The Burnt Offering

In today’s reading we see instructions for burnt offerings which are given as worship to the Lord. The books of the law in the Old Testament give many instructions about offerings like these. As you read, consider what this passage teaches us about worship. Also look for connections to Jesus, who was offered as the final sacrifice for sin.

STUDY THE SCRIPTURE

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REFLECTION

 

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by Kelsey Bacon

It is interesting to see, in this passage, the very specific instructions God gave the Israelites regarding their offerings. I have often pondered the "why" behind all these rules and regulations in Leviticus, but in reading this passage, despite all the talk of blood and feathers and what to do with an animal's internal organs, the idea behind the passage becomes clear. In an oddly gruesome and disturbing way, that animal lying on the altar is supposed to be me. It was supposed to be the Israelite who brought it to the temple for sacrifice. It's supposed to be us, should be us, actually. This entire ritual happens in place of our death. And the blood that covered that ancient altar was blood that was shed to save the Israelites, just as the blood that trickled down the cross as Jesus died on it was shed to save us.

Salvation isn't pretty. It isn't clean or nice. This process the ancient Israelites went through was messy and bloody and it involved the death of an innocent animal, an animal who'd done nothing to deserve such a fate. But their sacrifices weren't permanent, they had to keep returning to the altar to be atoned, to be saved over and over again. So God became flesh so as to end the sacrificing once and for all. And his sacrifice wasn't pretty either. It was in fact much messier, much bloodier, and much more devastating--this perfect human, the Son of God who was even less deserving of death than the innocent animals. The most loving, the most caring, the wisest and kindest human to ever walk the earth, tortured and murdered. And his altar of wood bore his blood, his body, his sacrifice as he saved us all, once and for eternity.

Take a moment to sit in that truth.

I look at what Jesus did on the cross, the final, ultimate, messy, bloody sacrifice, and I ask, "What can I possibly do to repay you, Lord?" I know the answer, I know that there is nothing I can do, that God gave his gift of grace for free. When we look at these sacrifices and offerings in books like Leviticus, we can see the true nature of it: it is an act of worship. Just like our confession on Sunday morning is an act of worship, these sacrifices of atonement were an offering of worship to God. We cannot repay the price of Jesus' sacrifice, nor are we meant to, but we can worship God for all he's done for us.

Many of us dedicate Sunday mornings as a time to offer up ourselves to God. We give our attention to God, our time, our praise, our prayers, our money, our confessions, and we receive forgiveness. But I challenge you in the coming week to offer up yourself throughout your daily life as worship to the Lord. And not just in prayer or in praise, but when you are serving you neighbors, or loving those who are difficult to love, or working hard in a call you know God has given you, even if the work is hard or thankless. Take a moment to offer those things up to God as your worship, and to acknowledge the gift of his Son. It is because of Jesus' messy, bloody sacrifice that we are clean, that we get to worship our God, and that we are granted eternal life in heaven.

 

UALC’S CAMPAIGN OF PRAYER

 

Thursdays: LIFE Lord God Almighty, we lament the current distress of our nation and we ask for your intervention. We implore you that every precious life would be protected – lives of minorities, lives of the unborn, lives of the hopeless, lives of the mentally ill, lives with deep roots in this land, lives who have recently arrived -- each and every precious life for whom You gave Your precious life.