[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
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