The Curtain Torn Into
At Jesus’ death the temple curtain is torn, announcing God’s presence unleashed into the world. A Roman sees what the insiders missed: Jesus is the Son of God. While Joseph lays him in a borrowed tomb, faithful women watch and wait for their chance to honor him.
Mark 15:38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
At the very moment Jesus breathed his last, God himself preached a sermon without words. The massive curtain in the temple—the thick barrier that walled off the Holy of Holies, the place symbolizing God’s very presence—was ripped in two from top to bottom. For centuries, that curtain had shouted “keep out.” Only priests with the right lineage, the right rituals, and the right sacrifices could dare enter. But in Christ’s death the barrier is gone. No more hoops to jump through, no more holy spaces required. As Paul would later thunder, “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The tearing of the curtain declared the radical truth of the upside-down kingdom: God has come out to be with his people, not hidden behind a veil.
39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
And then, right there at the foot of the cross, another veil ripped. The veil of disbelief. A Roman centurion—one of the very men who had mocked, flogged, and crucified him—suddenly saw the truth. Looking on as Jesus died, he confessed, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” The irony is thick: Israel’s leaders refused to see him, the disciples recognized him only in fits and starts but abandoned him in the end, and yet here is an outsider, an oppressor, declaring the truth. The very first human witness in Mark’s Gospel to proclaim Jesus’ true identity at the cross is not a disciple, not a priest, not a friend, but an enemy. The kingdom is already overturning expectations.
40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.
Mark tells us that while the male disciples had scattered, some women—Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome—watched from a distance. They had followed Jesus, cared for him in life, and now longed to honor him in death. Perhaps they hoped against hope that God might still intervene. But as the sun went down and Jesus’ body hung lifeless, they could only wait, hearts breaking at their helplessness.
42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting
for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
Then a surprising figure steps into the story: Joseph of Arimathea. A respected member of the Sanhedrin, the very council that condemned Jesus, Joseph had not consented to their verdict. Mark calls him one “waiting for the kingdom of God.” He may not have understood resurrection—nobody did at this point—but his conscience stirred. If he hadn’t stood for Jesus in life, he would at least honor him in death. Summoning courage, he approached Pilate and asked for the body.
44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph.
Pilate, skeptical at how quickly Jesus had died, demanded confirmation from the centurion. And here Mark gives us a crucial detail: Rome knew how to kill. These men were professionals in death. If a centurion pronounced Jesus dead, there was no mistaking it. Theories that Jesus merely fainted or staged his death don’t hold up against the cold efficiency of Roman executioners. Jesus certainly died.
46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.
47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.
Joseph, granted the body, wrapped it quickly in linen and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb. There was no time for the traditional washing and anointing, no elaborate burial rites. Just a hurried laying down and a stone rolled across the entrance. The two Marys watched carefully. Perhaps they burned with frustration at the lack of proper preparation. Perhaps they resolved then and there to come back as soon as Sabbath ended to do it right.
For now, the curtain was torn, the King was dead, and the tomb was sealed.
Reflection Question
Where do you still act as though God is distant or hidden, rather than near and accessible?
