1 Peter 2: 4-5
Come to him, a living
stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and
like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ.
What is a ‘spiritual sacrifice’? It is the updated version of the animal
sacrifices found in the law of Moses. I
must admit, I am glad we have moved beyond the need of animal sacrifice.
According to the law of Moses,
sacrifices were offered as a substitutionary atonement for the life of the
person. It goes back to the “lex
talionis”, the law of an eye for an eye, life for life, blood for blood. Life for sin-for breaking the law of
God. In the law of Moses, the animal was
offered as a sacrifice in place of the human.
These sacrifices were brought to their
conclusion with the final and once for all sacrifice of Jesus on the
cross. He died, the perfect sacrifice,
that we shall live.
So we no longer engage in sacrifice.
Except that Peter tells us something
different. It is a spiritual sacrifice. Sacrificing the spirit? A sacrifice from the spirit. Offering spiritual sacrifice as we have let
ourselves be built into a spiritual house…built of living stones…
A spiritual sacrifice, it is something
that we are offering to another. It is
when we reach out with that which we have received by the love and grace of
Jesus Christ to another.
No comments:
Post a Comment