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Two Stories, Two Rips, Two Confessions
Twice was something torn, followed by someone confessing. Both times something got torn, God was responsible. Both confessions were the same; although one was by God, the other by a man. One of these events happened at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry; the other at the end. Figure them out yet? Here are Mark’s bookend scriptures:
• “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn (schizo) open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”” (CSB’17 Mark 1:9-11)
• “Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. Then the curtain of the temple was torn (schizo) in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who was standing opposite him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”” (CSB’17 Mark 15:37-39)
The confessions are the same and easily understood. It’s intriguing the same word is used to describe the sky opening and the curtain being opened – they were “torn”. Heaven is meeting earth and becoming one. What does it mean? Since inspiration does not tell the meaning, we have to look at the whole story for hints.
1. God coming down (torn top to bottom) to restore fellowship?
2. Access to God? In the Tabernacle God met Moses at the mercy seat.
3. Jesus’s body being the Tabernacle and Temple?
4. A sign of the covenant? A covenant literally meant a cutting.
What is interesting about these “guesses” is an underlying premise. That is, the Bible is interconnected as it is many stories forming one story, the story of Jesus.
Mark gives us this hint also with these bookends. Jesus’s baptism and crucifixion, along with a confession, are one story. And it is a story we relive when we die with Jesus in our baptism while confessing Him as the Son of God. In this we relive His story with God and man coming together again and again.
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