Dear Church,

Let us meditate on Mark 15:33-41

³³ And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  ³⁴ And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  ³⁵ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”  ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”   ³⁷ And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.  ³⁸ And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”  ⁴⁰ There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome.  ⁴¹ When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. For the women watching him from a distance, the women who followed him and ministered to him, it was a day of sadness. For everyone else who hoped that he would rise as their new political leader to overthrow Rome and rebuild the nation, Jesus was a let-down. Now, for those who masterminded and executed his death, it was a day of clear victory. So, when Jesus breathed his last, it was the closing of the curtain on the ‘Jesus story’ for all three of these groups. 

From a spiritual point of view, however, it was the opening of the curtain. At the moment of Jesus’ loud cry and his last breath, the curtain in the temple was torn into two. This was the curtain that the God-fearing and Law-abiding Jewish people had put up to keep some people out. It was torn “from top to bottom” (v. 38). The final sacrifice has been paid, heralding the end of temple religion and symbolic representation of the God’s Shakina (His divine presence) breaking out from all human barriers reaching out to all of humanity with his redeeming grace of the cross. This indeed was a global invitation- an invitation starting from Judea to the end of the world. God has given each of us this responsibility to invite people to meet this God. The Bible says ‘whosoever believes’ is guaranteed eternal life. The ‘nobodies’ & the ‘whosevers’ can meet God. We were all once ‘nobodies’ but God has made us his sons. Let’s invite people to meet our amazing God! What better day than, ‘resurrection Sunday’ to invite people to know this God.

Be Encouraged,
Mathews