fguyette AT erskine.edu wrote:
47401.10.226.1.1.1200666559.squirrel AT email.erskine.edu"
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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 τὸ καταπέτασμα τοῦ ναοῦ ἐσχίσθη εἰς δύο
ἀπ ʼ ἄνωθεν ἕως κάτω, “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 καταπέτασμα τοῦ ναοῦ, “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 ἀπ ʼ ἄνωθεν ἕως κάτω, “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, σχιζομένους), so now the loud exhalation of Jesus’ spirit has torn (ἐσχίσθη) the veil of the temple. This interpretation gains
support from a study by Ulansey (JBL 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 Motyer, NTS 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 [σχίσαι τὸ ἔνδυμα τοῦ ναοῦ], so that it will no longer conceal your shame” (T. Levi 10:3). H. C. Kee (“Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,”
in OTP 1:792
n. b) thinks that the text may have been tampered with by a Christian
(some MSS of T. Levi in fact read καταπέτασμα, “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 [ἅπλωμα] 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. Soṭah 6.3; b. Giṭ. 56a; b. Yoma 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. Giṭ. 56b).
The veil (τὸ καταπέτασμα) should probably be understood as the veil that
enshrouded the holy of holies. It is the word used in the lXX (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 τὸ κάλυμμα (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 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 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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