Mark 15:36 – 38

³⁶ Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. ³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Many of us have been Christians for a long time. That can mean that these passages become so familiar to us that their impact is lost—they wash over us. But today, focussing on these few verses, we have the opportunity to stop and ponder. When I read this passage slowly, just these few verses, one phrase stood out: Jesus breathed his last. Jesus, who had become “fully human in every way” took on that final aspect of humanity that should be unthinkable for God: death. Imagine this moment when Jesus’ friends and family and followers finally came to understand that their human hopes were dashed, the promised one had passed from life, had submitted to the ultimate ending. The final curtain had come down, in shame and pain and darkness. But wait—what curtain? The curtain in this story is the one that symbolically separated us from God, and is torn in two. The way is open! Something huge has happened? How will it end? Spoiler alert: Jesus flips death and life, and brings us along too. Wow!

Geoff Pryde – Creek Road