<p>27:45 <em>Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour</em>- The only other Biblical reference to the sixth and ninth hours together is again in Matthew, and again on the lips of the Lord. It is when He spoke of how the householder went out at the sixth and ninth hours to desperately appeal for labourers to come and work for Him (20:5). This connection surely cannot be so arbitrary. The Lord intended that each waypoint or landmark in the crucifixion process would be an appeal to us to break out of our lethargy and come forward and serve Him in practice.</p><p>&nbsp;Darkness is often associated in the OT with mourning. Am. 8:9,10 speaks of earthquake and darkness at noon because &quot;I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day&quot;, i.e. a funeral. The darkness was a sign of <em>Almighty God mourning for His Son</em>. &nbsp;</p>