Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Most of you and I have enough of the rhetoric surrounding the presidential elections. The manipulation of data, the misinformation, the political opportunism, the verbal attacks on one another… I can’t wait for it to be all over. Today’s reading could not have come at a better time.
Today’s readings approach the theme of discipleship from a very different angle than last week. The first and second readings combined with the very last statement in the gospel, “for the Son of Man came not to be served but serve and to give his life as a ransom for many,” encourage us to draw lessons for discipleship through the concept of “atonement.” The first reading from Isaiah which is also read on Good Friday, talks about the suffering servant who “gives his life as an offering for sin,” and who “through his suffering shall justify many.” The second reading from Hebrews is also read on Good Friday and once again the context is atonement. It is because of Jesus’ atonement that we can “approach the throne of grace and receive mercy and find grace for timely help.” Jesus, in today’s gospel reading says to his disciples that they must view their life in the context of Jesus who came to give his life as a “ransom” for many. We cannot ignore this call to discipleship in the context of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.
Atonement is very difficult for us to grasp because we generally associate God with mercy, love, and forgiveness. How relevant is the concept of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus? Is our God the kind of God who demands expiation for wrongdoing? Did our expiation have to come at the cost of innocent blood? Does the idea of atoning sacrifice set us free of does it induce guilt? I would under no circumstance see an innocent man put to death for my fault and I am sure you feel the same way. And yet, sin, selfish ambition, pride, jealousy and manipulation are also a facts of our life.
I want to offer three points for reflection. First, I would like to explain the roots of the concept of atonement. Second, I want I want to talk the meaning atonement can have for us and the truth it conveys. Third, I want to draw some practical implications for us as disciples.
1.Biblical understanding of Atonement. In the Jewish tradition, there were three ways in which people could atone for their sins: sacrifice, repentance and almsgiving. But these actions were meant as atonement for the smaller sins. The more serious and intentional sins of Israel as a nation was atoned by the blood of bulls and of goats on Yom Kippur. On this day, by laying his hands on a goat, the priest would lay all the sins of the nation on a goat and then send it off to the desert. Meanwhile, a bull would be offered as a sacrifice at the altar. From the beginning, then, animal blood became integral to the concept of atonement, forgiveness and healing. The concept of atonement also has much to do with covenant making ceremonies. When people made covenant in ancient Hebrew culture, they would often draw blood from their palms and let it mingle, thus saying that the violator of the covenant will pay with blood. Our entire Christian theology draws meaning from the Covenant that God made with Israel. This Covenant was sealed with the blood of the lamb on that first Passover in Egypt. Israel often broke the covenant she made with God which meant that atonement by blood became necessary for reconciliation. In the New Testament God makes a covenant with us through Jesus. When Jesus says that he came to give his life as a ransom for many, it means that the reconciliation of the world needed more than the blood of animals. God chose to put our infirmities upon Jesus and by his suffering the entire world stands justified.
2.What does the concept of atonement tell us? What message is there for us? I think it tells is two things: first, that sin and reconciliation are serious things. I read a book once by Karl Meninger called, Whatever Became of Sin?” The idea of the book is that in the permissive society that we live in, the way we evaluate our moral choices have undergone a radical shift. Either we have found less guilt imposing words for otherwise serious acts or we have new ways of justifying immoral actions or we have taken the morality out of our actions. The concept of atonement tells us that both sin and reconciliation are serious business. Second, from the Christian perspective, our atonement was achieved not by the blood of animals but the blood of Jesus. This is indicative of how seriously God takes us. It is not God’s wish for us to lose our lives for eternity. Rather, in God’s immense love for us, God takes upon God’s own self to redeem us and bring us reconciliation, healing and hope. So where as I am uncomfortable with the concept of atonement, the comfort in all of lies in the fact that it is that very atonement that assures me of immensity of God’s love.
3.So what does this mean for us practically? Let us remember that Jesus’ words about offering his life as a ransom were said in the context of James and John’s request to sit one at his right and one at his left in Jesus’ kingdom. The fact that the other ten disciples were indignant of James and John indicated that they also entertained the same ambition. It is in this context that Jesus talks about his life being at the service of humanity and his life being offered as a ransom for many. And then he invites his disciples to imitate him. If we are serious about discipleship, then I think that Jesus is telling us to take sin as seriously as God does; that we take reconciliation as seriously as God does. I think Jesus is asking us be cautious about ambitions and how they affect the people around us. I think Jesus asking us to take the side of truth and be prepared to face its consequences. I think Jesus is asking us let us lives have a redeeming effect on those around us. I think Jesus is saying that our life become an atonement for others.
The author of the letter to the Hebrews says, “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find timely grace.” This altar is our “throne of grace.” As we participate in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, let us hear his call to discipleship. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph