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

I have heard many a preacher proclaim that the rending of the temple curtain in the Gospels at the moment when Jesus dies is a declaration of the movement of the presence of God’s Spirit from hiddenness behind the curtain into the open presence of humanity. Then there have been the debates about whether it was the curtain in the inner sanctuary whereat was the Holy of Holies, into which the high priest would enter but once a year on Yom Kippur, or whether it was the curtain of the Holy Place, just outside and adjacent to the Holy of Holies, where the priests would perform their daily duties; the reasoning is that if the curtain torn was between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place, then it might indicate that the Spirit of God was moving from one holy place to another, whereas if the curtain torn was between the Holy Place and the Outer Courtyard of the temple, then the Spirit of God might have been moving from the Holy Place into the common area of humanity.

Regardless of which of these interpretations holds water, I fear we have missed an important point that the Gospel writers are trying to convey.

All throughout the Old Testament as well as Jewish history, when someone was distraught and sad or overcome with the burden of negative emotion, they would tear their shirt or garment from top to bottom. Read in this light, it makes perfect sense why the temple curtain was torn from top to bottom: it was God’s declarative act of sorrow over the death of his Son that the temple curtain was torn from top to bottom. Whether the rending of the temple curtain was a movement of the Spirit of God from the Holy of Holies or the Holy Place, the action itself represents the great sorrow and anguish the Father was experiencing at the moment of his Son’s death.

Today, on Easter Day 2025, as we reflect and remember the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us not forget the sorrow that the Father felt for his Son, as he hung upon the cross. The Father feels and, as Paul says, we might grieve the Holy Spirit by our sinful actions. Indeed, it was because of love, which is not merely an action or a choice, but also a felt emotion, that God sent his Son to manifest on earth the redemption of our very lives.