[GMark] Mark 15:37-39/ The Torn Veil

Jeffrey B. Gibson jgibson000 at comcast.net
Fri Jan 18 10:17:28 EST 2008


fguyette at erskine.edu wrote:
> I have been asked to work up a review of sermons preached on Mark 15:37-39,
> "Then Jesus gave a loud cry... and the curtain of the Temple was torn in
> two.."
>
> 1. I would be interested in hearing about "good" sermons that have been
> preached on this passage, from the first century to today.
>
> 2. But more fundamentally, do GMARK scholars have anything to say about
> what the "torn veil" means, or what a sermon based on this passage SHOULD
> look like?
>   
There are extensive discussions of the veil in critical commentaries on 
Mark.

See, for instance, pp. 509-10 of Craig Evans' /Mark 8:27-16:20/.

    *38* ?? ??????????? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ??? ?? ? ?????? ??? ????,
    "And the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom."
    The power of Jesus is displayed in his death audibly in the loud
    shout of v 37, but it is displayed even more impressively and more
    tangibly in the tearing of the ??????????? ??? ????, "veil of the
    temple." That the tearing of the veil is the result of Jesus' sudden
    expiration, and not merely a coincidental omen, is probable (Gundry,
    948--50). This death shout and the tearing of the temple veil
    constitute a single action that counters all of the previous
    mocking. Jesus, mocked as a pseudo-prophet (14:65) and
    pseudo-messiah (15:32), who in his despair actually thinks Elijah
    might come to his aid (15:36), surprises the onlookers with an
    unexpectedly and inexplicably powerful shout, the force of which
    actually tears the temple veil. He who had spoken of the temple's
    destruction (cf. 13:2; 14:58) has now on the cross struck it with
    his dying breath, tearing the veil ?? ? ?????? ??? ????, "from top
    to bottom," that is, tearing it completely. Just as the descent of
    the Holy Spirit upon Jesus at his baptism tore the heavens (1:10,
    ???????????), so now the loud exhalation of Jesus' spirit has torn
    (???????) the veil of the temple. This interpretation gains support
    from a study by Ulansey (/JBL <#_ftn1>/ 110 [1991] 123--25), who
    draws our attention to Josephus's description of the outer veil as
    "a panorama of the entire heavens" (/J.W./ 5.5.4 §214). Ulansey
    rightly wonders if in the tearing of this veil we have a parallel to
    the tearing of the heavens at the time of Jesus' baptism. The
    tearing of the veil is not a Markan Pentecost (pace <#_ftn2> Motyer,
    /NTS <#_ftn3>/ 33 [1987] 155--57). Chronis (/JBL/ 101 [1982]
    97--114) is correct to say that in Jesus' death his true identity is
    revealed, as the centurion will himself immediately acknowledge (in
    v 39), but Chronis goes too far in saying that the torn veil is
    equivalent to God showing his "face."
    The torn veil is but a token of the complete destruction that will
    someday befall the temple (cf. Jackson, /NTS/ 33 [1987] 16--37),
    when "not one stone will be left here upon another that will not be
    thrown down" (13:2). It is also the first step in the promised
    judgment that will overtake Jesus' priestly judges (14:62). It is
    the second supernatural sign that has taken place during the
    crucixifion, the first being the odd darkness that fell upon the
    land (v 33). The parallel in the /Testaments of the Twelve
    Patriarchs/ has occasioned discussion: "And you shall act lawlessly
    in Israel, with the result that Jerusalem cannot bear the presence
    of your wickedness, but the veil of the Temple will be torn [??????
    ?? ?????? ??? ????], so that it will no longer conceal your shame"
    (/T. Levi <#_ftn4>/ 10:3). H. C. Kee ("Testaments of the Twelve
    Patriarchs," in /OTP <#_ftn5>/ 1:792 n. b) thinks that the text may
    have been tampered with by a Christian (some MSS of /T. Levi/ in
    fact read ???????????, "veil"); it may originally have read "the
    garment of the Temple will be torn." The veil of the temple cannot
    be said to have concealed shame; Kee's proposed emendation is
    probably correct. But the prediction found in the /Lives of the
    Prophets/ offers a more exact parallel: "And concerning the end of
    the Temple he [i.e., Habakkuk] predicted, 'By a western nation it
    will happen.' 'At that time,' he said, 'the curtain [??????] of the
    Dabeir [i.e., the holy of holies] will be torn into small pieces'"
    (/Liv. Pro./ 12:11--12). D. R. A. Hare ("Lives of the Prophets," in
    /OTP/ 2:393 n. i) believes this is a genuine pre-70 prediction that
    reflects growing unease over the increasing presence of Gentiles in
    and around Jerusalem. According to Josephus (/J.W./ 6.5.3--4
    §§288--315) and later rabbinic traditions (/y. Sot.ah/ 6.3; /b.
    Git./. 56a; b. /Yoma <#_ftn6>/ 39b), there were many odd occurrences
    in the temple that were interpreted as fearful omens that foretold
    the temple's destruction. Mark's story of the tearing of the temple
    veil will have impressed Mark's Jewish readers, who were perhaps
    familiar with some of these traditions (cf. also Tacitus, /Hist./
    5.13; Jerome, /Epist./ 120.8.1). The Talmud records a tradition
    (very probably apocryphal) that the Roman general Titus slashed the
    temple veil with his sword (/b. Git./. 56b).
    The veil (?? ???????????) should probably be understood as the veil
    that enshrouded the holy of holies. It is the word used in the lXX
    <#_ftn7> (e.g., Exod 26:31--37). However, the outer veil, which
    covered the entrance to the holy place (Exod 27:16) and was easier
    to see, may be what is in mind in the Markan story. Against
    identification with the outer veil is the fact that it is usually
    called ?? ??????? (as in LXX Exod 27:16 and elsewhere), though there
    are some exceptions. Commentators are divided on the question of
    which veil is meant, with some favoring the inner (Gould, 295;
    Swete, 388; Turner, 79; Rawlinson, 238) and others the outer
    (Klostermann, 186; Lohmeyer, 347; Jackson, /NTS/ 33 [1987] 16--37;
    Ulansey, /JBL/ 110 [1991] 123--25). Pesch (2:498) asserts that the
    evidence does not allow for determining which veil is meant. Taylor
    (Formation, 58) makes the intriguing suggestion that v 38 may have
    been "originally a Pauline comment."


