This past week's theme for reading was on blood (Lev. 4:1-35; Luke 22: 1-71, Romans 5:1-21, Heb. 9:1-28). As I initally wrote my blog on my blood, I could not, for the life of me, keep on one singular topic because there was so much to talk about, so I've decided to take one very long blog on blood and break it into several parts: past, present and future.
There were a number of things that stood out for me and maybe this is just God teaching me that often times complexity is unavoidable and that life has way of revealing all the layers of ourselves and what it means to love him and to love others. I begin with my understanding of blood in terms of sacrifice.
Chicken Blood and Other Sacrifices
As a young child of six years old, I watched my parents slaughter chickens and I remember the distinct smell, texture, and colour -- a heady warm red so deep that wax crayons could not imitate. They drained the chickens' blood into a large bowl by slitting its throat and holding the chicken's body and neck. However, no matter how careful my mom and dad were, there was always blood on their hands, on the feathers of the chickens, and on the newspapers they spread on the floor. My sister had the poor habit of naming these chickens and at dinner time, she could not stand to eat one bite of her friends.
Blood is a part of our life source. It cost something for us to live.
When I grew older, the sight of blood did not bother me. I watched my parents prepare enough raw meat in our restaurant to understand that something had to die so that our dinner table was filled. My parents worked 14 hour days and the five children literally grew up in the restaurant. The restaurant became so much a part of me that even when I moved away from home to attend university, I would pick up the telephone and say, "Hello Carstairs Inn". My parents worked hard. Life was sometimes very hard, painful, confusing, and for me, full of anxiety. Sacrifice was necessary so that our family could grow. Each person in my family sacrificed something. The eldest, I think, lost something and I don't think he has been able to find it.
I am familiar with sacrifice.
A History of Sin
In this week's reading I have not read a thorough description of sin. I have only read the cost or price for sin. And without an understanding of sin, the discussion on the price for sin seems ridiculous. Why trade a life -- an animal life as it is -- for one person's sin? I think our society would have us believe there is no such thing as sin and no such thing as evil. Our society would have us believe there is only grey, the unavoidable mistake or the accidents or poor choices that just happens to harm us or create great pain and sorrow. And strangely we want that to be real, but when mass murders, genocides, violence against children, animals, the elderly, the oppressed occur, we are reminded that sin and evil are so real. The history of humanity is littered with our wilful amnesia of sin. When we forget the meaning of sin, we also forget the need for forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation.
But there is such a thing as sin. In Israel's history, the personal sin of one person had community wide ramifications that often led to misfortune, war, plagues and death. And we read throughout scripture that sin was based on human pride, arrogance, selfishness, greed, lust, anger, jealousy, and hatred. These base feelings, as Aristotle calls them, separates us not only from God, but it continues to create divisions within our communities and families. These elements of who we are -- and they are a part of us -- isolates us within ourselves; it becomes destructive to the person we are and to the people around us.
The Need for Blood and Sacrifice
Leviticus describes a process of sacrifice that is both personal and community oriented -- all necessary because sin is not only destructive to the the individual, but to the community as well. In Lev. 4:1-35, we see a description of this constant sacrifice: livestocks being offered for unintentional and intentional sin. Blood was the requirement for sin. Sin was so intolerable in the relationship with God that it required the sacrifice of life in order for the sinner to live amongst her people and with God. There is a price to be paid for sin. Once it has been paid, the individual can be restored, renewed and reconnected to their community. It does not means she is innocent, but she can perhaps begin again; she is free.
But the problem with most people is that we tend to live our lives somewhere between a life full of guilt and shame or a life in complete denial of our sinful nature. We are then prone to repeat our actions .. name any sin here. We are prone to fall again. And realistically, why not. Sometimes it easier to give in to that side of ourselves -- after all it is just personal, nobody else's business. Denying ourselves seems so problematic at a time when everything in our society feeds this impulse for gratification. But what we don't realize is that the more we feed our sins, the hungrier we become, the more depleted and less connected we are to our friends. We live lonely lives -- lives so cut off from our community that we either forget that it exists or try to replace it with something that never reminds us of what is good. What it means to have fellowship, friendship and vibrant community. Sin will cut this from us and our lives will become shadows of what it is meant to be.
And we are meant for something more. Perhaps one day we will realize that blood has been sacrificed and this sacrifice frees us.
And what about you, are you free?
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