Matthew 27:50-51 “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split”
I’ve been thinking about torn curtains.
The setting takes place during the Cold War. In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1966 thriller, Torn Curtain, a US physicist feigns defection into East Germany in order to steal nuclear secrets from the Soviets. To do this, he has to penetrate the “Iron Curtain,” retrieve the files he needs, then breach the unforgiving barrier again in order to return home. Hence the name, Torn Curtain.
The Iron Curtain was a metaphor for the barrier separating the free world from Communist oppression. This drape of total government domination locked out countries throughout Europe who aligned with the Soviet Union. Countries on the other side of the curtain—those aligned with the West—enjoyed freedom and independence. Until its final fall in 1990, anyone from the East trying to tear through that impenetrable barrier was shot.
On Easter we celebrate the tearing of a curtain far more consequential than the Cold War one described by Winston Churchill.
In the Jewish Temple, a 60 foot 4-inch thick curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple. No one could go behind that veil and enter God’s presence but the high priest, and he could enter only once a year to atone for the people’s sins. All that changed on the first Good Friday. At the very moment Jesus died on the cross, this massive barrier that blocked common people from entering into the presence of God ripped from top to bottom.
That torn curtain changed everything. Those bound by the oppression and domination of sin could now cross over into a country of freedom. Those restricted from being in God’s presence could now run unafraid into his open arms.
When Jesus gave up his spirit, his cry became our song of liberty. That includes you. And me. This Easter season, let’s linger at the torn curtain a little while. Let’s soak in the enormity of its power. Let’s let the love it took to dissolve the threads of bondage drench us. And let’s bow before our Savior. Our Liberator. Our curtain-tearer.