Memories of an Eclipse

 My grandmother’s fascination with solar eclipses stemmed from her experience early in her life.  I never asked Grandma, Gladys Vivian Rainey Smith, a specific date. History indicated one of the more noteworthy solar eclipses in Oklahoma occurred on June 8, 1918.  The site, timeanddate.com, recorded the total eclipse was visible from around 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with its maximum effect being at 6:30 p.m.

My maternal grandma, Gladys Vivian
Rainey, about a year before the
total eclipse of June 8, 1918

Map of the Path of the Total Solar Eclipse on
June 8, 1918 - taken from NationalEclipse.com

       Grandma told of how in the brilliance of the day the landscape became as if it was dusk. The sounds of a summer night began to be heard all around her. Her mother’s hens went into the chicken house and automatically climbed onto the roosts as if preparing for nightfall.

       Grandma’s eclipse experience in her late teens often came to her mind when we read Matthew 27:45-46:

Then from midday until three o’clock darkness spread over the whole countryside,

 and then Jesus cried with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why did you forsake me?” (Phillips)

And then we compared the companion section in the Gospel of Mark and this passage in Luke 23:44-45:

By this time it was noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the thick veil hanging in the Temple was torn apart. (The Living Translation)

       Grandma explained that when Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself, God could not look on our sin that He bore in His body on the cross. (II Corinthians 5:21) She articulated that the death of Jesus coincided with the end of the darkness upon the area around Jerusalem. She often turned to one of her favorite chapters in Isaiah and read Isaiah 53:12:

Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,

And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,

Because He poured out His soul unto death,

And was numbered with the transgressors.

For He bore the sin of many,

And made intercession for the transgressors.

       These memories of the past will be in my mind, on April 8, if weather permits my viewing the effects of the solar eclipse. I’ll be thinking of Grandma’s excitement over this unusual natural phenomenon over 105 years ago.

Thank You, Jesus, that You endured the darkest day in all the history of the world with all the horrendous sins of ours weighing on You during Your most excruciating pain so we could experience the peace of being forgiven and the gift of Your  enabling power to live purposefully every day.