When I taught Intro to Bible at NPU this fall, I kept referring to a couple of over-arching themes that I wanted the class to have seared in their heads about the message of the Bible (since we read portions of most of the whole thing in ONE semester and a teacher needs priorities!) One theme that we kept returning to was the holinessofGod – especially as seen in the OT construction of the tabernacle and then the temple that ‘housed God’ in the inner, closed-off, sacred room – the ‘holy of holies.’ This keeping of God away from the people was done out of obedience, out of reverence for a God so different, so set apart, so ‘other’ when compared to humans – that it had to be literally embodied for many generations. Learning that God is not a more powerful version of a person (a bigger stronger version of us), or a God that can be ordered around or subdued (or ‘tamed,’ as C.S. Lewis would say) – was a major lesson for the chosen Jewish nation to understand. God wanted to show them what holiness was, and what sin was, through this separation of God – a separation that meant only one person, once a year, could enter the inner holy of holies after laborious rituals and cleansings. The rest of the people of God had specific, measured approximations for how close they could get to this room where God was kept - other holy Jewish priests would get sort of close to this room, then other
faithful Jewish men would get to the room outside of that, then certain trained Jewish men, then some Jewish women, and on and on – everyone knowing his/her level of cleanliness/sinfulness in relation to a purely holy and clean God.
On Good Friday, the THICK curtain that guarded God’s set apart presence in that holy of holies was torn. The curtain ripped from the top to the bottom, letting God spill out of that cloistered inner sanctum. God jumped over the ropes, ran through all the levels of those outer rooms to touch men, women, and children; running over dirty heads of tax collectors and street hustlers, welcoming Gentiles and God fearers; cleaning the hearts of rabbis and the pious, scaring the faithful with its abandon and universality. God was here – God was not set apart in the same way – God escaped – because of Jesus. Jesus’s life, His death on the cross that Friday, and his resurrection that we celebrate this weekend is what ripped that separation down forever – but not because God isn’t still holy, or different or set apart from humanity. But God bridged the gap between God and the world in an amazing, earth-shattering way – God decided to bring more of God to the world, and reveal who God was in the flesh, and then invite all of us to be part of that movement of God spilling out into the world. Now all God’s people, all of the earth, is invited to relate to that holiness through the sometimes messy, always miraculous person of Christ as it keeps spilling and swelling, uncontained, throughout history. Catch the wave, I say. Amen!  Â