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No more sacrifice, only mercySaturday, January 3, 2009
John 1:29 Sin #1: "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it" (Gen 3:6) Sin #2: "The man said, 'The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.' Then the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'" Selfishness replaced trust, and sin abounded. Sin #6666: "And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him" (Gen 4:8) . And then #6667, as God asks Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," Cain replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" We went downhill from there. The flood - destroying almost everyone and starting with new hope - didn't seem to change anything. Psalm 51: "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts and teach me wisdom in the inmost place." And Psalm 139: "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made ... all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be ... see if there is any offensive way in me ..." Into this malevolent, unremitting sinfulness John proclaims, "Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Since the beginning human cultures had found ways to scapegoat their sins, offering incomplete sacrifices to receive (or at least feel) incomplete forgiveness. John says that is no longer necessary. Specific sinful acts rise out of my sinful selfish point of view. The lamb of God removes that point of view and replaces it with God's. Trust returns to take its rightful place in my heart. I am no longer afraid. I no longer compare myself to others. I need nothing because God's love is on me, in me, all around me. I can give myself away. This reality is incomplete in my experience, of course. But my forgiveness is complete. "Behold the lamb of God." Jesus has come. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. |
"The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame" (Gen 2:25). No sin yet.