Day 23 - Thursday, March 23
The Temple Curtain is Rent
Scripture: Matthew 27:50-54
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.  The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Poetry:
"Crucifixion" 
by John Greenleaf Whittier
Sunlight upon Judah’s hills!
And on the waves of Galilee;
On Jordan’s stream, and on the rills
That feed the dead and sleeping sea!
Most freshly from the green wood springs
The light breeze on its scented wings;
And gayly quiver in the sun
The cedar tops of Lebanon!
A few more hours, – a change hath come!
The sky is dark without a cloud!
The shouts of wrath and joy are dumb,
And proud knees unto earth are bowed.
A change is on the hill of Death,
The helmed watchers pant for breath,
And turn with wild and maniac eyes
From the dark scene of sacrifice!

That Sacrifice! – the death of Him, –
The Christ of God, the holy One!
Well may the conscious Heaven grow dim,
And blacken the beholding Sun.
The wonted light hath fled away,
Night settles on the middle day,
And earthquake from his caverned bed
Is waking with a thrill of dread!
The dead are waking underneath!
Their prison door is rent away!
And, ghastly with the seal of death,
They wander in the eye of day!
The temple of the Cherubim,
The House of God is cold and dim;
A curse is on its trembling walls,
Its mighty veil asunder falls!

Well may the cavern-depths of Earth
Be shaken, and her mountains nod;
Well may the sheeted dead come forth
To see the suffering son of God!
Well may the temple-shrine grow dim,
And shadows veil the Cherubim,
When He, the chosen one of Heaven,
A sacrifice for guilt is given!

And shall the sinful heart, alone,
Behold unmoved the fearful hour,
When Nature trembled on her throne,
And Death resigned his iron power?
Oh, shall the heart – whose sinfulness
Gave keenness to His sore distress,
And added to His tears of blood –
Refuse its trembling gratitude!

THE DEAFENING ROAR OF FABRIC

In Sunday School we were taught that the curtain in the temple was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross. It sounds so theoretical, mundane, simple--a dusty story with little sound or color. But take it from the black and white pages of history into vivid color and the sounds of real time and the picture changes dramatically. Powerful surges in nature occurred at the moment Jesus Christ died, including the significant event that happened in the temple.

The sixty foot high by thirty foot wide curtain hung in the temple for generations. The curtain was immense. Sixty feet is as tall as a six-story building. The fabric was not layered but a solid woven piece four inches thick. This massive curtain created a tangible and visible barrier between God and humanity. Everyone knew of and felt the separation. No one could approach God. He was holy, powerful, sinless and just. Even with all the sacrifices of animals the separation remained. The veil stood as a painful, constant reminder that men and women could not freely approach the Living God.

But in an electrifying moment, the earth shook violently and together with a deafening roar in the temple, invisible hands with divine power grabbed the ends of the fabric and ripped the massive four-inch thick curtain from the top to the bottom - all sixty feet! The noise, the dust, the ground shaking all punctuated the fact that the presence of God in the Holy of Holies was now exposed and open to all.

That deafening roar of tearing fabric was the roar of freedom. Our separation from God ended.  We are no longer condemned. Jesus Christ through His death has removed forever the barrier between God and man. We are free!

As a boy, John Greenleaf Whittier suffered from bad health and was color-blind, not able to see the difference between ripe and green strawberries.  He was of no use on the farm, so he taught himself by reading his father’s books on Quakerism. He ventured into high school and was able to complete all the requirements in one year. Feeling on top of the world he ran for Congress at the age of twenty-five, but lost the election and as a result suffered a nervous breakdown. It was in his weakness that God spoke to John and he committed the next twenty-five years of his life to fighting for the abolition of slavery.  He was a voice and a force through which God brought freedom to thousands.

John became a prolific poet. His “Crucifixion” poem contains the jubilant words “Their prison door is rent away!” John successfully gave his life to freeing prisoners. But he understood that it was at the cross where true freedom originated. The pain and horror of the crucifixion gave way to freedom for everyone when the curtain was torn. We are now free to access and commune with the Living God because of the sacrifice of His Son!

PRAYER
Holy Father, thank you, thank you, thank you for being a strong and loving presence each moment to all of us every day of our lives.
Amen.

Dan Crane
Missions Pastor, Evangelical Free Church, Fullerton, CA