most agonizing form: rejection by a father. Almost immediately after that, He died, not of the wounds of crucifixion, but of a heart broken by rejection. The record of Matthew continues immediately: “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (verse 51). Symbolically this demonstrated that the way had been opened for sinful man to enter into direct fellowship with a holy God. The rejection of Jesus had opened the way for us to be accepted by God as His children. This is