But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12 ESV)
Through His blood He has secured us eternal redemption. This brings us to atonement…
What do you think when you hear the word atonement? If you were raised in the church you think of Jesus dying on the cross, because a blood sacrifice had to be made. There is a vengeful blood thirsty God that had to have His pound of flesh. There needs to be a sacrifice, and Jesus is the one to do it. He dies on the cross so that we can be reconnected with God.
Ok maybe God is not blood thirsty and vengeful. But what kind of God needs to have a blood sacrifice? Is not our God loving and caring for the last, least, little and lost, so why must there be blood? The cross was a part of the plan, that I can say I do not completely understand, but here is one thing I know. The cross and not just the cross, but all of Jesus’ life leads us to a relationship bridge to God.
You see when I read this passage today from Hebrews I looked up the word atonement. And here is the definition from Merriam-Websters Online:
Definition of ATONEMENT
1 obsolete : reconciliation
2 the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ
3 reparation for an offense or injury : satisfaction
4 Christian Science : the exemplifying of human oneness with God
This was not that helpful. So I looked some more and I found and answer at Bibleq.net:
According to the OED, the English word ‘atonement’ was probably in use at least by 1513, but it was first used in a translation of the Bible by William Tyndale later in the 1500s, possibly while in exile in Antwerp . The word “at-one-ment” comes from a contraction of “at one”. So first Tyndale (1526), then the Bishop’s Bible under Queen Elisabeth 1st (1588), then the Authorised Version under King James (1611), employed the word ‘atonement’ 69 times through the OT where the Hebrew is ‘cover’. However since the original context of the Hebrew meaning, sin-covering, comes through in the context, whatever Tyndale’s intentions, the meaning ‘covering’ has attached to ‘at-one-ment’ because of the contexts of the OT verses in which his new word was used. Later, following Tyndale’s death, the noun ’atonement’, created the coinage of another new word ‘atone’ (first seen in 1574 according to Merriam Webster).
This I thought was interesting. You see atonement is from the words at and one. Thus the contraction at-one or atone. The act of covering our sins is what allows us to be at-one with God. The life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ allows us to be at-one with God. It is not about a gruesome death that Jesus had to die or the blood sacrifice required by some vengeful blood thirsty God. It is about a life lived in obedience to God and one that shows love for other over self. It is the life that Jesus lived as an example to us to be at-one with God. Jesus lived a life that does give us atonement, but lets not get hung up on His death when we should get hung up on His life. A life that leads us to live for the other and truly be connected with God.
I also wanted to share a quote from David Lose from a few weeks ago on this subject. The original article here was found at WorkingPreacher.org.
One last thing: The popular religious culture in our country tends to get hung up on the second half of last line of this passage: “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” But I have a hunch that understanding the second half of that verse correctly rests in taking the first half more seriously. Maybe, that is, Jesus’ giving his life as a “ransom” doesn’t describe some elaborate and rather gruesome mechanism by which God has to brutally punish Jesus before God can love us. Maybe Jesus “buys us back” by showing us a way out of the devastating cycle of looking for glory, joy, and peace on the world’s terms by teaching and showing us how to receive by giving, how to lead by serving, and how to find our lives by losing them for the sake of the people around us that God loves so much.
So what do you think?
aSacredRebel 