{"id":45564,"date":"2013-11-29T05:02:42","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T11:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=45564"},"modified":"2013-11-29T06:51:18","modified_gmt":"2013-11-29T12:51:18","slug":"from-top-to-bottom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/","title":{"rendered":"From Top to Bottom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>By John Frye<\/p>\n

From Top to Bottom<\/p>\n

The Synoptics all report the curtain in the Temple being torn (split) from top to bottom. Matthew and Mark time it with Jesus\u2019 last cry from the cross while Luke times it with the noonday darkness. In view of the Book of Hebrews, many suggest that it was the inner<\/em> curtain of the Temple that was torn. This tearing is the first in a series of dramatic, apocalyptic events literally shaking the earth. God is up to something big! Was the curtain torn to let the Jewish, confined God out, so to speak, in order to permeate the world? Or was it torn to let all humans have access to the one true God? Pentecost (Acts 2) would suggest the first and the Book of Hebrews would argue the second (e.g., Hebrews 10:19-22). Either way, Jesus replaces the Temple and High Priest and access to God is now through Jesus the Christ and him alone.\u00a0 Immersed in these events, a Roman centurion makes a startling confession, \u201cTruly he was the Son of God!\u201d R. T. France comments that apart from what the centurion may have meant \u201c\u2026for Matthew (as for Mark) it conveys nothing less than the full christological sense\u201d (NICNT Matthew<\/em><\/a>, 1084). William Lane suggests the centurion meant more than he knew declaring the \u201ctranscendent dignity\u201d if not deity of Jesus as \u201cthe<\/em> Son of God\u201d (vis-a- vis<\/em> Colwell\u2019s rule).<\/p>\n

Everything is changing in these tumultuous moments of judgment and redemption as one troubling Jewish man hangs bloody and dead on a Roman cross. Cosmic renewal is at the starting blocks and Jesus\u2019 resurrection will be the starter-pistol shot. Amazing. Simply amazing. I wrote this:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Torn Curtain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sword cuts a deep gash in human flesh,
\nThe holy curtain from top to bottom
\nOn the Temple mount rips, mysteriously separates.<\/p>\n

Two Temples purposely, violently damaged;
\nA Roman cross corpse and Holy of Holies curtain
\nChange places as God startles the planet.<\/p>\n

The last deep breath of the Nazareth teacher
\nFrom a criminal\u2019s hard, bloody planks
\nBreathes as King new life into the world.<\/p>\n

A seasoned soldier, wearied by so much death,
\nSeeing, hearing a human\u2019s cry like no other,
\nDeclares unwittingly on the spot his disloyalty
\nTo the forever false king, Caesar.<\/p>\n

What a dangerous world with God roaming free!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Frye From Top to Bottom The Synoptics all report the curtain in the Temple being torn (split) from top to bottom. Matthew and Mark time it with Jesus\u2019 last cry from the cross while Luke times it with the noonday darkness. In view of the Book of Hebrews, many suggest that it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Top to Bottom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By John Frye From Top to Bottom The Synoptics all report the curtain in the Temple being torn (split) from top to bottom. Matthew and Mark time it with\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Top to Bottom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By John Frye From Top to Bottom The Synoptics all report the curtain in the Temple being torn (split) from top to bottom. Matthew and Mark time it with\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-29T11:02:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-29T12:51:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2013\/11\/FromShepherdsNook.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/\",\"name\":\"From Top to Bottom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-29T11:02:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-11-29T12:51:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"By John Frye From Top to Bottom The Synoptics all report the curtain in the Temple being torn (split) from top to bottom. Matthew and Mark time it with\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"From Top to Bottom\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From Top to Bottom","description":"By John Frye From Top to Bottom The Synoptics all report the curtain in the Temple being torn (split) from top to bottom. Matthew and Mark time it with","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"From Top to Bottom","og_description":"By John Frye From Top to Bottom The Synoptics all report the curtain in the Temple being torn (split) from top to bottom. Matthew and Mark time it with","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2013-11-29T11:02:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-11-29T12:51:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2013\/11\/FromShepherdsNook.png"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/","name":"From Top to Bottom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-11-29T11:02:42+00:00","dateModified":"2013-11-29T12:51:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"By John Frye From Top to Bottom The Synoptics all report the curtain in the Temple being torn (split) from top to bottom. Matthew and Mark time it with","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/29\/from-top-to-bottom\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"From Top to Bottom"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}