September 5th - Reflection

Leviticus 4:27-31; 5:14-16 (NRSV)
Atoning for sin in the community
If anyone of the ordinary people among you sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not to be done and incurs guilt, when the sin that you have committed is made known to you, you shall bring a female goat without blemish as your offering, for the sin that you have committed. You shall lay your hand on the head of the sin offering; and the sin offering shall be slaughtered at the place of the burnt offering. The priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he shall pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. He shall remove all its fat, as the fat is removed from the offering of well-being, and the priest shall turn it into smoke on the altar for a pleasing odor to the Lord. Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf, and you shall be forgiven. ...

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: When any of you commit a trespass and sin unintentionally in any of the holy things of the Lord, you shall bring, as your guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without blemish from the flock, convertible into silver by the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering. And you shall make restitution for the holy thing in which you were remiss, and shall add one-fifth to it and give it to the priest. The priest shall make atonement on your behalf with the ram of the guilt offering, and you shall be forgiven.

Reflection
Here we have the sin offering and the guilt offering. Offerings made when the sin was a mistake. Many times the person or group did not even know that they had sinned until sometime later. Maybe they touched something unclean or accidentally came into contact with bodily fluids that they were unaware of at the time.

The sin offering is typically the more public of the two offerings and the guilt offering is more for the individual unknown sin.

The ram or goat or animal to be sacrificed is brought forward and you lay your hand on it's head. In this way you are indicating that in this beast you are offering yourself to God. The offering is killed, cut, blood placed on the horns of the altar and poured at the base, the fat removed and is burnt. In some instances the burning is a holocaust or complete consumption.

There is a pattern of recognizing your sin, confession, repentance and seeking forgiveness in offering yourself to God. Somewhere I latched on to the idea of smelling the stench of your sin. The closer we get to it, the stronger the odor. We recognize our sin and then approach the priest to confess our sin and repent. That's all a little more than just saying I'm sorry. You feel the gravity and seriousness of your sin and the impact your sin has had on others as well as yourself. What a mess you have made of things and you feel the deep, to the core, need for forgiveness. You know separation from God and feel this. And now you offer yourself to God. You can do nothing else but lay your life before God in total dependence on God for life.

Jesus lay his hands upon you and me. Jesus identified with you and me...yet he knew no sin. Jesus became our sin that we may have life. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, there is no doubt I need forgiveness. Without you my life is eternal damnation. You are the only One who could rescue me from sin. I give my life to you this day and am deeply sorry for the mess I have made of it. Turn my life around and create a new and right spirit within me I pray. --- Amen