DAY 318

SACRIFICE & BLOOD

Hebrews 10

Yesterday I commented largely on Lamentations and indicated today I would focus on Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 is a wonderful chapter, in it we find verses that speak about the center piece of our faith – the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Sacrifices needed to be continually offered because it is impossible the blood of bulls, etc. to take away sin…v.4

Consequently Christ came into the world…and we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all…v.10.

 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified…v.14.

Therefore we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…v.19.

Sacrifice and Blood—gory titles for a blog post. I recently had a person object to there being any need for a sacrifice…”all this talk of sacrifice is unnecessary…we do not need a sacrifice!” It was, to say the least, a strong reaction.

You and I have read much of the Bible in the prior 317 days. The place where the Bible really focuses on sacrifice is Leviticus…it appears in other places, but in that book it is most pronounced. We had an Old Testament and Hebrew scholar at the Cathedral this year. He was terrific. He said that Leviticus was given to the people as a way of God being merciful. We all exclaimed, “Merciful, but all those sacrifices and all that work!” He answered, “Yes, but without those sacrifices the people would have no way to atone for their sins…God provided a way to make right all that they had done wrong.”

My answer to the person challenging me was to ask him if he had ever been wronged. Of course he had, we all have been wronged. Then I asked if he had ever wronged someone, and again the answer was of course. So the next question is if there is no “payment” for the wrong, no sacrifice, what would that imply about the wrong done to you or by you? He just looked at me. The answer in my mind is that if no “payment” or “sacrifice” took place then it must not be a big deal. If putting it “right” costs nothing, then “the it”/that which was wrongly done, is not a big deal. So here is the point: justice is a big deal—wrongs need to be put right—you cannot travel back in time and “take back” what you did, but you can acknowledge it, you can “make a sacrifice” for it—sacrifice in my way of thinking is absolutely necessary.

Your mind might be going to, “What about forgiveness, in your blog about forgiveness you said it was relinquishing my right to justice, isn’t that relinquishing my/your right to want a sacrifice?” I did say that, and that is a great question, and yes in my mind that is forgiveness. I believe I can offer forgiveness, in part, because Jesus has made the sacrifice for the wrong done to me and the wrongs done by me. I have wronged and been wronged, and those “wrongs” matter, they matter so much that Jesus gave his life in payment for them, so I may offer and receive forgiveness—but don’t misunderstand, they were/are terribly important, so important that the Son of God shed his own blood.

Which brings me to blood…the blood of Jesus…isn’t this a bit much? In our culture I can understand why we might think this, but by way of background Jewish people believed that the body and spirit of a being (be it human or animal) was united/contained in its blood…the blood is the life force. When they would offer a sacrifice, the priest did not slit the throat of the lamb, the owner did. The priest held the bowl under the animal’s neck to collect the blood. The owner, with their hand on the head of the animal, slit the throat and felt the life drain out of the animal. I am trying to imagine that moment. I have got to think that had a powerful impact on the person—their behavior led to the draining of life from this animal—maybe they would want to not sin again.

Yet Hebrews rightly captures what you might be thinking (actually it is a quote from the Psalms) and that is, “surely the blood of bulls, etc. cannot make up for the sins of men…” True enough, but the sacrifice of God’s Son can. What higher price can be paid than a divine-human life? Can you put a price, a value on the life of the Son of God? It is infinite. His offering of himself, freely, reinforces that all the wrongs done by us and to us matter (and the “us” is the “us’s” of the world)—they need to be atoned for. His offering of his infinite self “covers” or “pays” or “atones” for all our sins—nothing else matters. And yes, this is by His Blood—that which contained the life of the God-man Jesus.