The three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) all mention a period of unusual darkness when Jesus was crucified. Here is Matthew’s account:

“…from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.” Matthew 27:45 (KJV)

Clouds, supervolcanos, and eclipses have all been used to explain how the sun was darkened for three hours while Jesus was on the cross. The opening scene from the 1961 film Barabbas used a total solar eclipse, that occurred on February 15, 1961, to recreate the crucifixion darkness. But Hollywood got it wrong that time. The darkness of the crucifixion could not have been caused by a total solar eclipse.

First, a total solar eclipse can only occur on a new moon. Passover, when Jesus was crucified, occurs on the fourteenth day after the new moon; so it would have been impossible for there to be a solar eclipse. Second, the longest duration of the 1961 eclipse was 2 minutes and 45 seconds – not even long enough for Actor Anthony Quinn to get from his hideout to the makeshift cross. According to Belgian planetary scientist Jean Meeus, the absolute longest duration of a total solar eclipse is 7 minutes and 32.1 seconds, nowhere close to the three hours of darkness experienced during the crucifixion.

What was the darkness then? A supervolcano? A thunderstorm? The early church fathers taught that it was a supernatural event and I tend to agree. Jesus declared repeatedly: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5, 12:46).

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon fully blocks the light of the sun. The Babylonians called their moon god Sin (Sîn), a contraction of the Akkadian Suen (Su’en).

When Jesus died on the cross, he took all our sins for all time upon himself. He took upon himself all the darkness of this world.

The “Son” of God had been totally eclipsed by the “Sin” of this world.