24 Hours That Changed The World: “The Curtain Torn in Two”
Scripture: Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” – Mark 15:37-39
The curtain torn in two was the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies, a room where the Spirit of God was believed to dwell most intensely, from the rest of the temple. It was only opened once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest petitioned the Lord to forgive the people of Israel for the sins of the past year. It is still the highest of Jewish Holy Days even though the temple no longer stands.
The symbolism of the tearing of this curtain is quite clear. No longer is the most intense manifestation of the Holy Spirit separated from us to be addressed by someone else. Instead the sacrifice of Christ enables all humanity to receive that Spirit and become living temples of God. Once and for all, our sins are forgiven and we our empowered to live as the body of Christ in the world. We are empowered to do what we cannot do by ourselves – love as Christ loved us even while we were his enemies.
But how do we receive that Holy Spirit? We look upon the tender eyes of the one dying on the cross from the sins of the world – greed, dishonesty and violence – all of which we have allowed to continue. And when we see the love and forgiveness there, we see that when we hurt the one who calls us to share, to speak the truth and resists the urge to hurt those who have wronged us – we hurt ourselves even more. We damage the very image the Creator has placed within us, the potential to love as God loves. It is then, when we allow ourselves to be moved by that image, that we open our hearts, head and hands to receive the gift of eternal love, eternal light and eternal life which are the fruits of the spirit and become conduits of that love to all the world – just as our creator intended.
Prayer: Lord of love and light and life, open my head to understand the meaning of the cross, open my heart to the love you have for me, open my hands in gentleness, generosity and seeking justice for others, in Christ’s name. Amen.
