(Matthew 27:51)

My name is Caiaphas.

As the High Priest, my job was well cut out: go into the Holy of Holies with the blood of bulls to offer as atonement for the sins of the people.

Simple.

The High Priest is the First among Equals- there are other priests apart from me. I just happen to be the Top Gun.

Our work was very sacred and demanding. Sacrificing animals on a daily basis can be very monotonous and boring, but as the High Priest, I was the only one who had access into the Holy of Holies. Nobody else goes behind the veil; nobody else knows what goes on inside there. That gives me some degree of awe among the people: The Man Who Sees What Nobody Else Sees!

Whoa!

What honor!

What respect!

What reverence!

I must confess, I enjoy all the attention, despite the limitations of my office. I have to wear a specially made robe, I have to wear a breast plate, I have to wear a special cap- the ceremonial garb of a High Priest was something else! But the prestige it offers was worth it…

Now, there was this Rabble Rouser who called himself the Son of God. He went against everything I have been taught in Judaism. We have been looking for a way to stop the movement He started, and we knew the only way to put an end to the nonsense was to get rid of Him. Once the head is cut off, the body dies! We had succeeded in getting Him to Pilate, and when Pilate asked who should be granted amnesty, I was glad to hear the crowd ask for Barabbas! It was a sweet victory for the priesthood! Our religion and culture have survived over centuries, this guy just cannot come on the scene and change everything in 3 years! Who does He think he is? Son of God my foot!

He was sentenced to death by crucifixion.

On the crucifixion day, there was darkness all over from 12 noon till 3pm. I wondered what was going on. This guy must be up to something again! When He walked free, He deceived people with tricks and magic, claiming He raised people from the dead and healed sick people. It was even claimed He cast out devils from people and walked on water! His deceit is legendary! Now as He is dying, He is still carrying out His deception! How on earth did He turn day into night?

As I pondered on this, He cried, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”.

And He died.

Ah! Finally! Now we can have some peace! In that moment, my phone rang: it was one of the priests. “Sir, your attention is needed in the temple immediately! Something terrible just happened!” And he cut the line! Whoa! What could have happened in the temple? This troublemaker just died. What has He done to the temple again? I called my driver and we hit the road: the temple was about 10 minutes away…

We got there and I was shocked at what I saw: The veil that covered the Holy of Holies was torn from the top to the bottom! All the things only my eyes saw were open for everyone to see! The mystery was revealed! What confers respect, honor and reverence on me has just been demystified!

And the big HOAX was laid bare: THERE WAS NO ARK OF THE COVENANT IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES!!!! The very thing that gave it its name was NOT there!

Whoa!

The news went round like wild fire! People started rushing to the temple to see what the Holy of Holies looked like; and they found out it there was no Ark of the Covenant inside! People were taking pictures and posting on Social Media! I immediately called the other priests: emergency! We have to do something immediately before we lose our respect with these folks! So the priests formed a chain to block the Holy of Holies from the public view! I called Jeconiah the tailor and explained the emergency to him: he quickly drove to the temple with his sewing machine! He got to work: he sewed the veil back in a few minutes and we quickly hung it back.

Phew!

What an embarrassment! Thank God we have managed the crisis well. In a few days, something new will capture people’s attention and they will forget about the Torn Veil.

That is the good thing about this generation: they can easily move on from anything: their attention span is very short. All things being equal, the Torn Veil and the exposed Holy of Holies won’t trend for more than a few days…

So the temple regained its pride of place among the people. God tore that as a sign that the old has passed away, the new has come! God took away the Old so He could establish the New! God had sacrificed His Son as an atonement for sin so we would not have to kill bulls and goats as sacrifice anymore! God has a new way to access the Throne of Grace- through Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was just crucified! God just retired JUDAISM and started a new movement: CHRISTIANITY!

But the people did not get it. The veil was sewn back to preserve the very thing God has discarded.

And Judaism continued till today…

Shalom,

Haruna Daniels