And there is a goodly  measure of discussion on the verses in question 
elsewhere  as well.  See, e.g,:

*//*
** *Chronis,* *H.* *L.* "The Thorn Veil: Cultus and Christology in Mark 
15:37--39."/BL <#_ftn14>/ 101 (1982) 97--114. ** *Daube,* *D.* "The Veil 
of the Temple." In /The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism./ London: 
Athlone, 1956. 23--26
 *Kiddle,* *M.* "The Death of Jesus and the Admission of the Gentiles in 
St. Mark." /JTS/ o.s. 35 (1934) 45--50.
 *Lindeskog,* *G.* "The Veil of the Temple." In In honorem Antonii 
Fridrichsen sexagenarii. Ed. B. Reicke. /ConNT <#_ftn32>/ 11. Lund: 
Gleerup, 1947. 132--37.
 *Motyer,* *S.* "The Rending of the Veil: A Markan Pentecost?" /NTS/ 33 
(1987) 155--57.
 *Pelletier,* *A.* "Le 'Voile' du temple de Jérusalem est-il devenu la 
'Portière' du temple d'Olympie?" /Syria/ 32 (1955) 289--307.
 *Stockklausner,* *S.* *K.,* and *Hale,* *C.* *A.* "Mark 15:39 and 
16:6--7: A Second Look." /McMaster Journal of Theology/ 1 (1990) 34--44. **
 *Ulansey,* *D.* "The Heavenly Veil Torn: Mark's Cosmic Inclusio." /JBL/ 
110 (1991) 123--25.
 *Yates,* *J.* *E.* "The Velum Scissum: Mark 15.38." In /The Spirit and 
the Kingdom./ London: S. P. C. K., 1963. 232--37.

As to Sermons, there are often reproductions of them in the Expository 
Times.  Whether there are any on Mk. 15:37-39 I don't know.  But try 
using the ATLA data base to see.

Jeffrey
-- 

Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon)
1500 W. Pratt Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois
e-mail jgibson000 at comcast.net

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/gmark/attachments/20080118/92b02441/attachment.htm 


More information about the GMark mailing list