Wednesday 16th April
Read Mark 15:37-39
“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!’” (NIVUK)
The torn curtain signifies the very destruction of the temple that Jesus was accused of. No longer would anyone need to approach God through a priest or sacrifice, God had made a way to restore relationship with Him. That the curtain was torn from top to bottom shows this. At the very moment that the relationship is restored Jesus is declared Son of God.
“Behind the heavy curtain was the room
Where none except the designated priest
Dare go–and then but yearly, on the Feast.
Death threatened all who brashly might presume.
With warm lamb’s blood, drawn from the mortal wound,
Unwilling victim dead, the holy priest
Sought on behalf of sinners full release
Before the Presence shrouded in the gloom.
Outside, the willing Victim calling to
His Father, ”To your hands I now commit
My spirit,” signalled to the watching few
The sins the holy God would now remit.
The Lamb breathed out his last, the curtain tom:
The Priest provides free access to the Lord.” Sonnet 24, Don Carson
