The Sin Eater

There is an ancient custom among the peoples of northern Europe and the British Isles. Every village had a person who was designated a “sin-eater.” The custom dictated that when a person died, bread and salt were placed on the chest of the corpse. The sin-eater would be called, and he or she would come and eat the bread and salt. The belief was that the sin-eater would take on the sins of the dead person, absorbed into the bread and salt, and the deceased person would be absolved of their sins. This custom still survives in some areas, but is considered a cardinal sin by the Roman Catholic Church, and a person involved in sin-eating will be excommunicated, since the practice involves absolving a person’s sins outside the purview of the Church.

Since I am neither European nor Catholic, I don’t run into sin-eaters too often. But, on occasion, it seems that people treat me like one. Being a pastor, some people think, includes some mystical ability to change people’s hearts and even absolve them of sin. Every now and then I am asked by someone, with all sincerity, to visit with some neighbor or family member of theirs that doesn’t know the Lord, in the hopes that something I say or do in that one encounter will convert them. While I don’t doubt their good intentions, I am usually reluctant to do this very often because it makes everyone involved very uncomfortable and rarely achieves anything. One woman I knew a while back set me up to meet with her son at his apartment, but when he found out about it he invited a whole bunch of people over for a barbeque at the same time. He then spent the rest of the evening avoiding me.

Hebrews 2:1 "Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2:2 For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 2:4 while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. 2:5 For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels. 2:6 Instead someone testified somewhere: “What is man that you think of him or the son of man that you care for him? 2:7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while. You crowned him with glory and honor. 2:8 You put all things under his control.” For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not
yet see all things under his control, 2:9 but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone. 2:10 For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.2:11 For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 2:12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” 2:13 Again he says, “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, with the children God has given me.” 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), 2:15 and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death. 2:16 For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants. 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. 2:18 For since he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted."

Jesus is our only Sin-Eater. He is a plurality of necessary roles for us: God, the Son of Man, our High Priest, and our sacrifice. He is the only one who can absolve people of their sins, and he is the only one who can change hearts and minds toward him. Because he has tasted death for everyone, no one need die, if they choose. The Sin-Eater has taken their sins into himself and carried them into the grave, where he left them when he rose again. Because of this, Jesus has become our way into eternal life with God, not as mourners watching a dearly departed one buried into the ground, but looking up, seeing him become hidden in the clouds as he ascends into the heavens.

As for me, I am merely a witness of these things. Jesus came upon my dead rotten corpse, and ate my sin from off my chest. But I was not then put into a coffin and buried, I was resurrected too. I rose up and went ahead, announcing the arrival of the Sin-Eater in every village I entered.