Pay No Attention to that Man Behind the Curtain

Watching the Wizard of Oz on CBS was an annual tradition in my home growing up. I can still quote many of the lines from the film and sing most of the songs word for word. What I didn’t realize, until recently, was all the parallels the films storyline has to the biblical event of the tearing of the veil in the temple.

The Bible describes the moment Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished!” and died that the thick curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom (Mt 27:51). What is troubling is that when the curtain was ripped in two, there was no magical deity sitting behind it. It was just a curtain; it was just a building. Which naturally should lead one to question what, if anything was really going on behind this veil once a year. Was the yearly priestly practice just another ploy for man-made systems to exploit God’s people?

Did God’s presence really dwell in a temple, isolated behind a curtain?

Scripture clearly states, in unmistakable terms, that God does not live in temples built by human hands (Acts 17:24). The curtain in the temple created a barrier between God’s presence and his people, and it separated those who had authority to go behind it from those who did not. When it was torn apart the power shifted away from the Religious authorities and was given to all people. The people no longer had to be threatened by the temple that hid the one and only big magic man in their midst. It’s like the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Toto reveals that the mighty wizard is really just a man behind the curtain. Likewise Jesus’ death is the ultimate anti-temple statement. The scam is exposed. There is nothing behind the curtain. Meaning, there’s no place where God is and isn’t. No more smoke and mirrors, God is found among us and we are the real temples where real communion with God can be experienced.