Schizomai

I was reading a blog (Dylan's Lectionary Blog) and found this:

The delay before I got my own trusty PowerBook back was such that I got a chance to do something unusual for me. Before I wrote my own lectionary reflection, I edited another -- Jeff Krantz's wonderful "The God Who Is For Us" in The Witness. Jeff drew my attention once more to something that commentators often note about Mark 1 -- namely the tie between Jesus' Baptism and his Passion, made by Mark's use of schizomai in just two places -- Mark 1:10's "the heavens torn apart" and Mark 15:38's "the curtain of the temple was torn in two."

This is why I love to know the origin of words, and am fascinated by translation. I have never heard this before, but it brings to mind, for the first time (for me) the parallel between the heavens parting above Jesus after his baptism, and the curtain being torn in two between the "most high" in the temple, and us. In both cases, God is reaching toward us from where He is to where we are.

The word, apparently, translates as "torn." It doesn't mean "gently parted," or "quietly separated." To me the word "torn" implies violence, impatience, almost desperation.

Imagine for a moment that your child is separated from you and is in danger. Visualize a barrier between you and your son or daughter. Would you gently pull it away? Would you quietly push it aside? No, you would rip it down to reach your child. That's what this brings to mind for me. The word schizomai means torn.