Matthew 27:45-52, part 2

Since I recently discovered that this blog from college was still on the internet, I thought I would write a new post in which I discuss the text of my upcoming sermon at Strasburg Union Church in Strasburg, Missouri, where I am co-pastor.  Here is the text:

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

This Sunday will be my second sermon on this text.  I originally picked the text because I was looking for something to preach on Easter Sunday, so I thought I would preach on that weird resurrection of the saints that happens at the crucifixion (v. 52).  As I was beginning to prepare the sermon, however, I realized that I wanted to do a proper treatment of the text.  A multi-part series was thus begun, and my first sermon was basically a Good Friday sermon (though still preached on Easter Sunday) in which I showed from the earthquake and the darkness that what is going on here is a scene of cosmic judgment that was a continuation of the final, eschatological judgment that was begun (though not completed) in the Garden after Adam sinned.

Today, I want to focus on the tearing of the temple veil.  

Before we begin, though, I want to say a word about my overall approach to this text.  In looking at this text, I want us to do a kind of thought experiment.  The interpretive question we will begin with in each of these sermons is this: What can we learn about the meaning of the death of Jesus if all we had in the Bible were this passage (Matthew 27:45-54) and the Old Testament?  If we focus on this question, we have two advantages: First, we will put ourselves in the same situation as the first readers/hearers of Matthew's gospel were in.  Second, this interpretive rule will help us to see the crucifixion of Jesus with fresh eyes and a fresh understanding.  If I asked most Christians to explain the death of Jesus to me, I suspect that almost all of them would say that he died as a substitute for our sins (penal substitutionary atonement).  And while that is true and vital, there are also many other aspects to the meaning of Jesus' death that we can miss if we just sort of assume we know what it means.  So forget Paul, forget Peter, forget Luke, and forget (for the moment) Hebrews.  What clues does Matthew give us in THIS text that help us understand the meaning of Jesus' death?

Back to the temple veil then.  Along with darkness, earthquake, and resurrection of the saints, this is an important clue that Matthew provides us about the meaning of Jesus' death.  It opens up a huge biblical theme that, like the darkness and earthquake, goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden and provides us a cosmic perspective on the death of Jesus.  So here's my main point: The tearing of the Temple veil shows that Jesus in his death has united heaven and earth and opened the way for his followers to enter the new creation.  Now, that's a lot, I know.  To start to get a handle on the meaning of the tearing of the temple veil, let's start with our interpretive exercise: What can we learn about the meaning of the tearing of the temple veil from the OT?  And in order to answer that question, we need to ask the question What is the meaning of the temple in the OT?  And in order to answer THAT question, we have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden.