The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-04-05

The Torn Veil
Lesson for April 7, 1868
Once upon a time Gethsemane
and Calvary were only names.
People in Jerusalem knew where
they were. Gethsemane was in
one kind of suburb; it was an or
chard, much like a park. a good
place to go for quiet and rest
in the fresh air. Calvary was al
together a different place. The
air was not fresh, it smelled
of death. For that place (Skull
Place they called it, was the Ro-
man army's place of execution.
The place reeked with blood and
the flies were everywhere
Nowadays these names have a
different sound. They are below
ed names, poems have been
written and hymns sung about
them.
The Torn Veil
What sort or place would be
best suited for the God of heaven
and earth? In contrast to the
jeweled shrines which enclosed
the images of the pagan gods,
the God of the Jews lived in a
dark chamber into which even
His priests were forbidden to
enter. OF course those W h o
thought much about such mat
terS knew that God was not in
there. Yet if you asked them,
Where is the house of God?"
they would have pointed to the
Temple. 1t was Respondent in
marble and gold to be sure;
but in that Temple. as in its
model the little tabernacle or
tent in the wilderness IL cen
turies before, God Himself did
not sit among the lights; His
own chamber was dark, silent
and bare, empty of all but Him
self, invisible and terrible.
Between that chamber and the
rest of the Temple hung an i'm
mense veil. 1t was a symbol of
the mystery and the barrier be-
tween man and his God. Now on
the afternoon in April when
Jesus died. a strange thing hap
pened. That great veil was found
TO be torn in two.
What Does Gethsemane Mean?
We may be bold to say that
the torn veil let in light upon
what otherwise would have re-
dark forever. The tear
ing of the veil may symbolic
the light shed by Gods Spirit,
as Christians believe, on the
dark events we call Gethsemane
and Calvary. What would Geth-
semane have meant to you if
you had been there? In h e
shadows of the great spreading
trees hiding the full moon, you
might have seen four men,
three Of them asleep but one of
them praying. You could not
have heard all that he said, but
you might have been close
to have heard the words
Wrung from him, Let this cup
pass from me Nevertheless,
not as I will but as Thou wilt. /"
You could see that he dreaded
something. Yet you could not
see what it was he dreaded.
Certainly not death. nor failure;
for he had faced death and
failure before this, and he knew
how TO take them. What was
this something" worse than
death? One of the men Sleep
ing here would one day write:
Christ suffered for you He
committed no sin He bore
our sins :" Il Peter ~ BY
the light the Spirit pours through
the opened veil. we can see what
GethSemane means: that Christ
took on His own heart the sins
Of mankind.
What Does Calvary Mean?
Through that same rending of
the mystic veil. a light is shed
also on Calvary. If at Gethse-
name Christ felt the shame of
our sins, on Calvary He felt the
dire result of our sins. For the
nature and the result of sin is
10 separate the sinner from
God. Again without the light that
The Spirit shed lin various ways
through the New TESTAMENT we
could make very little of Cal
vary. What could you have
seen? Three men being tortur-
I'd to death, Roman style. by
being nailed to crosses. You
might not have known - for
his executioners did
not know that the few words
spoken by the man on the mid
lie cross, in all the hours He
hung there. would be immortal.
Even if you had known, you
could hardly have understood.
Yet in the light that poursI
through the torn veil We can see
wen a meaning in the darkest
u Calvary'S savings: Why hast
Thou forSaken me? The mean
ng. part of the meaning. of Cal /
'ary is that Christ underwent. |