Lent 2026 Day 40: Sat 4 Apr
Mark 15:38
And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
A throwaway line, as we also find in Matthew and Luke. Matthew adds all sorts of supernatural events. Luke places this just before Jesus dies, but I think Mark has it in the right place. Jesus’ work is complete as his body gives in to death. While we talk about final breaths, Jesus’ last breath may have already happened, and by now his weakening body would have struggled to draw in any air at all. It takes time for Jesus to suffocate and die.
The Most Holy Place was ripped open. It is deep within the tall building in the picture. Not everyone would have seen the curtain ripped, as only the priests would be allowed anywhere near its location. They may have hurriedly repaired or replaced the curtain, but the significance is clear: access to Father God is open to all through Jesus, the Great High Priest.
While it important that we do not turn the death of Jesus into some sort of annual liturgical drama that the years of repetition may have sanitised, we should neither try to concentrate on the pain alone that Jesus suffered. Some religious traditions allow people to whip themselves publicly as an act of contrition, mimicking the torture Jesus went through, or re-enacting the crucifixion with pain. I’m not sure this helps anyone, self-flagellators, or spectators.
Jesus suffered pain on the cross, that is patently true. He also demonstrated loving obedience to Father God in coming to our world and living like us. He knows who we are and what we are like. He alone bore the pain so that we do not have to. He died so that we may have complete forgiveness. In his death is my life, and in his resurrection is my eternal life.
We may wish to commemorate his suffering each year at this time though we know that every day is Christmas Day, every day is Good Friday, every day is Easter Sunday, and every day is Pentecost, every day is the day I turned to Jesus, which leaves just the one special day when he will come in glory and take us to eternity.
Image by FOTLbill – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10959668
Were you there when they crucified our Lord?
In the light of the veil being ripped how should we view priesthood today as compared with Jesus’ time?
Father God, you have opened a pathway to you by the tearing down of the curtain that once separated us from you. If that were not enough, you have also made me a Son and heir to your inheritance because of Jesus. You have opened your arms in love. Give me the confidence to run into them. Amen.
Paul