Deleted Scenes From "The Passion Of The Christ"

Deleted Scenes from “The Passion”

Matthew 27:45-54

http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/DeletedScenes.html

Read the crucifixion story and you’ll find many incredible aspects which fell to the cutting room floor in film production of The Passion, not the least of which is the explanation of why Jesus did it and what to do next…how to be saved as a result! The supernatural miracles which took place got little or no attention.

Many people in your life are searching like that Ethiopian Eunuch that Philip talked to in Acts, and just need someone to guide them…look for those opportunities!

Scripture records a number of supernatural phenomena that occurred while Jesus hung on the cross. Those events were God’s own supernatural commentary on the cross. They gave proof that the execution taking place that day was an event of cosmic importance.

The routes to the city that day were jammed with pilgrims coming and going as they prepared to celebrate Passover. Few if any of them realized what a monumental event was occurring at Calvary. God’s Lamb was dying on that very Passover to provide forgiveness for all the sins of all the redeemed of all time. But relatively few were taking notice.

But then suddenly all nature seemed to stop and pay attention.

THE SUN DARKENED

The first of the miraculous signs that accompanied Jesus’ death was the darkening of the

sky. Matthew writes in

Matthew 27:45

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

The sixth hour would have been noon. At the precise moment when the noon sun should have been brightest in the sky, darkness fell over all the land, and remained for three hours.

This was probably not a total blackness, but rather a severe darkening of the normal

daylight intensity of the sun. “Over all the land” is an expression that might refer to the land

of Israel, or it could refer to the whole world. I’m inclined to think that the sun itself was dimmed, so that the darkness would have been universal, and not limited to the local area surrounding Jerusalem.

As a matter of fact, according to some of the Church Fathers, the supernatural darkness

that accompanied the crucifixion was noticed throughout the world at the time. Tertullian

mentioned this event in his Apologeticum—“At the moment of Christ’s death, the light departed from the sun, and the land was darkened at noonday, which wonder is related in your own annals and is preserved in your archives to this day.”

The darkness could not have been caused by a solar eclipse, because Passover always fell

on a full moon, and a solar eclipse (caused when the moon gets between earth and sun,

blocking the sun’s light) would be out of the question during the full moon. But God is

certainly able to dim the sun’s light, and has many times in order to make a statement:

During Moses’ time, darkness had fallen in Egypt because a plague of locusts was

so thick that the flying insects had blocked the sun (Exodus 10:14-15). In Joshua’s time the

opposite had occurred, and the sun stood still over Israel for a whole 24-hour

period (Joshua 10:12-14). In Hezekiah’s day, the shadows turned backward ten degrees, as

the earth’s rotation seemed to reverse for about 40 minutes (2 Kings 20:9-11).

The darkening of the sun is commonly mentioned in Scripture as an apocalyptic sign of the end times (Isaiah 50:3; Joel 2:31; Revelation 9:2). (Amos 8:9). Throughout Scripture,

darkness is connected with judgment, and supernatural darkness of this type signifies

cataclysmic doom (cf. Isaiah 5:30; Joel 2:2; Amos 5:20; Zephaniah 1:14-15). So the

darkening of the sun at noon like this was certain to evoke widespread fear that catastrophic

judgment was about to fall.

Some have suggested the dimming of the sun signified God’s displeasure with those who put Christ to death.

This darkness may well have signified the Father’s judgment against the sin Christ bore in His person on our behalf.

In any case, the darkness is certainly an appropriate reminder that the cross was a place

of judgment. In those awful hours of darkness, Christ was bearing the judgment meant for

His people. He was standing in their place as the wrath of God was being poured upon Him for

their transgressions. The culmination of the darkness is Christ’s outcry to the Father: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me?’” (v. 46).

Shortly afterward, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice” saying

“Tetelestai!” Then commending His spirit to God, He “gave up the ghost” (Matthew 27:50).

THE VEIL TORN [hard to see]

At the very moment of Christ’s death, a series of remarkable miracles occurred. Matthew writes, “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain [torn in two] from top to bottom” (v. 51).