Sewing Up That Curtain

Scripture records that at the time of Jesus' death the curtain in the Temple that separated the Holy of Holies (where God resides) from the rest of the Temple (and world) was torn in two from top to bottom.  The torn curtain signifies that the final sacrifice and atonement for sin has been made in Christ. Furthermore, it showed that the separation that existed between the Holy and the unholy is no longer there.  The torn curtain reveals that the incarnation - God being one with us and one among us - not only did not come to an end with Jesus on the cross but that the incarnation would now find its greatest fulfillment. From this point forward there would no longer be a divide between God and God's people. The torn curtain reveals that the separation of the sacred and and secular, the holy and the profane was no longer applicable. The holy would no longer be confined to the Holy of Holies in a Temple but would be in the world and accessible to all.

Unfortunately, it seems that we Christians are often so fearful of sinning and of sinners that we are constantly at work trying to sew together the curtain that is torn in two. We pray (or arrogantly assume) that as we mend the torn curtain that we are on the side of the Holy. It is as if we constantly strive to ignore the incarnational life that we are now called to live. We justify this action by saying that we are trying to be holy. Ignoring the fact that we are made holy in Christ by his grace. Instead of allowing the holy to come into the world we strive to do all we can to separate ourselves from all that is and all who are unholy. Think about the many ways we do this. We have christian music, christian TV and movies. We have christian resorts, travel tours and christian cruises. We even have our own sports leagues. In our attempts to by culturally relevant we still dress christian (go to Nashville and see how many times you can spot the culturally relevant worship leaders being hip in the coffee shops).

I realize that many will say that as christians we are to live separate from the world. That we are to be set apart. Indeed we are set apart by God and to God. However, God has chosen not be separate from the world. God has chosen to come into the world, to redeem that which had been lost, to restore a relationship that had been broken.

It seems that we often use the idea of being set apart to God as an excuse for placing barriers (like a big heavy, thick curtain) up between us and our neighbors. It is as if we say, "Lord thank you for allowing us into the Holy of Holies to be with you. Now close that thing back up before we become tainted by the outside world." In living this way we reveal that it is our desire is to once again place a separation between that which is clean and that which is unclean. We fail to recognize that what has separated the sacred from the secular has been torn away. The Kingdom is at hand. It is present. It is incarnate. God is with us. The curtain is torn and God has given us all access to the Holy of Holies. The curtain is torn and God has come out of the Holy of Holies to be with his people. The curtain is torn.

Grace.