Gracious God, help us to follow your way of the cross
which is the way of life. Amen.
In this week we call “holy,” the sermons are focusing on different aspects of the cross, which stands both at the center and the end of this week just as it stands at the center and the end of our faith. In each of these sermons, I’ll consider a different aspect of the cross with the aim of having a deeper appreciation for its beauty, power, and glory when we stand under its shadow on Good Friday.
For
tonight, we consider how the cross is a sacrificial image. Through our liturgy,
we’ve been shaped to see the cross in this way: Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us. And I’m sure that we’ve all heard the idea that Jesus died for, or
because of, our sins. But what do we mean by “sacrifice” and what does it say
about God that this, the violent and vulgar death of Jesus, is the means by
which God has chosen to redeem the world?
The
first thing that we must say about Jesus as an atoning sacrifice is that it is
not something God required. As we say in the Creed, the life and ministry of
Jesus were done “for us and for our salvation.” Could God have forgiven sins in
another way? Some theologians have argued “no.” They say that our sin put us in
debt to God and a debt that can just be wiped away without a cost was never truly
a debt, that somehow God’s honor would be spoiled if a payment was not made.
But I, and many others, disagree with such a position. That is to put God in
the box of human honor and economic relationships. But God is bigger than those
systems. So could God have dealt with the problem of sin without the sacrifice
of Jesus – of course. God is God. God can do whatever God chooses. God is not
bound by our ability, or inability, to understand what God is up to. Yes, it
may well be true that, because of our sin, we are in debt to God and have
insufficient funds to pay, but that does not mean that God is lacking anything.
God is always perfect and did not need a sacrifice to be made whole or anything
of that sort. So we must remember that the sacrifice of Jesus is not about appeasing
or paying God, rather the sacrifice is for our benefit.
The
second thing to bear in mind is that Jesus is the name for when the infinite
enters into time, and as we know, time is
contextual. When I talk about horsepower today it’s a very different concept
from what it would have meant 200 years ago. The same is true for a sacrifice. Judaism
was centered around sacrifices made in the Temple and we cannot understand the
death of Jesus apart from this sacrificial system. Entire books are devoted to
this topic, so I will only be scratching the surface of the concept tonight and
will focus on two specific sorts of sacrifices.
The
first is the sacrifice made on the Day of Atonement known as Yom Kippur. The
oversimplified but still accurate foundation for this sacrifice is that animal
takes on the sins of the people. And then as the goat or bull is killed, its
blood is released and then its flesh is offered upon the altar. In the burning
of the sacrifice, the animal is then transferred to the divine realm and with
it, the sins of the people are removed. The blood is important though – as we
read in Leviticus, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given
it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is
the blood that makes atonement.” In other words, the life of the animal is
given in exchange for the life of the people.
Again,
could this forgiveness have happened in another way? Sure. But this was the way
that culture understood forgiveness and atonement. Just like when I proposed to my wife, I could
have posed the question via email, or I could have baked her a cake and written
the question in icing, but in our culture, the custom is to get on one knee and
offer a ring. And so that’s what I did. Or when a deal is made, we shake hands.
Again, that action isn’t necessary, but it cements in our mind that an
agreement has been made. This is what atonement and forgiveness looked like for
the people of Israel – it was how they understood life, sacrifice, and
forgiveness. And because in Jesus God wanted it to be clear that we are
forgiven, the cultural language of sacrifice was used.
There
is another sacrifice that was also common at the time and it is often referred
to as the scapegoat. This goat was not slaughtered, rather it was sent out of the
community to wander in the wilderness until it eventually died. It’s a similar
idea to the sacrificed animal – the animal takes on the uncleanliness of the
people and is sent away, carrying those sins with it. You’ll notice when we get
to Good Friday that the Gospels make it clear that Jesus’ crucifixion takes
place outside the city walls of Jerusalem. It’s the same idea – Jesus is the
scapegoat who takes upon him the guilt and shame of the world and is sent
outside of the community to die. In modern terms, Jesus is canceled so that we
might be redeemed.
The
sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross is the historical event and sign of our
salvation. Could it have been accomplished in a different way? Yes. But it
happened in this way so that we would have an event in time around which to orient
our faith and see just how deep and broad God’s love for us is – that God did
not redeem us with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his very own blood.
This
is what the author of Hebrews points us towards – if the sacrifice of animals
in the Temple covered the sins of the people, how much more does the sacrifice
of the Messiah atone for the sins of the whole world. This is why it is so
fitting for us at the Eucharist when we are made present to the Passion of
Christ to refer to Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world,” because that is precisely what his sacrifice does.
Using
sacrificial language, even if it is derived from a particular historical and cultural
background, is helpful because it points us to deeper truths of God. One such truth
is that something has to be lost for something else to be gained. Another is
that pain and death are not the final or worst things that can happen to us.
These truths are written in the very being of existence and through the
sacrifice of Jesus, they are made clear to us all. And this is why we find hope
and even joy in the cross – that out of love for us and for our salvation,
Jesus sacrificed his life so that we might gain eternal life in him.
