Tag: sacrifice

Let Mercy Be Our Guide (Matthew 12:1-8)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (New International Version)

I’ll just say it plainly: We people are quick to judge. All of us have been on the end of someone judging us for something we did or said; and also all of us have played the judge, telling someone they aren’t right, when we really don’t know what’s going on or don’t have the full picture.

In today’s Gospel lesson, the Pharisees take issue with Christ’s disciples doing something unlawful (that is, unbiblical). Since the Pharisees chose to respond to the situation using the ground of Scripture, Jesus responded to them on Scriptural grounds.

Jesus went back to the Bible, with three pointed biblical retorts: “Haven’t you read?” “Haven’t you read in the Law?” and “If you had known what these words mean….”

David and His Companions

The first example of Jesus, in reply to the Pharisees’ issue with the disciples picking heads of grain on the Sabbath, was to lift up David and his men. They had the audacity to waltz into the holy place, take the sacred Bread of the Presence, and proceed to eat it. And it was all done above board.

In a usual circumstance, it would be unlawful for anyone other than a priest to eat the bread. However, under unusual circumstances or extreme situations, it is very much permitted for the priest(s) to give the bread to others. This gets at the spirit and intent of the Law, not just the letter of it.

If we are unable to practice biblical injunctions with both knowledgeable skill and practical art, then we are failing to keep the Law. In other words, meeting the very real needs of people is a high priority – which is a major point of divine commands to begin with.

Priests on Sabbath Duty

The Pharisees had a problem with the disciples “working” on the Sabbath day. Rather than quibble about whether they were working by sowing and reaping, or not, Jesus went to the example and reality that the priests of God “work” on the Sabbath day – an argument which every Christian Pastor knows all too well, since we do a great deal of work on our Sunday of “rest.”

Jesus is merely making a simple observation that priestly work is done on the Sabbath without any guilt, sin, or shame behind it. In fact, it’s expected. Just as the priests are squeaky clean, then so are Christ’s disciples.

Christ brings it closer to his main point – that if the temple and all the ritual laws can validate Sabbath work – then it follows that Jesus has the freedom to “work” on the Sabbath because he is actually Lord of the Sabbath. It’s an argument from the lesser to the greater. If the temple is important, and Christ is greater than the temple, then there ought to be no constraints to Messiah’s work in this world.

If You Only Knew Your Bible

The lynchpin and hinge point of all Christ’s words hangs on the revealed biblical heart of God toward the very situation in which the disciples were in the field getting some heads of wheat. And it is the verse drawn from the prophet Hosea: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

Again, the point of the Law, the aim of the biblical commands, is not self-sacrifice. It isn’t about going without eating because you would need to work in order to prepare food. Rather, it is having a big heart directed toward the needs of humanity. Human willpower, self-discipline, and right theology don’t mean much, at all, next to the weightier matters of empathy, compassion, and relational connection.

Religious duty is just that. But spiritual care which seeks to bring heartfelt compassion, responsible love, and social justice to a community is the sort of divine work that God is looking for in God’s people. Anything less than that is only hollow legalism.

So, instead of ignoring the Law, Jesus was actually upholding and fulfilling God’s Law. Christ was keeping the spirit, heart, and intent of divine instructions – even though it may have looked otherwise to a particular group of people.

Sabbath and the Reformation

In the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin understood this meaning, that the Sabbath is made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath, and that Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath. Therefore, we are to observe the Lord’s Day (Sunday) in an intentionally non-legalistic way:

“The Lord’s Day was not established for us to hallow it before all others, that is, to count it more holy. For this is the prerogative of God alone, who has honored all days equally (Romans 14:15). But it was established for the church to gather for prayers and praises of God, for hearing the Word, for the use of the sacraments.”

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book 1, Chapter 14)

Let mercy, not judgment nor sacrifice, be our interpretive guide through the whole of Holy Scripture and the Christian life, to the glory of God. Amen.

Access to God (Exodus 24:1-11)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Moses on Mount Sinai, by Jean-Leon Gerome, Moses on Mount Sinai, 1895

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders, and worship from a distance. Only Moses may come near to the Lord. The others shouldn’t come near, while the people shouldn’t come up with him at all.”

Moses came and told the people all the Lord’s words and all the case laws. All the people answered in unison, “Everything that the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down all the Lord’s words. He got up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He set up twelve sacred stone pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He appointed certain young Israelite men to offer entirely burned offerings and slaughter oxen as well-being sacrifices to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls. The other half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the covenant scroll and read it out loud for the people to hear. They responded, “Everything that the Lord has said we will do, and we will obey.”

Moses then took the blood and threw it over the people. Moses said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord now makes with you on the basis of all these words.”

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel went up, and they saw Israel’s God. Under God’s feet there was what looked like a floor of lapis-lazuli tiles, dazzlingly pure like the sky. God didn’t harm the Israelite leaders, though they looked at God, and they ate and drank. (Common English Bible)

Mount Sinai, by Shlomo Katz (1937-1992)

We all know the experience of taking something for granted. Over time, we might fail to appreciate what we truly have and the privilege we enjoy – particularly when it comes to the spiritual life.

