Thoughts which bring me to Jesus, and to The Cross

The LORD said to Moses, 27 “The Day of Cleansing will be on the tenth day of the seventh month. There will be a holy meeting, and you will deny yourselves and bring an offering made by fire to the LORD. 28 Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Cleansing. On that day the priests will go before the LORD and perform the acts to make you clean from sin so you will belong to the LORD.
29 “Anyone who refuses to give up food on this day must be cut off from the people. 30 If anyone works on this day, I will destroy that person from among the people. 31 You must not do any work at all; this law will continue for people from now on wherever you live. 32 It will be a special day of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves.  Lev 23:26-32 NCV

Happy is the person whom the LORD does not consider guilty and in whom there is nothing false. 3  When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me. I moaned all day long. 4  Day and night you punished me. My strength was gone as in the summer heat.
Selah
5  Then I confessed my sins to you and didn’t hide my guilt. I said, “I will confess my sins to the LORD,” and you forgave my guilt.  Ps. 32:2-5 NCV

36 Finally, it was very foolish of our opponents to write that men who are under eternal wrath merit the forgiveness of sins by an elicited act of love, since it is impossible to love God unless faith has first accepted the forgiveness of sins.

All that exterior activity is a waste if tune, if you lack love. It’s like sewing with a needle and no thread. 
What a pity if in the end you had carried out “your” apostolate (mission) and not “His” apostolate.

Every three or four years, I choose a translation to read through that was designed for younger or simpler readers. What benefit usually comes is when familiar “church” words are replaced with words that describe what is actually going on. In this case, the “Day of Atonement” is replaced with the “Day of Cleansing.” The day when all sin is erased, a day of great joy, a day that means, in the truest sense of the word–freedom.

In that moment, in the Mosaic period of the Covenant, all the people of God (Israel AND the foreigners that dwelled with them) could rejoice. Every sin, every bit of its buddies shame and guilt was removed from the people.  It was a special day of rest, not because of the hard work prior to it, but because of the great blessing of God’s mercy.

It was, and is today, a life changer. And it should be prepared for with eagerness, for great joy awaits. And then, it should be followed with restful, joyous contemplation, for the weight that has been removed is beyond description.

The cost and consequence of all sin, the incredible burden of shame, the crushing power of guilt…is gone.

And we are free to love–and that love gives meaning and depth to everything we do. And it is good to take an hour, a day, a week, even a year, contemplating our forgiveness, found in our relationship with Jesus.

In these days, in the New Covenant, we have to be careful not to dismiss the “Day of Cleansing.” It is not a yearly occurrence, but one that happens as the people of God gather. as they minister to each other, and when the pastor/priest tells people. “you are forgiven in Jesus’ name.”

If we are to begin a new year correctly, it needs to start with that cleansing and rest. It needs to start with love, and that love requires the freedom that cleansing/absolution/mercy brings to the table.

So find times to think about what you’ve done, how God has healed the brokenness, and how you are made whole. DO this often, and see what God has freed you to do, next.

Godspeed, and God’s peace

Phillip Melanchthon, “The APology of the Augsburg COnfession: Article IV Justification'” Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord: the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 112.

Josemaria Escriva, The Way. no. 967