What a bloody mess!

“Then The priest shall bring its blood into the Tabernacle, and shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it…then he shall put the blood upon the horns of the alter there in the Tabernacle before the Lord…thus the priest shall make atonement for the leader concerning his sin, and he shall be forgiven.”  Leviticus 4

Well I have to say that Leviticus is so far one bloody mess.  The first five chapters have been all about killing goats, birds and cows.  And how in sacrificing these animals sins of men will be forgiven.  It’s a really morbid, graphic and cult like way of dealing with our short comings.  At first glance I would write off these sacrificial rituals as weird and strange but then again that’s what the Bible often lends itself to do…surprise you.

I am so thankful that through Jesus Christ we no longer have to sacrifice our goats and birds and such to deal with our sin.  I mean what would happen to the sheep exhibit at the county fair if we still had to sacrifice animals to make our souls acceptable before the Lord?  And PITA would freak out a new one for sure.  Not to mention how weird it would look to the visitors of our churches to have farm animals being graphically killed, skinned and burned.  That’s not visitor friendly for sure.  Plus I can’t stand the sight of dead animals on the side of the road.  I am an animal lover of sorts.  So this would be like parting with my favorite pet every time I commit a sin.  Which is like most people, including me every thirty minutes.

But as I was reading these chapters in Leviticus, I began to realize something about the ancient form of dealing with sin.  There was a process involved in dealing with sin, that was down right inconvenient.  I mean think about it…you had to find an animal that had no defect.  You had to purchase the animal with money from your bank account, take it to the temple stand in line, humiliated,  with other spiritually unclean, humiliated people and wait for your turn to deal with your sin.  This was a long, sort of drawn out process.  Very public, very pricey and very, very, bloody.

I don’t know about you, but I only get twenty dollars a week for spending money.  That’s according our family budget.  Twenty dollars to do with what I please.  Once it’s gone, I’m done, until the next week comes.  But if I had to buy my forgiveness everyday all day, American Express would begin to really love me.  But then I also think about the fact that others would see me going to the temple everyday.  What a humbling experience.

I guess I would really think about sinning in a new light.  You see I often take advantage of grace.  I ashamed to admit that I don’t treat the gift of mercy like a gift, but more like a car.  Something that I use, beat up and expect to get me from point A (earth) to point B (heaven).  If I had to engage in a process of cleansing that would involve more than just a simple prayer, I would like to think that I would not let myself fall into temptation so easily.

The fact is I am thankful that Jesus died for me.  And that I get to receive beautiful grace that the Bible says “covers a multitude of sins”.  But I wonder if we need to treat forgiveness more precious,  and  in that moment of temptation maybe we need to rediscover the weight of sin and the cost that may not always be as visual as a slaughtered cow, but nevertheless is real and wonderful and truly amazing.  The fact that God can love me is enough to humble me to point of, I would like to think…love for Him.