Jesus & the Law – on offering ritual sacrifices … (11/28/18)
Since its inception, Jewish culture has relied upon the practice of animal sacrifice as its primary medium for the atonement of sin, and as such it can come as no surprise that a significant number of the regulations demanded by Jewish Law proscribe the whens and the hows of the same.1 That having been said, it has also been clearly shown herein that the underlying intention of Jesus’ ministry was the radical reform of that same Law, and as such it can come as even less of a surprise to realize that he offered many bold commentaries on the same during the same. Consider …
*Whereas the Law demanded that animal sacrifices be made to atone for one’s misdeeds (see Exodus 20:24 & Leviticus 5:7) and that those sacrifices be made in the Temple itself (see Leviticus 17:3-4, Deuteronomy 12:13-14, & Deuteronomy 12:26), Jesus made it dramatically clear at the beginning of his ministry that the time for such barbarity had long-since passed (doing so by “cleansing the Temple”2 thereof in John 2:13-17; loudly demanding that those who were “selling cattle, sheep, and doves” for imminent sacrificial slaughter immediately “cease making my father’s house a marketplace” – before then making his own “whip of grass cords” and using the same to drive those animals out of the Temple altogether).
*Whereas the Law required that offerings be made to atone for one’s sins (see Leviticus 4:27-28, Leviticus 5:17-19, & Leviticus 6:24-30), to cleanse one from guilt (see Leviticus 7:1-10), &/or to effectuate peace (see Leviticus 7:11-18), Jesus blatantly rebuked this notion when he told the Pharisees, “Go and learn what this truly means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”3
*It is also interesting to note that, while the Law strictly required all sacrifices to be sanctified with salt (see Leviticus 2:13), Jesus symbolically transposed the same requirement onto all human choices (by boldly stating: “You are the salt of the earth, and yet if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? … Everyone will be salted with fire … [so] have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” ~ Matthew 5:13 & Mark 4:49-50 – see also Luke 14:34-35).
*Penultimately, while the Law gave very specific instructions related to the sacrifice, serving, and consumption of the lamb that was to be offered up for the Passover meal (see Exodus 12:6-10, Exodus 12:43-48, Exodus 23:15-18, & Numbers 9:11-12), Jesus fully abdicated the same by having his disciples eat only leavened bread4 at his own self-orchestrated paschal “Last Supper” (see Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-39, & John 13:1-30).
*Finally, whereas the Law demanded that all sacrifices consist of material possessions (including money, portions of one’s harvest, &/or the extinguished lives of enslaved animals) and that they be given in direct proportion to one’s state of wealth and well-being (see Leviticus 5:7 & Deuteronomy 14:22-26 et al), Jesus made it exceedingly clear throughout his ministry that these things no longer mattered – that the only thing that qualified one for true spiritual redemption was a life of willing self-sacrifice for others (see Matthew 10:38-39, Matthew 24:12-14, Luke 14:27-33, & John 12:25 et al), especially the downtrodden in one’s community (Matthew 25:35-40) &/or the enemies in one’s life (Matthew 5:44-48).
“It is correct for animal rights advocates to be critical of the Christian tradition, a tradition which has been amazingly callous towards animals over the course of its history. In truth, Christian theologians have for the most part been disturbingly neglectful of the cause of animals (if not downright dismissive thereof), and many of them remain so to this day. Indeed, Christians and Jews alike have all too often allowed their ancient texts to be read in such a way as to fully justify humankind’s abject tyranny over (and vile abuse of) our non-human cousins. For this reason many proponents in the animal rights movement look understandably upon Christianity as though it were an unambiguous enemy, and yet this need not continue to be the case. For Christianity, much like the vast majority of its religious counterparts, holds within the pages of its sacred texts vast resources; a voluminous archive of wit & wisdom waiting patiently to be set into motion by those who are moral and just; a collection of truth that could engender an ethic in relation to animals that – much like its professed Lord & Savior – would finally be compassionate and kind and true.” ~ inspired by Andrew Linzey
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1 Among them, see those rules proscribing what/who can and cannot be offered (see Exodus 23:19, Leviticus 2:11, Leviticus 22:20-27, Leviticus 27:10, Numbers 5:15, Deuteronomy 12:15, Deuteronomy 17:1, & Deuteronomy 23:19 et al); those proscribing the ramifications of the offering of “first fruits” (see Exodus 13:2, Exodus 13:13, Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:20, Leviticus 23:14, Numbers 18:15-17, & Deuteronomy 26:5-10 et al); those proscribing which portions of the offering can be eaten, when, and by whom (see Exodus 29:33, Leviticus 6:16, Leviticus 7:15-19, Leviticus 19:6-8, & Deuteronomy 12:17 et al); and those proscribing who should give an offering & how they should do so (see Leviticus 4:13, Leviticus 6:13, Leviticus 12:6, Leviticus 14:10, Leviticus 15:13-15, & Numbers 28:3 et al) …
2 Though Jesus is seen performing an eerily similar “Temple cleansing” near the end of his ministry (described in Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, & Luke 19:45-46), it is obvious to any careful reader of the Gospels that the incident portrayed therein had a very different objective to the one told in John 2 – with the former clearly orchestrated as a blatant critique of the materialistic hypocrisy of the money-changers in the Temple and the priests who directly benefited therefrom (quoting Jeremiah 7:11 while he did so – “My house shall be called a house of prayer, and yet you are making it a den of robbers”), and the latter just as obviously making a bold statement against the raw brutality and unjust wickedness of the slaughter of innocent animals required by the sacrificial offerings mandated by the Law.
3 Doing so indeed on more than one occasion – initially after being accused by the Pharisees of inappropriately sharing a meal “with tax collectors and sinners” (see Matthew 9:11-13 & Mark 2:15-17 – also Luke 5:29-32) and later after being accused by them again – this time for illegally gathering grain on the Sabbath (see Matthew 12:1-7). Admittedly, Jesus did not make these statements in direct reference to the practice of animal sacrifice, and yet the originating Old Testament verse he cited in both instances did just that (see Hosea 6:6‘s “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice; the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings”). Indeed, apropos to the case at hand (and similar to other cases sprinkled throughout the Hebrew Bible – see 1 Samuel 15:22, Isaiah 1:11-17, Amos 5:21-24, & Micah 6:6-8 et al), the claim of Hosea 6:6 had been made to lambast the Jews of that time for attempting to justify their sins via the offering of proscribed animal sacrifices – similar to Jesus’ critique of the Pharisees of his day, for hypocritically honoring the demands of the Law while simultaneously ignoring the humble compassion that was supposed to underlie the same.
4 NOTE as well how Jesus symbolically offered himself in place of the requisite sacrificial lamb (see “this is my body” via Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, & Luke 22:19) – the same selfless mindset and the same self-sacrificial lifestyle that would thereafter be required of anyone & everyone desiring to truly “follow him” (see Matthew 16:24-25, Mark 8:34-35, & Luke 9:23-24) and thereby enter his “Kingdom of Heaven” (see John 13:15-17, John 14:1-4, & John 15:1-13 et al) …
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