Understanding Sacrifice
Commentary for the May 10, 2025, Sabbath School Lesson
"Come now, let us settle the matter," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."
Isaiah 1:18, NIV
The photo accompanying this week's commentary is an art project of Sun Yuan and Peng You entitled "Can't Help Myself." This robotic arm was created to clean up the hydraulic fluid leaking from it, put it back into place, and thereby continue to function. The fluid was its life. With the essential lubricant, it could keep running. Without it, it would cease to function. The robot was in a constant race to preserve its life. It was programmed to dance and celebrate when it succeeded in gathering up all the leaked fluid, but as the leak increased over time there were fewer and fewer celebrations as the robot struggled to contain the leaking fluid. This and the red color of the fluid that made it seem human, leaking its blood and desperately trying to live, engendered sympathy in those capable of feeling compassion for others, even lifeless mechanical robotic arms. Eventually the leak grew to be unmanageable, and the robot "died" in 2019.
This has been offered as a metaphor for life in general where we load ourselves up with tasks beyond our ability to complete only to eventually discover the folly of that when we wind down in the final decline to our own deaths. But others see an underlying evil in programming the robot to this end. It begs the question, are we similarly programmed? Is life an exercise in futility? Will we come to an ignominious end no matter what because we are programmed to do so? Is the meaning of life simply struggle and death? How do we find meaning that contradicts that depressing understanding? A child comes into this world so full of hope and awe at the magic of life. A dewy blade of grass, a bird song, a fluttering butterfly lifted on a summer breeze can all bring laughter and a smile to the toddler. But even as children, we soon covet the supposed freedom of the big people around us. We attend school to learn how to be big and along the way, work becomes more important than life joy. That education teaches us that joy exists in the future and all work is striving to reach it. But after a lifetime of work, broken and frail we find that the joy we expected to be in the future was in the past when we traded it for vain hope. In the end, like the robot arm, we gradually wind down and die, overwhelmed by what we could not prevent. It was never meant to be this way in the beginning. It does not have to be that way now. Society programs us to constantly want more than we have. To paraphrase Robert Burns, we learn to believe that a "man's reach should exceed his grasp or what is a heaven for." But a belief in such platitudes has led many to step into a harness for life driven by greed for more than they need, often at the expense of others strapped into similar harnesses.
All of this did not begin with a robotic arm, it is much older than that. Whether the ancient account is metaphor or literal, the lesson is the same. Humanity was beguiled into believing the idyllic existence they enjoyed was lacking and something more beckoned if they would only reach out and take it. They did, and misery has been our lot since. We had a knowledge of good and chose to add to it a knowledge of evil. It turned out that knowledge was not an esoteric understanding but was deeply experiential. It is as though we were children told not to touch a hot stove burner that could damage and even kill us if burned severely enough. But someone comes along and says, "How will you know how it really feels unless you reach out and touch it?" Howling in pain, the only lesson we learn is that we should have heeded the initial warning, but the damage has been done and cannot be undone in this life either physically or mentally.
There are those who think that they can simply return to a before state and achieve a rejection of the values that entrap us. For instance, they will assume a vegetarian diet, believing that living like Adam and Eve before the Fall is the solution. They overlook that not only did God give permission to consume meat after the flood but he commanded it as an integral part of the sacrificial system on an industrial scale, beginning with the Paschal lamb on the night preceding the Exodus and with every animal sacrifice at the wilderness tabernacle and at the two temples built in Jerusalem by Solomon and Zerubbabel. Hundreds of thousands of animals, if not millions, were slain and eaten in those venues. Jesus, being an observant Jew, would have eaten the meat from the sacrifices as well. The door to salvation through returning to an Edenic lifestyle has closed. However, all that meat we have been eating does not provide a return to Eden either. "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." (Hebrews 10:4) Taking away sins means casting them away as though they never existed. (Micah 7:19 & Jeremiah 50:20)
But how can that be since there are always scars both mental and physical that keep hurting our minds and our hearts? We cannot accomplish it. Only God can, and he promises to do so. He tells us that the bloody sins that stain us will be wiped clean. (Isaiah 1:18) Our scarred and hardened heart will become soft again. (Ezekiel 36:26) This is not an instantaneous process. It is the work of a lifetime. It will be hard to turn our backs on the world telling us constantly to get back in the harness and push for that material, but at the same time ephemeral, hope that it will all be worth it one day. But a different voice calls us to be free. It is Jesus who offers it. (John 8:36) What does that mean? His Sermon on the Mount gives us an idea, especially in the context of striving for the goods this world offers. He taught, " So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 7:31-34)
The kingdoms of this world and God's kingdom are incompatible. The former would keep us harnessed for life until we die in our traces in the vain hope that we would one day ride upon the high places of the earth, secured by the wealth accumulated from our labors. The latter tells us that we are already free to ride upon those high places if we walk toward God instead of away from him. The curtain between the inner and outer sanctuaries of the Jerusalem temple was torn apart at Jesus' death on the cross. While some believe this was symbolic of our ability to approach God directly, it is more than that. Torn from top to bottom, it was torn by God, not man. (Matthew 27:51) It was God's desire to come through to us, as evidenced by his incarnation in Jesus, which tore that curtain. The success of that breakthrough attempt was demonstrated that weekend with an empty tomb.
All the myriad animals sacrificed from Abel's sacrifice of a lamb at the gates of Eden through the sacrificial offerings made in the land promised to Abraham and the many sacrifices from the days of Moses to the time of Jesus could not open that door. They only pointed to the one who could, the one who is both Shepherd and Lamb. The sheep hear his voice because although Shepherd, he became one with them so they follow him. (John 10:27) As long as they continue to follow him, no one can take them from him. He gives them eternal life and no limit to what they may accomplish since their works will not come to a final end in death. (John 10:28)
Jesus will return to call them forth from death. Those who are alive at his return are changed from mortal to immortal and those who have died in Christ rise to immortality as well. The last trumpet will sound, and the graves will open. (1 Corinthians 15:51-56) No number of dead, sacrificed animals could accomplish that. It was only accomplished through the death, resurrection, and ascension of God incarnate in Jesus, the Good Shepherd. His sheep know him and are drawn to him, and he will never abandon them. For them life is not striving in futility, for that hope is genuine, not manufactured.
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