Nothing can separate me!!!

Reflecting on Mark 15:33-41

"The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." (Mark 15:38)

In the Jewish temple, there was a room called ‘The Most Holy Place’.
Though the whole temple was holy, this small room was especially holy.
This room was where the symbol of God’s presence was kept.
You might say, this was God’s room in the house, where God lived.
This room was divided by a curtain, or veil, to keep it separate.
Only once a year was someone allowed to go into the room.
The high priest went in with blood on the Day of Atonement.
He sprinkled the blood of a bull and a goat on the mercy seat (the Ark).
Blood poured onto God’s seat in the house; God was bloodied.

This curtain symbolized the separation between God and humanity.
It symbolized the brokenness of relationship between God and humans.
God and humans separated, and both humans and God bloodied by it.
Yet God still lived with the people, God was still close to them.
The relationship was broken, but not destroyed.
The temple, the most holy place, the Ark of God’s presence, the curtain…
These all showed that the relationship was still there.
A curtain is not an impenetrable wall or immovable gate.
It could be open, it could be moved, and it was, symbolically.

God in Jesus steps out of the Most Holy Place.
God in Jesus shows that relationship is still there, still alive.
God in Jesus is bloodied, smeared with the curse of our sin.
God in Jesus takes it, and repairs it.
The tearing of the curtain shows us how God restores us as His children.
God wants us to live with, and in, the glow of His glowing love.

The blood of sacrifice is not the price we pay to get back to God.
The blood of sacrifice is the price that God pays to get us back.
I am reminded of the father in Jesus’s parable of the prodigal son.
Standing on the doorstep, waiting for his son, we see both separation and union.
A barrier exists, but it does not destroy the embrace of his heart.
And when he sees the son, he runs out to him to physically embrace him.
To be stained by his dirty, pig-smelling and smeared clothing.
God gets dirty as he embraces and restores his lost-but-now-found son.

The tearing of the curtain makes the symbol final and complete.
There is no brokenness between us and God.
As far as God is concerned, we are fully restored and reconciled.
God has an open-door policy with us, even though we’re still dirty and stink.

Too many christians act as if the curtain were still in place.
They question God’s mercy towards them, and still feel unworthy.
They try to appease God, and themselves, with their good deeds or sacrifices.
They convey a sense of heaviness and distance between them and God.
They make being a christian a negative thing, under the shadow of a stern God.
Yes we are stained and stinky with the ‘blood’ of our sin.
But look at Jesus, so is He; He pushes through the barrier to open the way.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:19-23)

Confidence, a new and living way, full assurance, cleansed, washed.
Let us draw near to the God because of God’s love, seen in the bloodied Jesus.
Let us rest in His embrace, despite our own failures, flaws and follies.
Allow God to live with and in you, making you His ‘most holy place’.
The dividing wall has been torn away, and God’s arms are open wide.
God is not an angry judge needing to be appeased or satisfied with blood.
God is not waiting to hear your prodigal speech; he’s already embracing you.
God is bloodied (see Jesus on the cross), like the blood on the mercy seat.
Though sin still mars and stains our relationship, there is no fixed barrier.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

Let us draw near to the God that draws near to us.
For the way is open and clear, and we are loved and welcome.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, there is no barrier between God and us. We have not removed it, You have. Since we could not get past it, You tore it down and opened the way. Remind me daily of God's great love, and silence the lies that trick me into thinking I am not good enough. Let me sense Your loving arms, holding my stinky stained self and leading me, welcoming me home. Nothing can separate me from Your love... NOTHING!