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Mar 09, 2024 06:00am

Scapegoat

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When I was young, my parents lined all four of us kids up in the living room one warm Mississippi summer afternoon. Someone had used a crayon and gotten “creative” on the wall. Mom and Dad wanted to give ample opportunity for the “artist” to come clean on his/her own. My two sisters and I stood silently, knowing exactly who the perpetrator was, but his mouth was shut tightly.

“If the person who did this doesn’t choose to come forward, we’ll have to give all of you a consequence,” Mom and Dad said, giving each of us a long look in our eyes as they walked down the suspect line.

It felt like hours went by in those 5 grueling minutes, and all I could think was, “There’s no reason we should all suffer just because my brother doesn’t want to fess up. If I am going to end up getting punished, at least I could keep the others from facing the consequences, too.” Plus, I was just tired of the stress of waiting for our brother, who was the exact height to have achieved such creative perfection, to admit what we could all see from the writing on the wall…see what I did there?

I stepped forward. “It was me. I am really sorry.” I tried my best to sell it, but even my parents knew better. I think this was supposed to be an opportunity for my brother to allow his moral compass to grow…but that compass was stubborn to budge just yet.

My parents held back a laugh and said they knew it wasn’t me, looking at my brother who was still standing his ground firmly, and they would not let me be the scapegoat.

This story popped in my head as I was reading Leviticus 16. Throughout the book of Leviticus, Moses shares the many details God gave the Israelites regarding the acquiring of forgiveness of sins under the old covenant….and there were a LOT of details! The seemingly endless list of requirements just reinforces my gratitude for the gift of salvation and the new covenant we are allowed through Jesus.

Moses described a very special day that happened one time a year-The Day of Atonement, and he mentioned the idea of a scapegoat. This took me back to that brown shag carpet, lined up with my siblings…when my parents caught on and said I was not going to be the scapegoat-so that got my attention-although, my one instance of stepping forward is nothing even remotely near comparison to the scapegoat symbol in the time of Moses and Aaron nor especially anywhere near the vicinity of what Jesus did for us when He chose to be our ultimate scapegoat. It just caught my attention and encouraged a little deeper digging into the Scripture.

On this one day, the high priest-who was Aaron at this time-had very specific instructions on how to present sacrifices for himself and all of the Israelites to be atoned for their sin. This was the only day all year that the high priest was the one who performed the ceremony. During the rest of the year, other priests would perform sacrificial duty….but on this one day, only the high priest was allowed.

After performing a sacrifice to atone for his own sin, Aaron would offer a sin offering for all of the people with a bull. Then, he would bring two goats on whom he would cast lots to decide their fate. One goat was chosen to be a sacrifice. The high priest took that goat into the Tabernacle to perform a detailed ceremony as a sin sacrifice for the people. The other goat was chosen to be the scapegoat. The high priest would lay his hands on the head of the scapegoat, admit all of the sins of the people, and then another priest would take the scapegoat out into the wilderness to “carry the sins of the people far away.” In the area around the chosen spot in the wilderness, there were men who would stand watch and pass the message back, one to the next, all the way back to the village, to let the people know when the scapegoat was sent away into the wilderness and their sins were completely removed from them. They would celebrate and sing praises for their freedom.

Between the Day of Atonement each year, the people had to constantly make sin sacrifices, but this ceremony carried extra celebration with the scapegoat taking on the sins of the people and removing them a long way from the people for a temporary time.

All of the Old Testament points to Jesus. This passage symbolizes so clearly aspects of Jesus as our High Priest Who is the only One who can enter the true Holy of Holies on our behalf and the Perfect Lamb of God who was the ultimate sacrifice once and for all, allowing complete atonement for all who choose to accept that gift through the shedding of His blood. His blood made atonement for our souls and covered our sin. But, Jesus was also the ultimate scapegoat who took upon Himself the sin of the world and removed it for us forever, even farther than the wilderness. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, He died on a cross outside of the city, just like the scapegoat was taken outside of the city. He atoned for our sins as the perfect Lamb of God, bringing undeserved forgiveness and atonement. So, once we have chosen to accept that gift, when God looks at us, He sees His perfect Son, rather than our sinful hearts.

2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Also….don’t feel too upset with my little brother. He has become the scapegoat for a lot of things now: if a tool is missing in Arkansas, Dad will call him in Florida to see where he left it. 😉