“….and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Hebrews 9:22

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008
I’m sitting from the safe distance of our rooftop on this first morning of Eid watching groups of men scattered along the roadside below sacrificing bulls and goats that had been paraded into the city over the past few days and tied up outside the respective homes of their purchasers to await their sacrificial fate.
(A bull, I’m told, covers the sins of up to 7 people; a goat only one. Children are excluded).

I feel as though I’ve stepped back in time. Not only does it seem a bit primitive. No, further back. It seems I’m getting a glimpse into the laws of nature and spiritual reality that have been fixed from the beginning of time and written into the fabric of life somehow.

“….without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

Really??!!
Interesting.
Gruesome!

There was a mass exodus yesterday of people leaving the city to return to their villages to celebrate this holiday with their families—so the city is quite today, making the hacking sounds of metal knives against the pavement and the squawks of anxious crows as they circle overhead all the more audible.

This is a yearly holiday—the most important, I’m told, in the Muslim year.

“…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

All of this made me think of “Once for All”….an old hymn that I love, the context of which comes from Hebrews…..so I looked there for the phrase and read in amazement. It’s as if what was written was for this event happening today, throughout this city, right below me.

taken from Hebrews 9:11-10:25
…but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come….he entered once for all into the holy places, not by the means of the blood of goats and calves but by he means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For is the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ purify our conscience form dead works to serve the living God.
For Christ has entered, not into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy place every year with blood not his own…..
But as it is, he has appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near.

BUT, having Christ, our ONCE FOR ALL sacrifice made for us, there are still sacrifices that God desires from us…

“Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of PRAISE to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to DO GOOD and to SHARE what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Heb. 13:15-16)

Anyway.....at a time when we're trying to make it feel like Christmas around here, this holiday (unlike any we've ever seen) made Christmas and Easter very significant to us at the same time.