9/27/23

My first job when I was in college in Houston, TX, was at the corporate office for Gordon’s Jewelers. Using my amazing math skills, my job was to figure  insurance on the jewelry that would be shipped to the various retailers. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry would pass through my hands each day, and believe it or not, more often than not, my figures would be correct! 

That was the apex . . . since then, my math skills have plummeted!

Since the Gordons were Jewish, our offices closed early on Yom Kippur. On this particular Wednesday, we all pushed our way towards the elevators when we heard exclamations of “Shanah tovah!” (the Jewish version of  “Happy New Year!”) as the Big Boss, Mr. Gordon himself, pushed his way through to the elevator doors. “I am running late for temple!” he cried as, like the Red Sea before Moses, we parted. “Forgive me for cutting ahead – I will pray for you! G'mar chatima tovah!” (“May you be sealed in the book of Life!”). And he merrily disappeared into the elevator . . . to go and “afflict” himself for the next 25 hours.

I’m writing this on Monday morning, which if I were Jewish, I’d be breaking the Torah, the Jewish Law. Today is Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement.” It began at sundown on Sunday and ends at sundown tonight (Monday).

Yom Kippur is the most holy day of the Jewish Calendar, and for 25 hours, all work is forbidden. Why 25 hours? The day begins at sunset and ends the next day after sunset when the stars come out. Most Jews spend the day fasting and in reflection – sort of the Jewish version of Ash Wednesday, only they have 5 prayer services throughout the day!

The Day of Atonement was instituted in Leviticus 16, where we read: “For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord.” The Day of Atonement was the only day when the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place (or the Holy of Holies), the inner room of the tabernacle (later, the temple) that contained the Ark of the Covenant. On that day, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place with incense and sprinkled the mercy seat that was on top of the ark  with the blood of two  purification offerings—a bull for the high priest and his family and a goat  for the people.

There were actually two goats offered for the sins of the people. The High Priest would bring the goats before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle and there he cast lots for them, the one lot "for Lord" and the other "for Azazel" (Leviticus 16:8, more on that in a second). The goat that fell to the Lord was offered as a sin-offering for the people. But the other goat . . . 

The high priest laid his hands upon its head and confessed over it the sins of the people. Then the goat (we call it the “scapegoat”) was handed over to a man standing nearby who "led forth to a barren region," and then let go in the wilderness. The goat would bear the sins of Israel into the wilderness’s vast emptiness. 

What or who is Azazel? Who knows!  Our Bible is an ancient book and there are mysteries we will never know on this side of eternity. People have a lot of fun speculating, though! Some think it’s the name for a demon . . . some believe it to be a word for a desolate place or a rugged cliff . . . we just don’t know.

Given its importance in the life of God’s people, you might expect to find the Day of Atonement referenced a lot in the New Testament . . . but it’s not. There’s no mention of the Day of Atonement in the gospels at all. It’s mentioned in Acts 27:9 as marking the time when sea travel would begin to be dangerous. 

The only passage that really deals with the Day of Atonement in the New Testament is in the book of Hebrews. There the actions of the physical high priest, who came only once a year into the Most Holy Place with the blood of atonement (Hebrews 9:6-7), are shown to be a type or a foreshadow of the work of Jesus Christ.

Only on the Day of Atonement could the high priest sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat to make atonement for the people. And he had to do this every year.

Jesus, however, is the ultimate High Priest. In Hebrews 9:12 we read: “He entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.”

Now, with all this emphasis on forgiveness, and with the Day of Atonement being the most holy day of the Jewish Calendar, you might expect that Jesus would be crucified on the Day of Atonement. After all, the death of Jesus atones for our sins. Through Christ we are “at one” with God (that isn’t a coincidence – “atonement” is from the Middle English and means to be  “at one” or to be brought into harmony with or to be reconciled). So, of course we would expect Jesus’ atoning sacrifice to be offered on the holiest day of the Jewish year, on the Day of Atonement.

But it wasn’t.

Jesus was crucified during a Jewish festival, but it wasn’t Yom Kippur. The festival during which Jesus chose to die was Passover, the great freedom-festival of Israel.  

Why? Why Passover over Yom Kippur? That’s one of the things Sunday’s sermon is about! We’ll take a look at the final Passover Jesus spent with his disciples and consider the reason Jesus chose to die on Passover rather than the day we might think was the more obvious, the Day of Atonement. 

So come Sunday and find out!