It’s Holy Week, the last days leading to Easter, when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Familiar moments this week include raising palm branches on Palm Sunday, washing feet on Maundy Thursday, entering a time of silence and sadness on Good Friday, and holding vigil on Holy Saturday. These practices, though moving and meaningful, are not the way God reached into my heart.
He used an often-overlooked line in Matthew’s account of that week to completely change me.
How the Torn Veil of Jesus Changed My Life
I was a 28-year-old mother of one little boy with another on the way. On the outside, my life looked almost perfect. I’d been an obedient child, a model student, a national merit scholar, and student body president of a large public high school at a time when girls didn’t play that role. After a fellowship to graduate school and the beginning of an exciting career, I married the young man of my dreams, and we established our home in the town where I grew up. We lived in a well decorated house, in a nice neighborhood, and I had nice friends.
One summer afternoon as our children played, a friend invited me to the Bible study she attended. I said “You know, I believe in God. It’s the Jesus concept I don’t get.” She just smiled and said, “Why don’t you come see?”
In my intellectual pride I had relegated Jesus to a “concept”, not a person, and certainly not a savior. My resume and my life looked pretty good. Why would I need a savior?
The truth was, I thought everything about living a good life was up to me; with the proper application of my mind and diligent work, I could accomplish whatever goals I set. But as each goal was reached, I felt an urgency to move on to the next one. Even the good things of life offered no lasting satisfaction, and my heart was restless. 5th Century theologian Augustine perfectly described my condition:
“O Lord, you made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.”
I took my friend up on her offer to “come and see”. Five weeks into a study of the book of Matthew, God used this verse of scripture like a scalpel in my soul: At the moment Jesus yielded up his spirit, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Matthew 27:51
What the Torn Veil Symbolized in the Temple
Why did this verse, out of more than 31,000 in the Bible, have such a profound impact on me?
As an artist who loves beautiful interiors, I know something about curtains.
So, I was curious to learn about the curtain made of fabric nine or 10 inches thick, 30 feet wide and 60 feet tall in the Temple in Jerusalem, placed as a barrier between a holy God and sinful people. Only once a year, the high priest was allowed behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies, where God’s spirit dwelt. To gain access, the priest had to sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed animal on something called the mercy seat.
Encountering the Torn Veil of Jesus Through Scripture
Picture this thick, tall, heavy curtain that took 300 priests to put in place. And imagine this: at the moment Jesus died on the Cross that curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. Only God could have torn it from top to bottom, and He did so because the blood of Jesus was spilled to pay the penalty for the sins of the whole world. The barrier had been eliminated and access to a Holy God was made possible. Some Bible translations say the veil was torn in two.
And that is exactly what happened for me. The veil was torn that had clouded my understanding of Jesus as a savior, not a concept. A precious realization dawned in my mind, my heart and my soul. Everything about living a good life isn’t up to me, in fact, I’m not capable of it. I need a savior, I have a savior, and his name is Jesus.
How Hebrews Explains the New and Living Way
Hebrews 10:19-20 describes how the veil in the temple, torn by Jesus’ death, allowed believers to enter the Holy of Holies with confidence:
19 Therefore, brothers,[c] since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh…
Why the Torn Veil of Jesus Offers Hope for Us Today
The veil in the temple was a reminder that sin made humans unfit to be in God’s presence, and its tearing showed the barrier between God and Man was removed with Jesus’ sacrificial death. He opened a new and living way for believers to approach a Holy God with confidence. The payment has been made, once and forever for all who believe. Jesus is the perfect high priest who welcomes us in.
How to Respond to the Torn Veil of Jesus This Holy Week
This Holy Week, will you spend some time in the Scriptures and listen for God to speak to you? Christ is waiting, his arms that were once held by nails on a wooden Cross are now stretched out in love to welcome you in.
Willa Kane is a former global trustee of The Anglican Relief and Development Fund and is presently a trustee of the American Anglican Council. She is one of the founders of New City Fellows, Raleigh, NC and a trustee for Anne Graham Lotz’s AnGeL Ministries. She is also one of the co-authors behind Eighth Day Prayers: Volume 1: Daily Hope for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany and the latest Eighth Day Prayers: Volume 2: Daily Mercy for Lent and Eastertide (Forefront Books). See more at: https://eighthdayprayer.org
