Church of the Holy City

All We Like Sheep

All We Like Sheep
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 20, 2013

Isaiah 53:4-12 Mark 10:35-45 Psalm 91

The passage from Isaiah that we heard this morning is one place where churches find the doctrine called the atonement. This church does not hold the doctrine of the atonement. In fact, Swedenborg in many places makes a point of refuting this doctrine–a doctrine he was brought up with. Our reading from Mark puts a different emphasis on the doctrine of the atonement, although it, too, appears to reinforce the doctrine.
The great composer Handel set Isaiah 53 to music in his Messiah. Handel took the words, “All we like sheep have gone astray.” These words are in accord with the Swedenborgian teaching about why Jesus came to earth. It is the teaching of this church that humanity had strayed far, far from the ways of God. We had gone astray. In fact, things were so bad that heaven could no longer flow into people’s hearts because of all the evil blocking heaven’s influence. All we like sheep had gone astray. What was needed was that God Himself come down to earth and establish the channel of influx through His own Person.
Can you imagine the spiritual heat we would feel standing right next to God on earth? In fact, there is a tradition in the Coptic Orthodox Church that Mary was protected from the burning embers inside her that constituted the fetal God in her womb. And after the resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, the disciples walking next to Jesus later reflect on how their hearts were burning inside them when the resurrected Jesus talked with them.
In order to bring this spiritual heat to the world while He was on the earth, and in order to reopen heaven so it could flow into the world again, was why Jesus came to earth. This is why Jesus says in Mark, “The Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve.” Accepting the human condition, walking upon the dust of this earth, and bringing God to man is the service Jesus underwent on behalf of the human race. Jesus’ whole life was one of service: teaching us, healing the sick, and allowing humans to touch, embrace, and anoint His holy Person. Jesus’ sole purpose was to bring us back to God, as we like sheep had gone astray.
As we know, Jesus’ life had suffering and anguish in it. He was beaten and whipped by the agents of Pilate. And he suffered the horrors of crucifixion by an angry mob. But this church does not emphasize the suffering Jesus. We acknowledge that Jesus’ life was one of nearly continual temptations by the hells. And we acknowledge that Jesus constantly overcame the hells and reordered heaven and hell. But it is the glorification that we emphasize. The final result of Jesus’ temptations and His life on earth was complete union with God. So human was completely Divine and the Divine was completely Human.
Other churches emphasize Jesus suffering. They see Jesus’ suffering and death as a sacrifice like the animals that the Jews sacrificed. In Leviticus the mechanism of the sin offering is explained. It reads,
If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, he is guilty. When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect. He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the sin offering. . . . and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven (Leviticus 4:27-31).
So if a person in ancient Israel sins, his sins can be erased by sacrificing a goat. Leviticus also says that a lamb can be used also as a sin offering. So by bringing a goat or a lamb to the temple to be slaughtered, one’s sins can be taken away. Many Christian churches see Jesus’ suffering and death as a sacrifice. Jesus, to them, is the sacrificial lamb that takes away the sins of the whole human race.
It is true that in several places scattered through the New Testament, Jesus is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. One such instance is when Jesus comes to be baptized by John the Baptist. Upon seeing Jesus, John exclaims, “Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36). There are other places, particularly in Revelation where Jesus is seen as a sacrificial lamb. In Revelation 5, Jesus is seen as a lamb that is slain, and we also find the words of sacrifice in this vision, “for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God” (5:9). In Revelation 21 and 22, God and “the Lamb” are used interchangeably.
The sacrificial lamb that atones for humanity’s sins is how the early Christians made sense out of the crucifixion. To make sense of it, they drew on Hebrew scriptures from Leviticus, as we saw above, and from the prophets such as the Isaiah 53 passage we heard today. This passage emphasizes the suffering of Jesus. So there are lines like,
He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities . . .
He was oppressed, and while he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter . . . (Isaiah 53:5, 7).
And in this same passage are numerous lines that speak of the suffering servant taking upon himself the sins of the people.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed
The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all . . .
Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him;
he has been put to grief;
when he makes himself an offering for sin . . .
Yet he bore the sins of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors (53:5, 6, 10, 12).
So by means of sacrificial language, borrowed from the priestly laws of atonement, early Christians made sense of Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion.
But this passage in Isaiah is just one of 66 chapters. And the language of the sacrificial lamb is only scattered through the New Testament. I think that an enterprise that takes one passage from all the prophets and turns that into a central interpretative doctrine is suspect.
As nice as it might sound; as appealing as it might be for those smitten with pangs of conscience; it is not possible for my sins to be put on someone else. Each person is responsible for their own sins. So it is not possible for Jesus to take my sins onto Himself. All through the Gospels, Jesus teaches that each person is responsible for their own good and evil. It is a real strain of the text to try to force the whole Gospel message into one idea that can’t stand on its own logic–namely, that my sins can be borne by someone else. We are taught by Jesus to learn to do good, and to flee from evils.
Jesus’ life on earth and His resurrection make it possible for us to do good, to allow heaven’s influx to flow into us, and to find God. That is how Jesus is the servant of all. Jesus gave His life to save us–that is true, if truly understood. He gave His life to the teaching, healing, and salvation of humans. But He did not take away our sins on the cross, like a sacrificial lamb. That idea strains the integrity of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus did suffer because of human sin. But it is the love that Jesus teaches and brings to us that really matters. By taking on the human form, and by living a human life, Jesus shows us how much God loves us and Jesus shows us how to love each other and God. The life of Jesus is a testament to love and service, not to cruelty, suffering, and passion. So Jesus teaches His apostles and us as well, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43).

PRAYER

Lord, all we like sheep have gone astray. And yet no matter how far we stray from you and your precepts, you come to us, and bring us back. We turn to our own ways, and yet you always lead us back to your ways. You never turn from us; you always love us; you continually raise us upward into heaven’s joy and into communion with yourself. Ages ago, you came to us in a material form, and took on our human nature. You suffered at the hands of humans. And yet you still did not turn from us, but you forgave, you forgive, and you come to us even still. We thank you for your unfailing love for the whole human race.

And lord, we ask that you watch over those who are struggling and enduring hardship, be it sickness, poverty, or national unrest. Send your peaceful spirit to turmoil. Send the power of your healing love to those who are sick. We know on faith that in every trying situation, good can come. May we find the good in trouble, and healing where there is sickness.

Thank you, Lord, for your gift of life. Thank you for another day. May we treasure this day and this moment as the heavenly gift that it is. We are taught that in heaven there is no time. May we learn to see this life as the one continuous moment that it is, now and forever. May we look only for your will for us, and may we find the power to carry out that will.