In Christianity, believers are invited to come boldly before God in order to receive grace and help in a time of need, because we have been granted access by means of Christ’s blood. (Hebrews 4:16)

What we may, however, lose sight of is that the ability to do this was achieved at a great cost.

For anyone to approach God, there are some things which need to be in place. Getting near to the Lord, without provision for it to happen, is like looking directly into the sun on a cloudless day and expecting to observe it. Some major filtering needs to occur if we’re going to gaze at the sun.

In today’s Old Testament lesson, God makes it possible for the ancient Israelites to come near and enjoy a special relationship with the divine by establishing a covenant. The Lord put everything in place which was needed for an ongoing divine/human connection.

There was a ratification ceremony of this covenant relationship, involving blood, pledges to obey the moral and ethical Law, and a singular devotion and commitment to God alone. It was all topped-off with a meal, eating and drinking in the presence of Yahweh their God. Every ritual was highly symbolic of establishing a tight link between God and God’s covenant people.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god. (Psalm 24:3-4, NIV)

The trouble is that we cannot make ourselves pure in order to approach a perfectly pure and holy Being. God comes to humanity in waves – over the years, centuries, and millennia – so that we might become ever more close and intimate, as in the original relationship in the Garden.

All of the Law, the sacrifices, and the experiences at the mountain, pointed forward to a much greater fulfillment of the divine/human relationship.

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34, NIV)

This new covenant finds its focus, according to the New Testament, in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Now, the ultimate access and approachability is accomplished by means of the suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

Mount Calvary, by William H. Johnson, 1944

Christ did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant….

When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. 

But he has appeared once, for all, at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:12-15, 19-28, NIV)

Believers in Jesus remember this covenant each time they gather at the Table, partaking of bread and cup, imbibing deeply of the grace given us.

We have no hoops to jump through; there are no gymnastics we need to perform in order to approach God. The way has been opened. The curtain has been torn. Access to God is available.

I arise early each morning, but it’s not to offer a blood sacrifice. Rather, I have the wonderful privilege of drawing near to God, and offering a sacrifice of praise. Doing this daily routine helps me to remember, and not take for granted, the incredible privilege I have of entering the Lord’s presence.

Gracious and merciful God, forgive me in any way that I have taken you for granted. I thank you for salvation and the spiritual blessings of your presence and power in my life. Help me to always be aware and grateful for Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit are one God, now and forever. Amen.

Maundy Thursday (Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year A1 Comment
Washing of the Feet, by John August Swanson, 2000

I love the Lord because he has heard
    my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
    therefore I will call on him as long as I live….

What shall I return to the Lord
    for all his bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the Lord;
I will pay my vows to the Lord
    in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
    is the death of his faithful ones.
O Lord, I am your servant;
    I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
    You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
    and call on the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
    in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord,
    in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord! (New Revised Standard Version)

“Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus — a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you.”

Mother St. Térèsa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

There is more to the passion of Christ than sheer suffering and sorrow; the Via Dolorosa is, paradoxically, also the road to joy.

Yes, suffering is painful and unpleasant. Yet, since we all must suffer in some way, the real issue is whether our suffering is meaningless or has purpose to it. We are able to bear our suffering if we are confident that a redemptive outcome is at the end of it.

The Lord Jesus submitted to suffering because he knew that all the mockery, torture, and abuse was the pathway to deliverance for humanity.

Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. (Hebrews 12:2-3, NLT)

Since Jesus has gone before us, enduring shame so that it could be put to death in us, we are able to live free from guilt and the ignominy of sin. What’s more, Christ’s suffering gives shape and meaning to our own suffering.

“I cannot but wonder at the virtue that lies in suffering; we are worth nothing without the cross. I tremble and am in an agony while it lasts, and all my conviction of its salutary effects vanish under the torture, but when it is over, I look back at it with admiration, and am ashamed that I bore it so ill.”

François Fénelon (1651-1715)

On this Maundy Thursday, we remember that in the midst of suffering there is the hope of glory, and in the center of pain there is the confident expectation that it will be used as the fertilizer to help love grow and bloom in the dormant places of this world.

“Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds have forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love.”

St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897)

There cannot be love without suffering; to love is to sacrifice on behalf of another.

Because we live in a broken world full of pride and hubris, greed and avarice, hate and envy, we are victims of loveless systems and unjust actions. We need love to rescue and redeem us from the sheer muck of existential guilt and shame, evil and injustice.

Christians around the world are journeying through Holy Week, the most sacred time of the year for followers of Christ. When we think about Holy Week, we are familiar with Good Friday and certainly Easter, but Maundy Thursday? 

On this day, the Church remembers the final evening Jesus shared with his disciples in the upper room before his arrest and crucifixion. The experiences in the upper room were highly significant because this was the last teaching, modeling, and instruction Jesus gave before facing the cross. Jesus was careful and deliberate to communicate exactly what was important to him: to love one another.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35, NIV)

Maundy Thursday marks three important events in Christ’s Last Supper with his disciples: 

  1. The washing of the disciples’ feet (the action of loving service)
  2. The instituting of the Lord’s Supper (the remembrance of loving sacrifice)
  3. The giving of a “new” commandment to love one another (the mandate of a loving lifestyle)

The message of Maundy Thursday is this: Jesus Christ loves me just as I am, and not as I should be. He loves me even with my dirty stinky feet, my herky-jerky commitment to him, and my pre-meditated sin. 

