Midday Darkness

The midday darkness is the first of the six miracles that happened during Jesus’s crucifixion (Matthew 27:45). It is the beginning of the divine procession of signs that heralded the death of Jesus Christ.

"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." (Matthew 27:45, ESV) 

At midday (the sixth hour of the day or noon), darkness came over the whole land for three hours (Matthew 27:45). At the ninth hour (3:00 in the afternoon), Jesus cried out to the Father, quoting Psalm 22:1, which was a further affirmation of Jesus’ identity (Matthew 27:46). He cried out again and gave up His spirit (Matthew 27:50). The centurion at the foot of the cross was no stranger to death. When he had observed crucifixions in the past, he had witnessed no great events or cataclysms. Jesus was different. The moment Jesus died, there was a great earthquake—so great that rocks were splitting and tombs were opening up (Matthew 27:51–53). When the centurion saw these things, he—along with others who were there—were filled with fear and recognized that “truly this was the Son of God.”

The eyewitnesses recognized that this was no ordinary death and this was no ordinary man. The things Jesus said were true, and He was who He claimed to be. It is remarkable that the centurion recognized Jesus’ true identity and that he did so when Jesus died. Some refused to recognize Jesus was the Son of God even after He was raised from the dead. This centurion and those who were working with him recognized because of what Jesus said and what they saw that “truly this was the Son of God.”