At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Matthew 27:51 

 Dear friends 

As we journey through Holy Week towards Easter, that image of the Temple curtain is playing on my mind. Matthew’s gospel records that at the moment of Jesus’s crucifixion, the curtain of the temple was torn in two. That image is powerful not only visually, but because we can imagine the sort of sound it would have made. The curtain in the Temple was a thick, heavy brocade; more like a wall than a decoration. Together with the earth trembling, the rocks splitting and the tombs bursting open, the ripping curtain must have contributed to a terrifying racket! 

The purpose of the Temple curtain was of course to draw a line; to demarcate the separation between the people and God, between sinfulness and holiness. Matthew gives us the detail that as Jesus died the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom – as if to emphasise who it was who was doing the tearing. 

Separation is a feature of our world. We separate ourselves into like-minded groups, whether along the lines of political allegiance or religious tradition, economic status or even just our preferred hobbies and interests. The familiar often feels safer – dealing with one another’s differences is so much more challenging. 

Yet the message of the torn curtain prompts us to think again about the lines we draw, the barriers we erect, the walls behind which we hide. The cosmic barrier between earth and heaven, between God and people, was torn apart by Jesus’s death and resurrection, so that we can enter with confidence into God’s presence. The way is open to anyone, not only the respectable, not only the predictable, but anyone, to come right into the presence of God. 

Since God has done that for us, who are we, to separate ourselves from one another? How might we begin to grow a foretaste of heaven, where everyone is welcome to be together, in our local and wider communities right now? How might we more fully share in the lives of those others whom God loves – all humanity and all creation? 

This Holy Week and Easter, may we draw closer to Jesus as we remember his death and rising which released all creation into eternal life. And may we commit ourselves to deeper relationships with one another, and with God, so that together we may become more fully who God made us to be. 

Bishop Emma Ineson, Acting Bishop of London