EXPLORE THE TEXT
We can know that Jesus is the Son of God whose death made possible our salvation.
37 Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last.
38 Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
39 When the centurion, who was standing opposite him,
saw the way he breathed his last, he said,
“Truly this man was the Son of God!”
along with the darkness, another significant act of God occurred
when the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
the curtain was torn from top to bottom.
What message did that communicate about access to God?
Traditionally, this would have referred to a Roman military commander who was in charge of one hundred soldiers.
It is reasonable to assume that he would have been the leader
of the crew and oversaw the crucifixion from start to finish.
In this case, he would have seen the darkness,
heard Jesus’s words on the cross, and witnessed the mocking crowd.
The experience convinced him that something was different
about Jesus than others he had executed.
Some think the soldier simply meant that Jesus was a great man
or a type of divine hero.
If so, Mark included the account as a powerful demonstration of irony.
Others take the statement more directly and conclude that
the soldier truly came to understand who Jesus was
and the gravity of what was taking place to the extent
that circumstances allowed. Either are sound interpretations
and lead the reader to a point of decision about their belief
in Jesus. His testimony of Jesus as God’s Son provides a bookend
for the opening confession of Mark’s Gospel (see Mark 1:1).
Jesus died on Friday evening and, because of the Sabbath,
His body could not be prepared for burial.
Jesus was placed in a tomb with the burial process
to be completed on Sunday.