Sacrifice

I love to eat, and my favorite thing to eat is meat. Pretty much anything that contains meat. I like lots of other things as well but when I sit down to eat, I feel like there is something missing if there is no meat to be seen.  But there have been times when I have questioned my desire to eat meat, and those times are usually prompted by witnessing the “Before” element in the meat production process. I have been to open air markets in Hong Kong and Manila, where the carcasses of animals hang side by side in hundreds of stalls. I have seen people purchase frogs and eels and watched as the proprietor butchers the live animal right in front of the customer. I have heard the buzzing of flies and smelled the stench of blood and death. I have read first-hand accounts of American slaughterhouses and their factories of death, where cows scream and defecate all over themselves as they are herded down the chute.

What these experiences made me realize was how far away I was from the sacrificial process. When we go to the store and pick up a package of Italian sausage or ground beef or turkey breast, most of us do not think much about where it came from and from what. For all we know, meat just magically appears in plastic and styrofoam containers. But the fact is, a living creature had to die in order to provide that meat. And for all our attempts at humane treatment, there is no doubt that the animal is terrified and, in its own way, begging for its life. We eat, but only because of sacrifice.

Mark 15:33-47 “At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah." 36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said. 37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!" 40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there. 42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.” 

Jesus became an animal sacrifice for us. Up until this point, animals had been sacrificed for the offenses committed against God. But Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice, to provide food for His disciples. The slaughtering process is never pleasant, even today in America’s modern slaughterhouses. One eyewitness experience would make vegetarians out of a lot of people. Crucifixion is no less horrifying. For those who witnessed Jesus’ slow death, there would have been sights, sounds, and smells to turn their stomachs. Even Jesus himself was overcome by the despair of the whole thing – “Why have you forsaken me?” Theologians have speculated and theorized about what that comment meant, but in the end, all we have is speculations and theories. I think Jesus spoke those words because the suffering and humiliation he was enduring swept over him like a tidal wave, and the only thing he could do was cry out to God as he became the Meat for our tables.

 “Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” John 6:53-56