February 22, 2012
I want to start with a little story from my childhood (even though I know it was not long ago J) My grandma has a small ranch in Sile, New Mexico, where my mom was raised. It's about 45 minutes north of Albuquerque and the town sits between two Indian Reservations. I grew up spending a lot of time there and it's still the most enchanting place on Earth (in my humble opinion.) It was a great family tradition that once a year, during the winter, the whole family would gather at my grandma's house and we would have a matanza, or slaughter a pig. I know…I know…. We did this for the meat, the tradition, and experience and I learned after the age of 10, or so, to stop naming the pigs because it just messed with my emotions. The point of this lil' story is that it was a big event that took hours, planning, hard work, and involved everyone. Killing (or sacrificing) any animal is something that is not easy. As I was reading these sections from Leviticus and Numbers this morning I was thinking of these memories from the matanza: the smells, the sounds, the hard work, but the unity it took as a family. One part that took the longest was taking all the fat off the animal. We would cook it for hours and it was later the best part – the fruit of all the labor. My mom shared with me that when she was growing up, the fat would also be rendered for cooking, or used in soap, so it was valued. But our night would end with card playing and feasting on the fat (chicharones.) I smiled and thought to myself, "God knew what He was doing…the fat is definitely the best part! What a pleasing aroma!" As we have studied and talked about these past few weeks, God wants the best from us. Sacrifices – hard work, giving the best, and doing it with a willing heart. It would have been hard to sacrifice those chicharones that evening after all the labor we put into it. But that is what we are called to do.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:1-2, "Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." We have seen through these chapters that God called for many sacrifices. Today we read about peace/fellowship offerings, offerings of thanksgiving, and sin offerings: offerings of atonement. Just as God always has done, there are specific methods, ritual, and ways of doing this. They had to be done right in front of Him (to keep the people away from sacrifices to idols) and it involved the priests. April said it great yesterday, and I will just echo her thoughts. Thank you Lord that we no longer have to live like this! Reading these chapters continues to point out the obvious: we need Jesus!!! He is our atonement. He came to bridge the gap of sin in our lives and our Holy Lord. We don't have to go to a priest, or a tent, with goats, sheep & bulls. We don't need a priest to sprinkle blood seven times (a perfect complete number) because Christ sprinkled His blood for us instead on the cross. Never loose sight of the cross. Christ was the ultimate sweet-smelling aroma that was offered to God.
Romans 12:1 – 2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, to god, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
Thinking back on those days growing up, I remember that I was not so sweet -smelling after a matanza. But I do treasure those days, and I appreciate the fact that God does do require animal sacrifices from us. But He does require our own bodies. I pray that I would be a sweet-smelling aroma to Him. I have the blood of Jesus and pray that we would not be conformed to this world. If you want to dig a little deeper, I encourage you to read Hebrews 9 – 10. Be blessed. Be sweet-smelling J
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