let him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save him." And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!"

- Matthew 27:45-54

In yesterday's reading (THIS IS JESUS - KING OF THE JEWS), we read of Jesus' Crucifixion, and the many elements prefigured in scripture. Today we continue with this picture of Crucifixion, and Jesus' death on the Cross.

Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. My study bible has a note which applies to today's entire reading, as follows: "The details of his Crucifixion were written in the Old Testament, 'It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; the lights will diminish. It shall be one day which is known to the Lord--neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light' (Zech. 14:6,7; see also Amos 8:9)." The sixth hour corresponds to noon, so the sixth to the ninth hour is a period of darkness from noon until three o'clock in the afternoon.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This man is calling for Elijah!" Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink. The rest said, "Let him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save him." My study bible notes here on verse 46: "Jesus repeats a passage from Psalm 22, which corresponds exactly to the Crucifixion. Taken by itself, without any consideration of what follows, his cry of My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? could be interpreted as an expression of despair. Since he appropriated our nature, Jesus experiences true separation from God in his humanity, knowing suffering and distress, and yet he does not despair. He speaks these words in the name of humanity, to put an end to the alienation of man from God. For as God He is never forsaken by the Father. With this cry humanity is accepted and saved." As we noted in yesterday's reading and commentary, much of what happens in this scene of Jesus' Crucifixion is prefigured in Psalm 22. The quotation in yesterday's reading ("They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots") is from Psalm 22:18. And the mocking words of the temple leadership and others is also from Psalm 22 (v. 8): "He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!" Let us understand this picture of what is to take place here, repeated from the Psalm, and that Jesus prays the Psalm, knowing and understanding his truth, and what is happening to him - and feeling all in his human nature. I encourage a full reading of the Psalm, to understand the fullness of the picture in prophesy contained there.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. My study bible says that, "Yielded up his spirit shows his death was a voluntary separation of the soul from the body, yet both remain in a binding relationship with his divine nature."

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split . . . My study bible notes here: "The veil or curtain that separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple was a symbol of the separation between God and man. Christ's death opens the way into the presence of God for all people. Because his flesh, the true veil (Heb. 10:20), is dishonored, the figurative veil of the temple is torn in two. The rocks were split, because he is the spiritual Rock' (1 Cor. 10:4)."

. . . and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. My study bible notes, "The completeness and scope of the salvation won by Christ are signified in the resurrection of the saints, the righteous of the Old Testament. Considering this, no one ever need wonder whether the Old Testament saints are also saved. The holy city (v. 53) where the saints appeared is an icon of the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 11:10; 12:22-23; 13:14; Rev. 3:12; 21:2-22:5)." We are getting pictures upon pictures, reflection upon reflection. Jesus prays the Psalm which prefigures his Crucifixion and all the events that we read about in this picture of what is happening; and at the same time, his death and its immediate aftermath gives us a picture of what is and what is to come, an icon of the heavenly city.

So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!" A note in my study bible reads, "The centurion, a Gentile, realizes Jesus has dominion over nature, and therefore acknowledge He is the Son of God -- something the Jews were unwilling to do. Tradition knows this soldier as St. Longinos." Who is saved, and who is not? Tradition has it that this centurion became a saint of the early church.

The aftermath of this scene of the Cross is powerful in its immediate effects, and its transformational nature in us. Reality overlaps in this scene central to our understanding not only of faith, but which will also split history (literally, in the dating of years, before and after). All is central here, and immediately begins to create and build the effects of this life of Jesus lived in the world. Who was he really? How does the Crucifixion shape our understanding of life and of the world, and of the spiritual reality we receive and enter into when we pray? Here in this scene of man and God, earthly and divine, we really have it all: the prophecy of the Old Testament, and its saints risen, Jerusalem transformed into an icon of the eternal heavenly Jerusalem, and the power of the new life of Spirit that will transform the world, the centurion changed and transformed. All of it is there. It's as if this central picture becomes the focal point for all of history, and indeed for all of a spiritual understanding that would shape the way we see the Old Scriptures as well. He endured the worst of the worst, the gravest injustice our world offers. And yet, we are told, even among those who were most instrumental in acting it out would be his followers (the centurion). This single, transforming act has, in my opinion, done much to shape history ever since: not simply the history of belief, of faith and the church, and notions of spiritual reality, but of our entire systems of justice, our understanding of how the world can penalize the innocent, an awareness that what seems to be on the surface "the facts," may not be the truth at all. Before this transforming act, this voluntary death, the scapegoat was a figure that deserved the injustice it received at the hands of men. (See the works of Rene Girard for more on this subject.) But most of all, perhaps, we have this great transformational figure of God and man on the Cross. We know that whatever we go through, He has been there, and He has a way for us to walk through it. He offers us his choice, always. We reach to Him in prayer, to find His Way for us. It is there for each one, and this will never change.