The Atonement Sacrifice - Good Friday

Jesus, once and for all, died as an atonement, reparation, or repayment sacrifice for our sins, our brokenness, and our evil. Out of love our God of all, willingly comes down to become human so that He might take on the worst humanity can dish out: all of our abuse, hatred, greed, jealousy, pride, violence, betrayal, abandonment, isolation and so much more. We heard today what this looks like and we shouldn’t want this on our worst enemy and yet our greatest, most generous, and innocent friend, teacher, and creator willingly took it on. Why would this be necessary? Why would he willingly do this for us? Why would this really do the work of covering and atoning for all the evil in the world?

The short answer to why this is necessary is sin. We have so turned away from God and moved in the opposite direction of the source of our life that we walked into death. Sadly, because of our choosing a death sentence either we were slated for death or something needed to die in our place. Jesus does all of it and takes on our sins and death, so we don’t have to die. It is similar to how someone in our life might willingly pay off our debt, work in our sted or fight our battles, but it is also so much more.

This may seem like a strange idea or off-putting, that something or someone can take our place, take on our punishment but as weird as it might seem at first it is something we need. God taking on our consequences, is God’s great mercy and it is the only way we are still here at all. God has consistently been taking the consequences for our sins. Though it was Adam and Eve who were kicked out of paradise, did you notice, God went with them? He struggled beside them and their children. He wrestles with Jacob. He argues with Moses. God listens to all hurt, takes it on, and even has to punish what and who he loves. Then of course there is all that Jesus does and the struggle of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

This replacement sacrifice is also a reality that God had been preparing Israel to see and even us in this generation. For Israel, there were many sacrifices that pointed the way forward to the need for Jesus. Last night, we looked at the Passover, the sacrificial lamb that every family ate, so that they might be protected by its blood. The blood of the lamb that they put on their door frame, would be a sign for the angel of death to pass them by. God can distinguish between Israelite and Egyptian, so why would this blood sign be necessary? Well, because the Israelites were guilty too. They might not have done the same things as Egypt, but they were deserving of the same punishment for sin. They were only protected and saved by the blood of an innocent animal, they were covered by it, and it was the sign of their faithful turning to follow and be obedient to God. We know whose blood we are saved by. Just as the lamb’s blood covered the door, so are we marked forever in baptism and washed thoroughly in Christ’s blood. As we eat his flesh and drink his blood in communion, Christ’s innocence and life sustain us as the lamb they ate at Passover. Here is an example we know too well. This sacrifice of a meal for our sustained life is something we unknowingly participate in every day. In our daily life, it is an animal’s, a farmer’s, and/or a plant’s sacrificed life that gives us life.

There is another atoning sacrifice that Jewish people still celebrate. It is the day of atonement or you probably know it as Yom Kipper which happens in late September or early October. It was the day when the high priest would make a sacrifice for himself, and another for all the people and another to give to the Lord. Two of these animal sacrifices die the other, called the scapegoat, would have the sins of the people pressed on it and it would be released into the wilderness. Here we see that death and banishment are paralleled, just as we saw in Adam and Eve’s punishment and just as we saw in Jesus' execution on a cross outside of Jerusalem. Banishment from paradise or separation from God sometimes feels like it might as well be death, but thank goodness God comes to us and leads us back to paradise.

The interesting thing is that these three sacrifices, once a year, were the only way that one person, the high priest, could ever enter into God’s presence in the Holy of Holies - otherwise they would be burned up. We had so removed ourselves from God, evil had so infused itself in us, that unless we were covered by someone or something else’s innocence, unless something else could bear our guilt, being in the presence of the source of our life would kill us. That's very problematic. It took three animals on the day of atonement and countless other sacrifices throughout the year to make it possible for one person to be in the presence and grandeur of God for one moment. We needed Jesus to be the far greater sacrifice, more than all the sacrifices of all the lifetimes. He was the only one that could truly reunite us with God. Like the scapegoat, he bore our sins into the wilderness in isolation, betrayal, and abandonment as he was crucified outside the city. Like the two other sacrifices, he dies for God and us.

