Apr 20 Mon
Pharisee Asks If It's Normal For Temple Curtain To Suddenly Rip In Half
JERUSALEM — A Pharisee by the name of Ahaziah asked his fellow scribes if it was normal for the temple curtain to suddenly and spontaneously rip in half from top to bottom.
The incident occurred on the afternoon of the day of preparation for the Passover, which just so happened to coincide with the execution of a trio of condemned criminals just outside the city.
"Is it, uh, supposed to do that?" asked Ahaziah, staring at the split halves of the massive curtain believed to separate mankind from God's presence. "I haven't been a Pharisee very long, but I sort of had the idea the curtain was supposed to stay put. I'm not sure if four-inch-thick, 60-foot-tall curtains are supposed to just violently split like that. It seems a little strange, is all."
Ahaziah further queried whether anyone knew if earthquakes were common in the region, or if people coming up out of their graves to walk around the city was something that happened frequently.
"Is this out of the ordinary, people getting up out of their own graves?" Ahaziah asked an elder Pharisee, his legs still shaking from the earthquake. "Do they usually do that when we execute a guy for blasphemy? It feels different, at least to me."
At publishing time, Ahaziah had asked if it was typical for three-thousand-pound stones to suddenly move away from a tomb opening.
The above “imaginary” news tells us that, if a person is aware that God has revealed something, he needs some evidence to confirm that it is God who reveals a truth.
Therefore, we have to know in some way that God is the one speaking. It cannot be known from the content of the revealed truth, since it is not self-evident for us; if it were, it would not be a matter of faith.
We need some external testimony, similar to the way external signs vouch for the authenticity of a document: a seal, or the signatures of a notary public and some witnesses, even if it can also be confirmed by its content.
It is reasonable to accept a revelation when it meets certain criteria that identify it as such, that is, as something said by God. This is what the First Vatican Council teaches:
For the submission of our faith to be consonant with reason, God has willed that external proofs of his Revelation, namely divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies, should be added to the internal aids given by the Holy Spirit.
Since these proofs so excellently display God’s omnipotence and limitless knowledge, they constitute the surest signs of divine Revelation, signs that are suitable to everyone’s understanding. Therefore, not only Moses and the prophets but also and preeminently Christ our Lord performed many evident miracles and made clear-cut prophecies.
Moreover, we read of the Apostles: “But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the preaching by the signs that followed.”