Triumph: Demonstrated and Recognised
| The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard His cry and saw how He died, he said, "Surely this Man was the Son of God!" (Mark15:38-39) |
Yesterday I suggested that Jesus' "loud cry" was one of triumph.
Our reading today supports this...
At His death, the temple curtain, which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, tore from top to bottom. We should never underestimate the visceral impact this event would have had. Normally the Holy of Holies was "off limits" - The High Priest entered only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. Jesus' sacrifice changed all of that. The torn curtain was a powerful symbol of the success of the atonement offering Jesus made.
The letter to the Hebrews explains that Jesus, our High Priest, sacrificed for our sins, once and for all.
Now the Roman Centurion didn't see the curtain tear. He saw the darkness. He may have felt the earthquake mentioned in Matthew. He heard Jesus' cry. He saw how Jesus carried His agony and how He died. He didn't hear a helpless victim. He didn't see a tragic ending. He wasn't left hopeless. He was moved to make a significant statement. "This Man was the Son of God."
This statement is one of the most powerful creeds or declarations of faith in the New Testament.
There's deep theology in this one line.
- He was a Man (God made flesh)
- He was the Son of God (Not just a good man - He was God)
Think about it...
This seasoned Roman soldier had simply been doing his duty.
He'd executed a man considered an enemy of the empire.
And yet, as he contemplated this grisly death which should have simply been a demonstration of Rome's crushing power over anyone who would dare to oppose, he came to a completely unexpected conclusion:
This was the Son of God.
Today we think about Jesus walking the dusty byways of history. We can reduce Him to a relic of our Sunday School stories - an artifact of a quaint religious upbringing. But what happened to the Centurion should grab our attention. At Jesus' death, he should have smirked and said something like "See? You don't mess with the power of Rome."
But instead, he is shaken to the core.
Even in death, Jesus conveys majesty.
His sacrifice means something significant.
And we should take note!
