Darkness Covered the Earth

Darkness covered the earth. It was the eclipse of the Sun. Darkness covered the human heart. It was the eclipse of the Son. It's very difficult to grope about in the darkness we can trip and stumble on something. In the darkness we trip over a thorn bush. What a terrible thing to place in somebody's path. What a terrible thing to make a crown for a king. In the darkness we trip over a rope. They tugged his hands and feet with rope to the holes and nailed the one hand securely while they were stretching the other toward the other hole and then they dragged his whole body downward until his feet reached the hole. For many centuries they used the rope to hang other innocent people. We go farther in the darkness. We stumble upon the nails. There are three nails: two short and sharp nails for the hands and a long blunt nail for the feet to tear the muscles and bruise the bones. We go farther in the darkness. We stumble upon the lance, a deadly weapon used now to test the presence of death. In Ezekiel's vision the water flowed from the side of the Temple and healed and gave life. The water and the blood flowed from the side of the New Temple to bring healing and life. We must be getting near to the Temple in the darkness for we can hear sounds in the darkness: Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The cry of the Psalmist in Psalm 22

Why so far from my call for help, from my cries of anguish? The cry of the poor man in the darkness:

My God, I call by day, but you do not answer; by night, but I have no relief.

 We must be getting near to the Temple in the darkness for we can see a faint glow. In the days of Moses the glory of  the Lord led the people of Israel with a column of fire. The shekinah, the glory of the Lord hovered over the ark of the covenant like a glow. In Ezekiel's vision the shekinah, the glory of the Lord leaves the Temple and ascends on high in the day of distress. And now the light on the Body of the new Temple seems to be growing dim and then in the moment of total darkness the body is carried in the darkness of a new tomb and the darkness is there in the tomb. A circular stone is rolled over the face of the tomb. It  symbolizes the cycle of life and death, life and death, life and death that has been with the human race since the fall. But then someone will ask the useless question, "Who will roll back the stone for us?" useless because the stone has already been rolled back with the break of the new dawn.