Today is a highly significant day on the Church Calendar and in the Christian Year – one which deserves to be observed, and an opportunity to remember the important words and actions of Jesus on our behalf. Through Jesus Christ we are to live always in love, modeling our life and ministry after him. 

“I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.”

Mother Térèsa

In Christ, love is to characterize our life together as we proclaim God’s love in both word and deed. A watching world will take notice and desire to lay down their hate and animosity if the followers of Christ are deeply and profoundly centered in the love of God.

God our Father, you invite us to participate in the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of your Son. Inspire us by his service, and unite us in his love; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Jesus Is Better (Hebrews 8:1-7)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Exodus by Marc Chagall, 1952

Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. (New International Version)

Jesus Christ is superior to everyone and everything – that is the overarching theme of the New Testament book of Hebrews. Jesus is above the angels, over Moses, and the great high priest of a new covenant. In Christ, the sin issue has been taken care of, once and for all.

Through Jesus, every good promise of God is fulfilled. Christ’s priesthood and intercessory ministry is permanent. His sacrifice for sin is thorough and complete. Jesus lives forever. He saves completely. Christ meets our need. He has been made perfect forever. (Hebrews 7:23-28). 

Frankly, these bold statements from the author of Hebrews are some audacious claims. In fact, they’re downright radical. And yet, say any of those statements in the typical church, and hardly an eyebrow gets raised – they almost seem ho-hum. Our blank affect testifies that we have lost a great deal of the original force and impact of Christianity.

In the first century, to have one sacrifice to end all sacrifices was unthinkable. Every ancient person understood that sacrifices were temporary; you had to keep offering them over and over again. 

Christianity, however, asked the world to have a new understanding of sacrifice. No longer would there be any sacrifice – no grain sacrifice; no offerings of first fruits; no animal sacrifices; no sacrifices, period. There was no longer any need for them because Jesus himself is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. 

Crucifixion by Marc Chagall, 1966

This was such a ridiculous notion for so many people that they mocked Christians for it. Both Jews and pagans could barely wrap their minds around such a progressive idea. It would be like saying to us today that there is no longer any need for money because somebody just became the underwriter for everything everybody does.

Despite this incredible spiritual reality, we in the contemporary church sometimes go back to the old sacrificial system, not by physically offering animal sacrifices, but treating Christ’s finished work as if it were just too good to be true. 

We reason that we need to do something to help save ourselves. However, Jesus has not just saved us partially, but fully. Grace has always been scandalous, and so, we try to tone it down a bit, mitigate it’s actual force:

  • Church attendance can subtly be looked upon as a sacrifice to appease God, as if he needed to be soothed into not becoming angry at us. 
  • Giving can become a non-bloody sacrifice that is meant to satisfy God’s furrowed brow against us. 
  • Service can degenerate into a sacrifice to assuage our guilty conscience. 

In all these kinds of instances, and more, we go back to an old sacrificial system that is obsolete. Nonetheless, the biblical and theological truth is that Jesus has thoroughly saved us from our sin, and, so, has cleansed us from all guilt, including a guilty conscience. 

Jesus meets our need and has completely satisfied God’s wrath against the power and deceit of sin. 

Jesus is our mediator and intercedes for us as we come to God’s throne of grace. That means we do not need to try and get God’s attention with performing spiritual cartwheels or some incredible sacrifice that will somehow obligate him to take notice of us. That’s because there is never a time in which we lack attention from God.

Since we have been justified by faith in Jesus, we need not worry anymore about being good enough. Since Jesus is perfect, his work is made complete in us. A constant anxiety of feeling like we don’t measure-up does not come from God. Jesus is sufficient and has taken our place so that we can live in the freedom and joy of a complete deliverance from sin, death, and hell. There is no longer any necessary sacrifice to make!

“Well,” I have been told by some, “if everybody in the church believed that then nobody would ever do anything!” No, it is just the opposite. When we feel like we don’t measure up, we do less, not more. A low level discouragement sets in and we do nothing because we intuitively know it will never be enough. We do just enough to squeak by, never quite knowing if it is doing anything. 

In such a state, we may consider giving up because Christianity doesn’t work for us (which was the state of the believers in the book of Hebrews). But when we grasp the New Covenant of Christ’s sacrifice to end all sacrifices, and are overwhelmed by grace, then everything we do in the Christian life is a “thank you” with our life and our lips. 

It is the grace, and not the wrath, of God that teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live upright and godly lives (Titus 2:11-12).

We are justified and made right by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by our own accomplishments, pedigree, or effort.  Trusting in our heritage, relying on our family’s faith, or believing our hard work gives us a leg-up toward heaven will only end in despair. 

But if we trust in Christ’s perfect sacrifice, then a whole new world of mercy opens before us. Because the grace of God in Christ is superior to everything.

Soli Deo Gloria