Devotional/Discussion thought of this day:

 ⁵⁰ Jesus again gave a loud cry and breathed his last. ⁵¹ Then the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split apart, ⁵² the graves broke open, and many of God’s people who had died were raised to life.   Matthew 27:50-52 (TEV)

In the midst of the most horrifyingly beautiful scene in all of scripture, as Jesus dies, crucified as he takes upon Himself all of the sin, all of the injustice, all that is wrong in you and I, and all of humanity, Matthew gives us one odd detail.

A curtain is torn in two, ripped apart in the temple.

And to those gathered in this Holy Place, what is behind the curtain is revealed.  It is unveiled.  It is an apocalypse – the unveiling, the revealing.

We fear that word for some reason, but what it means is simply that – the revealing, in this case, what is behind the curtain.  And the answer was nothing.  There was no ark of the covenant, no mercy seat, just an empty room, where blood people counted on to cover their sins, was poured down the drain.  Their sacrifices were revealed to be vain, and for those who trusted in their offerings, in the work of the priests who knew the truth, all of the empty liturgy that they took such pride in, and in the temple built to Herod’s glory, they realized their faith was misplaced.

But their cries for mercy, their prayers were answered, none the less.

For there was something else revealed – a few miles away, on another mountain, not just a apocalypse, but the Apocalypse, the power that caused the earth to shake, the rocks split apart – and God’s people who had died to rise.

God was revealed in all of His glory, the depth of His love for us unveiled, the greatest apocalypse man had ever known, even though they didn’t recognize it.

For it was God there, on the cross,  Jesus the one annointed, chosen, humbled, crucified, for the joy that awaited Him, the love so manifested so overwhelming.  He would die, for us, so that we would never be bound by sin, so that we would become the children of God, the prodigals returned home.  For that apocalypse, that revealing of the love of God, was described in another place,

¹² Because we have this hope, we are very bold. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who had to put a veil over his face so that the people of Israel would not see the brightness fade and disappear. ¹⁴ Their minds, indeed, were closed; and to this very day their minds are covered with the same veil as they read the books of the old covenant. The veil is removed only when a person is joined to Christ. ¹⁵ Even today, whenever they read the Law of Moses, the veil still covers their minds. ¹⁶ But it can be removed, as the scripture says about Moses: “His veil was removed when he turned to the Lord.” ¹⁷ Now, “the Lord” in this passage is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. ¹⁸ All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory. 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 (TEV) 

The veil that was torn in two, the veiled that was removed unveiling Christ, unveiling His Love, Unveiling His Grace…

He Has Risen, and we with Him…

Let’s Boldly go – as our Savior has gone!