The Veil

The Veil

THE VEIL

(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!

Whoa!

The news went round like wild fire! 

People started rushing to the temple to 

see what the Holy of Holies looked like! 

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! 

Praise God we have managed the crisis well. 

In a few days, something new will capture 

people’s attention and forget about the torn veil.

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 a form of Judaism continued till today…