Mark 15:38

‘And the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.'

Matthew links this event with an earthquake, ‘the earth quaked and the rocks were torn' (Matthew 27:51). There were two veils in the Temple. The one which covered the entry to the Holy Place and the other which separated the Holy Place from the Holiest of All. It was probably the latter which is described here, the veil regularly referred to in Hebrews (Mark 6:19; Mark 9:3; Mark 10:20). Either way its tearing apart on the death of Jesus had huge significance as it symbolised that a new way into the presence of God had been opened to all. It may also be seen as a portent of the destruction of the temple, with the idea that its function would cease. With the veil torn its mystery had gone. The glory had departed, a divine riposte to the words spoken against Jesus about the Temple. It was naturally not something that the chief priests would want publicised, but many priests who would know about it became believers (Acts 6:7) so that it could not be hidden.

The Jewish Talmud (the Gemara - Rabbinic comments on the Mishnah which was the written record of the oral Law) states that forty years before the destruction of temple, thus around this time, something happened which made the massive doors of the temple open of their own accord (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 39b). That may well have torn the curtain that hung over them or in front of them.

And that strange things happened in the temple some time prior to its destruction at the fall of Jerusalem is recorded also by Josephus (Jewish Wars 6:5.2 - although not this particular event). Among other things Josephus describes how the eastern gate of the inner court, which was of brass and very heavy, which took twenty men to shut and rested on a base strengthened with iron, and had bolts fastened very deeply into the firm floor which was made of one solid stone, opened of its own accord. It would seem from this that the temple mount was subject to earth movements which caused strange things to happen.

It is interesting that this occurrence connects with the testimony made against Jesus both at His hearing in the High Priest's house and with the mockery on the cross. Both referred to His claim to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Both spoke of Him as the Messiah. And now they had received the first intimation that He was possibly right after all. His death had already affected the Temple and its furniture. It was as though its uniqueness had been torn up.