What Are You Looking For? Part 1: The Nicene Creed

He Suffered Death

He Suffered Death

            Just like we all will, Jesus died.  He wasn’t kind of dead, or mostly dead.  He was all dead.  We killed him.  In that moment, Satan succeeded and the Son of God and the Son of Man was dead.  His mother wept.  The few followers that were there wept.  Creation wept.  His Father wept.  The One who had created the world, “for by him all things were made”, was dead. 

            According to Scripture, while he hung on the cross, suspended above the very world he had lovingly made, darkness covered the earth.  As if creation couldn’t bear to witness what was happening.  When at last he cried, “It is finished!” the earth quaked.  Buildings were damaged.  Tombs were opened.  The temple veil, separating the Holy of Holies was torn in two, from top to bottom.

            Think about that a moment.  It didn’t tear horizontally.  That would have left some covering, some separation between the rest of the temple and the Holy of Holies; between God and the people.  It was torn vertically.  The way was opened.  At the time it was only seen as earthquake damage.  The implications of the event would have to wait for an explanation. 

            Today we know just what that tearing meant.  In ancient times, Passover only happened once a year.  Once a year, the lamb was slain as a memorial of the Hebrews being spared by the Angel of Death at the time of the Exodus.  Jesus died during Passover.  Also once only once a year could atonement be made for the sins of the people.  There were very strict rules for this.  Aaron (or the current High Priest) was the only one who could enter inside the veil.  He had to bring a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a holocaust.  He had to be properly dressed.  From the community, he had to be given two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a holocaust.  The first bullock was offered up for himself and his family.  Of the two goats, one was selected by lot to be sacrificed, after the sins of the people were confessed over it, it was sent out into the desert.  After the bullock was slaughtered, then priest had to take a censer and incense as well as some of the blood inside the veil.  First, he had to burn the incense so that a cloud covered the propitiatory, also known as the mercy seat, which covered the commandments, if he didn’t, he would die.  Then he would sprinkle some of the bullock’s blood on it for himself and his family.  Only after doing that, would he sacrifice the goat for the people and repeat the procedure.  For the ancient Jews every time they gathered for worship, a sacrifice had to be offered.  To be freed from slavery and avoid death in Egypt, a sacrifice had to be offered.  To be forgiven of their sins, a sacrifice had to be offered.

            At Jesus death, the veil was torn in two.  This veil wasn’t some thin little piece of gauze.  The temple veil was a heavy curtain designed to keep anyone except the High Priest from seeing the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant.  When it was torn in two, it didn’t mean that the Old Covenant had been abolished.  It meant that it had been completed.  The Lamb had been slain.  The blood had been applied.  Now every day we can enter and take part in the sacrifice. 

Because the Son of Man was slain at a specific time and at a specific place, as the sinless sacrifice he opened the mercy seat to all of us.  Because the Son of God was slain, it also happened outside time.  For in God there is no time.  He is not the God who was.  He is not the God who will be.  He is the God who IS.  Because of this, at the Eucharist, we mystically enter into the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross as if we were there at the time. 

He was sacrificed once of all.  Ancient Jewish Law clearly shows us there can be no worship without sacrifice.  That was the way God decreed it should be when he gave the Law to Moses.  Jesus said he didn’t come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  In fulfilling the Law, no longer would we have to sacrifice a lamb as a memorial of our deliverance.  The Lamb had been slain.  No longer would a goat need to bear our sins into the desert.  Jesus was slain outside Jerusalem.  No longer would a bullock need to be sacrificed for the priest and a goat for the people.  No longer would the blood of the sacrifice need to be offered once a year for our sins.

The  moment Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man breathed his last, the way to God was opened. He suffered death.  And in doing so, bought us life.