 | With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. 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!" |
 | And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. |
How could an act of weakness, such as a man dying on a cross, cause this kind of response in an elite Roman soldier?
In the Jewish temple there was a place called the Holy of holies. A heavy curtain covered the entrance; separated unholy man from a holy God. When that curtain was ripped in two the separation between God and man was gone.
Suddenly the centurion saw what he couldn't see before: Jesus was not an ordinary man, but God's very act of reconciliation. Can you see that? Or do you still see just a man on a cross?
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, Grace NYC