And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' (which means 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'). At that moment, Mark tells us the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Jesus experiences genuine abandonment—not metaphorical, not theatrical, but real spiritual desolation. And in the moment of his deepest forsakenness, the barrier between the holy and the unholy—the temple curtain—is torn. What was separated is now open. What required mediation is now direct. I think there's something about Jesus experiencing what we experience—genuine spiritual darkness, unanswered prayers, the terror of being forsaken—that actually opens access for us. He didn't transcend human suffering. He entered it fully. And his entrance there transforms the structure itself. We don't have to stay outside the holy place anymore. The barrier is torn. Access is immediate. Not because suffering is good, but because suffering has been sanctified.
No comments yet. Be the first.