A Joyful Sacrifice for Sin

Our Sunday School class has recently been studying the Old Testament and we are in Leviticus now.  We are going verse by verse through the whole Bible.  Leviticus is full of  rituals and laws, offerings for sins and uncleanness, rewards and punishments.  This is the book that readers most dread when reading through the Bible.  We may have good intentions of getting through the Bible in a year, but Leviticus is the book that most often thwarts that goal.  

But we are unearthing jewels, as so often happens when we reread parts of the Bible we think we are familiar with.  God keeps treasures hidden that have to be excavated layer by layer.  As we studied the offering to God for uncleanness, we talked about the possibility that this offering, which was made so frequently by the Israelites, was a blessing to the Israelites.  It was for THEM, not for God. Was it a way to say “thank you” to God for healing and life?  They made offerings for so many mundane and frequent events:  births, menstruation, sex, healings of skin diseases and cuts, mildew cleansing, touching something dead or unclean, etc.  Going to the temple to make these small offerings was a part of weekly life.  It wasn’t an onerous task, laden with guilt.  It was a tangible way to reconnect with God and the community.

This made me think of my attitude toward asking forgiveness for sin.  I dread it, usually.  I don’t want to dredge up my sins and remember them.  I want to bury them and not have to deal with them.  But I realized we don’t HAVE to ask for forgiveness; we GET to ask for forgiveness.  This is a blessing for us, like the offerings were for the Israelites.  We don’t have to keep carrying these sins, these burdens!  We are able to give them to God.  This is a relief, not a punishment.  “Give us this day our daily bread.”  We GET to ask God to provide for us.  “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”  We GET to ask God for protection.  “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” We GET to ask forgiveness and give forgiveness.  

Jesus died for our sins and we can celebrate that and live in the joy of it, instead of being haunted and guilt-ridden by the sins we don’t want to face.