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The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 

John 1: 29

When it comes to animal sacrifices and the rituals of Leviticus, I think this is one of the genuine places in the Bible where we may get the sensation of approaching the text with a disorienting lack of experiences to underpin our expectations.

The real key to grasping this is a shift in our cultural understanding. Whereas we see animal sacrifice and think that somehow death appeases God. 

To the Israelite. It wasn’t an animal’s death that would cover over sins—it was the blood of a blameless animal.

That’s why it's so important, why it is repeatedly stressed in the book of Leviticus that the animal used in the sacrifice must be without blemish. The Israelites were not to choose the worst of their flock for their sacrifices but a perfect, spotless animal.

And whereas when we think blood we are more likely to equate that with death. In the Israelite understanding, blood is representative of life. 

Think of the phrase lifeblood maybe.

Put simply, the lifeblood of a perfect animal is put on an altar, because the whole animal must be burnt up, and symbolically this blameless animal goes up in smoke. Into the Heavens. Into the presence of God. 

This animal goes through death into the presence of true life and there covers over the corruption and failures of the person making the sacrifice. Making a way for a human to enter back into God’s presence. 

What the book of Leviticus provides, is a way for Israel to know with confidence that, despite their corruption, they are brought near and safe to live near to God’s presence.

All over the New Testament, we hear about how Jesus’ death was an atoning sacrifice for us. 

His death has covered all the evil and death in this world. All the direct consequences of our injustices, our scheming, our failures. 

And the New Testament authors talk about Jesus’ lifeblood, being able to wash away the vandalism that evil has caused in us and around us, the indirect consequences of our sin. 

And so now we can now live in God’s presence. 

The cross is the place where Jesus absorbs sin to create a clean space that is not limited, like animal sacrifices. Jesus’ sacrifice has the power to keep spreading and spreading and reuniting more and more of Heaven and Earth.

And now as Jesus’s followers we gather once a week and take the bread and the cup to remember and to participate in the power of Jesus’ death and in his life.

The very power that brought Jesus back from the dead is the same power that can deal with the brokenness and evil and vandalism in our own lives and transform us into people who live lives in God’s presence. Who partners with Jesus so that his presence keeps spreading and transforming more of creation and more people to live lives of love and peace.