27:45–53 Mark (15:25, 34–37) indicates that Jesus was placed on the cross about the third hour (nine a.m.) and died shortly after the ninth hour (three p.m.). His period of physical suffering was shorter than most: some hung for days before death claimed them. From the sixth hour until the ninth hour a supernatural darkness covered the entire land. It could not have been an eclipse of the sun, because Passover took place during the full moon. The prophet Amos spoke of a day in which God would “make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight” (Amos 8:9). The suggestion that Matthew is using apocalyptic and eschatological language that requires no historical base is persuasive only to those who wish to reinterpret the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection in figurative …