The physical torture of crucifixion, with its excruciating pain, was designed by the ruling authorities to send waves of darkness and fear into the victim. But for Jesus there was also the emotional darkness of being ridiculed, abandoned, and rejected by His own people, including His dear friends and disciples.
In earlier days, Jesus had known the joy and happiness of being surrounded by his disciples and the eager crowds. Jesus thoroughly enjoyed his earthly ministry, and delighted in human companionship, even though it sometimes caused him painful disappointment, frustration, and grief.
But the pain of feeling alone, abandoned, and forsaken, that he now felt on the crucifixion cross was deeper and more severe than all the pains that he had previously suffered.
After a whole night of being captured, arrested and led from courtroom to courtroom, being repeatedly questioned and taunted, he was tortured and sentenced to death by crucifixion. His sufferings increased as he was led out to Golgotha and nailed to a cross between two criminals. Jesus had hung on the cross for three hours before noon, and then the heavens went dark and silent, covering the whole world in darkness, “for the sun stop shinning.” (Luke 23:45).
In their stories of Jesus’ crucifixion, Mark, Matthew, and Luke record that “At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.” (Mk. 15:33). For three additional hours, Jesus suffered the bleeding pains of physical beatings, crucifixion torture, and thirst; now intensified by total darkness.
This unusual darkness was both a physical reality of the world around Jesus, as well as an accurate description of what Jesus was experiencing emotionally and spiritually. As each moment passed, the darkness deepened until it overwhelmed His whole being of body, soul, and spirit, and he could no longer see nor hear his Father.
Jesus felt utterly alone. There was no one nearby who could fully understand and empathize with him and his suffering? Nobody! We hear Jesus’ heart-wrenching pain when he verbalizes his agony in crying out, “My God, my God, why ….. why this darkness, why have you forsaken me?”
We ask, where was God on that terrible dark Friday? I believe the scriptures would confirm that God was there on the cross, suffering with His Son as he made the ultimate sacrifice of his life for all the sins of the world. God was there waiting for the moment of victory, when Jesus could loudly declare his salvation work completed, “It is finished. …bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30).
And in that very moment, God dramatically and gloriously burst forth with earth-shaking light that completely tore apart the temple curtain, opening the way for us humans to experience an intimate relationship with Himself. Furthermore, witnessing this glorious seismic event, caused a centurion to testify, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (Mk. 15:38-39).
Like mine, most everyone’s journey through life is interrupted by unexpected and painful tragedy. And at such times we also may feel that God has forgotten or forsaken us, or that our friends cannot understand what we are experiencing. Such feelings can be a shattering, crushing experience. And that is why I take comfort and am encouraged each time I read the story of Jesus’ crucifixion experience, because it reassures me that Jesus fully understands and identifies with my sufferings.
Furthermore, by his example, Jesus shows us that the way to journey through the painful dark valleys of life, is to cry out, “My God, my God, why?” For when we do, we can find enabling comfort and strength in the Father’s promises of forever presence and overwhelming love for us.
For those of us who choose not to make a quick leap from the wondrous “messianic revealing” light of Palm Sunday to the glorious “resurrection light” of Easter Sunday, the discovery that God is very much present in the awful suffering darkness of Holy Week is most encouraging. For it teaches us, if we are listening, that when we feel most alone, suffering in darkness, God is with us. As the psalmist declares in Psalm 139 – “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? …if I make my bed in depths, you are there. …even the darkness will not be dark to you;” Amen!
The words of an old hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” are now ringing in my ears as my response. May they lead you into appropriate remembrance and worship during Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
“O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down, now scornfully surrounded with thorns, thine only crown! O sacred Head, what glory, what bliss till now was thine! Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call thee mine.”
“What thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners’ gain. Mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain. Lo, here I fall, my Savior! “Tis I deserve thy place. Look on me with thy favor, vouch-safe to me they grace.”
“What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest friend, for this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end? O make me thine forever, and should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never, outlive my love to thee.”
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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – April 5, 2023
Ray M. Geigley
Healing Rays of Righteousness 
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