05_Eubank_247_268 15/07/14 12:19 Pagina 266 266 NATHAN EUBANK 15:37. But because 15:38 is already a natural cipher for theophany, the impact of its insertion here must be obvious: it characterizes the christophany as a theophany! Jesus’ self-disclosure is an act of divine self-disclosure. In his death, which culminates his mission of rejec- tion and suffering (and thus satisfies the need for secrecy), Jesus mani- fests his true identity; and the effect, according to Mark, is equivalent to God himself showing his “face” 51. In short, the concurrence of the climactic revelation of Jesus as the Son of God and the ripping of the temple veil — an act which exposes the God who dwells within and is described with a divine passive of sci,zw as in 1,10 — can hardly be accidental. The cen- turion stands “in the presence of” the God who dwelt in the temple. Yet, Chronis’ interpretation is weakened by his assumption that the centurion’s confession is sincere. He argues that his interpreta- tion avoids artificial explanations of how the centurion could have seen the temple veil, claiming that he only “modestly assumes only that Mark would have known what (whom!) the veil’s destruction would have left exposed” 52. Like Marcus, Chronis conflates the story and the discourse of Mark; surely Mark was indeed interested in “whom” the veil’s destruction left exposed, but this does not ex- plain why, at the story level, the centurion would suddenly think that the pathetic corpse dangling in front of him was a son of God. A two-level reading of evx evnanti,aj auvtou/ is in keeping with the rest of v.39, and, indeed, with the rest of the passion narrative. The centurion stands “against” the man he mocks, but the readers see the rending of the temple veil and know the centurion truly is stand- ing “in the presence of” the Son of God. * * * For both ancient and modern interpreters of Mark two habits of reading have commended a “sincere” interpretation of the centu- rion’s words. First, interpreters have read Mark through the lens of Matthew and Luke where it is clear that the centurion is not being snide. Furthermore, the Johannine claim that Jesus had the power 51 Ibid., 110 52 Ibid., 111.