Then as Jesus dies, something utterly astonishing happens. The veil that separated us from the Holy of Holies is torn in half. Removing both the thing that separated us from God and protected us from God’s presence. This would have been utterly terrifying, for anyone inside the temple. Yet no one was killed by God’s presence in the temple. We were covered by Christ’s innocence and given a restored relationship and goodness so that we too might enter into God’s presence. Being in God’s presence is dangerous, but it is also immensely hopeful.

Yet, there were many other sacrifices throughout the year. A thanks offering, a worship and devotion offering, an unknown sin offering, a peace offering, a redemption offering for every firstborn child, and the sin offering. Each of these tells us something essential both about how we should sacrifice and particularly what Jesus did for us and why it was so important. For us, we should see how giving back and sacrificing our lives to God is an act of praise, a way we participate in reconciliation, a way we see our own wrong, and so on. When looking at Jesus’ death, these sacrificial practices show us how the cross, though cruel and disgusting could become something truly to be thankful for, a way to express our worship and devotion, a way of showing us our unknown sin, a restating of peace with God, a way in which God gives us back what should be his and a way that he covers over all of our wrongs.

You might think this sacrifice is cruel and you would be right, but that is the reality of all sacrifice, whether it be a life sacrificed or not. We know tons of sacrifice in our lives too. As I mentioned, this world, its animals, and plants are continuously sacrificed to sustain us and keep us alive. Parents continuously sacrifice their time, energy, their health, hopes, and ambition to give it all to their children - at least on good days. Teachers often have to sacrifice for their students. We all sacrifice for our jobs in one way or another. We all sacrifice to build and care for our relationships - at least on good days. We are lucky that God usually shows us the benefits of this sacrifice, but that doesn’t, usually, make sacrifice easy, it just makes it feel like a little less of a sacrifice.

At least in this sinful and broken world, we know and experience that sacrifice is important, necessary, and good, because it sustains, nourishes, saves, and lifts up others in this world. I think most of us have someone we would willingly die for if it meant their life, so we know it's good, even if we don’t know how to live it out.

Yet, we weren’t Jesus’ best friends when he died for us, he endured everything for us when we were still acting as his enemy. We, humanity, are the ones who put all of this torture, insult, and betrayal on him and he willingly takes it. Why? Who out of us would die for their enemy? Or die for the people who hate us? Thankfully, God would. Even we, in this church, don’t love God as he deserves and yet he loves us far more than we will ever deserve. That is the truth from the get-go. He shows us the greatest sign of love when he gives it all to save us. I think in our brokenness, we can only understand aspects of this grand love. But even those aspects of God’s sacrificial love that we do understand point us to the reality that this is a love we should want, this is the love we need, this is a love that we want to surround us and accompany us and never let us go. God doesn’t force the Israelites to sacrifice the Passover lamb. Jesus doesn’t force us to turn to his cross for salvation, but why wouldn’t they sacrifice in the midst of all those plagues and why wouldn’t we turn to the love of the cross in the midst of all of the brokenness and hurt that surrounds us?

The last question is: how does Christ’s sacrifice actually save us? There are so many ways. On a metaphysical level as the source of all life, his life equates to more than all of our lives added together and so it is a far greater sacrifice and reprisal to take our place. On an emotional and relational level, Jesus’ sacrifice re-introduces us to the character and love of God that we were otherwise blind to and shows us what true separation from God leads to - as it led to the cross. On a spiritual level as the curtain of the temple was torn, so was Jesus’ flesh, creating a literal space for us to enter and become one with Christ. On a rehabilitation level, his love and sacrifice living with and in us equip us to live out the loving sacrificial lives we were made for. On a pain and death level, he enters into the worst pain we could experience and even our death, so that he might join us there and save us from the worst of it. I could go on as Paul and John and many others do. We could spend our lives meditating on the amazing hope that Jesus’ death is and all that it accomplishes.

We may not like that Jesus had to sacrifice himself for us, but I am so thankful that he did. I am so thankful that because of this immense sadness, I have come to find so much joy in my relationship with God. I am so thankful that because of Christ’s isolation, I don’t ever have to feel alone. I am so thankful that because of Christ’s death, we might always know abundant life, even in suffering. Thank you, God, that in Jesus, you have given us a way to enter into your presence and know the life we long for. AMEN