Dear Friends,
This year, Eastertime and the total solar eclipse are intertwined. The connection is potent if we pause to consider their link for us. When Jesus died on the cross, darkness covered the land for three hours, according to Luke. He, who was to have been a light to the nations (Luke 2.32) was gone. Some would describe Holy Saturday as a day of darkness as well. The living did not experience Him, but it has been the belief of many over the centuries that Jesus had descended to the dead, doing for them what He did for the living. He brought a sense of healing and completion to their lives.
The darkness of those Holy Days was not a solar eclipse. There was no eclipse in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ death. Even if there were, it would have lasted for only minutes and not all those hours. The darkness at the time of Jesus’ death and on Holy Saturday was a darkness of unseeing and loss. A darkness of confusion and despair. Not being able to access Jesus as the disciples had before or would again.
Tomorrow, people will find a vantage point to begin their vigil -- hopefully by 2:07 pm, when the moon will begin its journey across the face of the sun. Beginning at 3:20 pm, for three minutes 38 seconds, that darkness will be complete. By 4:33 pm the moon’s passage will be complete.
In a few brief moments, the total eclipse will begin and then be over. Some of us might even remember to thank God for being alive and in the right place to observe this rare, heavenly phenomenon. But what does it mean for our lives?
For one thing, the sun doesn’t disappear. It simply disappears from view briefly. God is like that in our experience. How many people have said they don’t see God, experience God as they would wish. Some even say God is absent from their life.
Darkness seems a dominant force in the eclipse and in the anguish of Good Friday and Holy Saturday…but not for long. Even as the sun emerges from beyond the moon, Jesus, the Risen One, emerges from the tomb and is alive. Truly, splendidly alive. Active in His historic time. Active in our day -- in our midst.
The eclipse is a community experience. People seem to want to be together as they see the change in the sky. They want to share their experience, and afterwards, share what it felt like, what they realized, why it mattered.
Our experience of the Risen Christ is also a community event. If we can pass from the total darkness of the eclipse to resume the fullness of day, what does that tell us about Christ’s presence in the here and now?
After our experience of the eclipse, the words of John may mean more to us than they used to: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overwhelm it.” (John1.5)
What would it be like if we were as enamored of the resurrection as we are of the eclipse? In fact, we have gotten used to believing in Christ’s resurrection over time, “Ah, yes,” we say, “Jesus was raised up and lives with us forever.” We treat the Resurrection of Jesus as we treat other long-lasting loves of our lives -- without the awe that it rightly inspires.
Is it just possible that the Eastertime-eclipse could help us, as individuals and a community, to appreciate the Risen Lord that much more?
~ Sister Joan Sobala
