Mark's Sandwiches 1.4

Here is another one of Mark’s Sandwiches - the tearing of the Temple veil at the crucifixion [1]. This one is particularly interesting as it also challenges a few traditional interpretations. Traditionally, many people understand the tearing of the Temple veil to be indicative of the tearing of the barrier between God and man. That is, many people assume that it was the inner veil of the Temple, the veil that led into the Holy of Holies, that was torn. But if we see another one of Mark’s sandwiches here, we’ll see that it was not the inner veil of the Temple, but the outer veil that was torn, and we will also see how to understand this.

The sandwich itself is formed by two, at first glance, seemingly unconnected events: Jesus’ baptism and the crucifixion. But what appears to be unconnected at first is connected by a series of common elements and themes that happen both at the baptism and the crucifixion in Mark. The sandwich itself encloses Mark’s entire gospel by the two crucial events in Jesus’ life. Here are the relevant passages:

Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God………..1:9 Now in those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. 1:10 And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 1:11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight.” 1:12 The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness. 1:13 He was in the wilderness forty days, enduring temptations from Satan. He was with wild animals, and angels were ministering to his needs.

15:33 Now when it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 15:34 Around three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 15:35 When some of the bystanders heard it they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah!” 15:36 Then someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine,put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to take him down!” 15:37 But Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. 15:38 And the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. 15:39 Now when the centurion, who stood in front of him, saw how he died, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

Here are the common elements that you see in the baptism and the crucifixion:

(1) At both times something descends. At the baptism it’s the spirit descending while at the crucifixion it’s the veil that is torn from “top to bottom” in a downward motion.

(2) At both times the Spirit is mentioned. At the baptism the “Spirit” descends while at the crucifixion Jesus gives up the “Spirit”, a fact which is demonstrated by Mark’s twice repetition of Jesus “breathing” (a Greek cognate of the word for Spirit: “pneuma”) his last.

(3) At both times there is the presence of Elijah. At the baptism it’s John the Baptist who is “Elijah” (Mark 9:11-13), while at the crucifixion the people believe that Jesus is calling for Elijah, and they want to see if Elijah will come save him.

(4) At both moments something is “split open”. At the baptism the heavens are torn, while at the crucifixion the veil is torn. To make this more interesting, we astonishingly learn in the description of the Temple equipment from the Jewish historian Josephus that the outer veil of the Temple was a “typified the universe” and was a “panorama of the entire heavens“ (Jewish War 5.5.4). So at the baptism and the crucifixion it’s not merely that something is “tearing open”, but in BOTH cases it’s the heavens that are tearing open. I don’t think the coincidence of the relation between the tearing of the heavens at the baptism and the veil to the outer court’s being symbolic of the heavens can be ignored as a mere coincidence. I think it’s clear that Mark intends us to understand the veil that is torn to be the outer veil, not the inner one. Noteworthy here too is that if the sequence in the events of the crucifixion are followed, the centurion makes his declaration of Jesus’ Sonship once he feels the earthquake and sees the veil torn. Of course, had the veil been to the Holy of Holies, the centurion could not have seen it torn in two and so he would not have been shocked into making his declaration.

(6) At both times Jesus is declared to be the Son of God. At the baptism it’s the voice from heaven that declares Jesus to be the Son, while at the crucifixion it’s the Roman Centurion that declares Jesus to be the Son. Interestingly, this is also Mark’s self proclaimed point of his own writing (Mark 1:1). He wants to tell us the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Mark’s creative genius also takes themes of Jewish apocalyptic imagery (the heavens tearing) and works them in such a manner to signify Jesus’ importance in the revelation of God’s plan. Jewish apocalyptic work is generally meant to be a ‘pulling back of the curtain’, a revelation of the hidden plan of God [2]. Mark takes this idea and shows how God’s hidden plan if finally revealed in the crucifixion of the Son of God.

Mark’s frame, the sandwich, around his entire work is done on purpose to point out to us that the entire story Mark has just told should be understood as just how it was that God revealed his age old plan in the revelation of Jesus Christ the Son of God. He does this by framing his entire gospel around the two biggest events in Jesus’ life: baptism and crucifixion.


[1] Cf: “The Heavenly Veil Torn: Mark’s Cosmic Inclusio”. David Ulansey. Journal of Biblical Literature 110:1 (Spring 1991) pp. 123-25

[2] For more on Jewish apocalyptic writings see “The Open Heaven” by Christopher Rowland.