Sacrifice

Homily for Tuesday of the 3rd Week in Lent

Today we hear the prayer of Azariah, also known as Abednego, from the Book of the Prophet Daniel. This prayer forms the first part of the chiastic structure of chapter three of this apocalyptic book of the Old Testament. Azariah calls upon God for forgiveness while making a confession of the sins of the children of Israel.

He prays: “We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.” His words emphasize that while they are in exile, they have no way to offer sacrifice, the ritual part of the Jewish faith. Consequently, I would like to suggest that today we use the word “Sacrifice” as our mindfulness trigger.

Burnt offerings were the typical Jewish sacrifices. The word "Karbanot" is usually translated as "sacrifices" or "offerings"; however, both of these terms suggest a loss of something or a giving up of something, and although that is certainly a part of the ritual, that is not at all the literal meaning of the Hebrew word. The word Karbanot comes from the root Qof-Resh-Bet, which means "to draw near," and indicates the primary purpose of offerings: to draw us near to God.

There are three basic concepts underlying ritual sacrifices. The first is the notion of renunciation of something that belongs to the person making the sacrifice. Secondly, sacrifice is often an act of substitution. The idea is that the thing being offered is a substitute for the person making the offering, and the things that are done to the offering are things that should have been done to the person offering. The offering is in some sense "punished" in place of the offerer. The third important concept is the idea of coming closer. The essence of sacrifice is to bring a person closer to God.

As we go through our day, let us consider this third and final essence of sacrifice. Are our Lenten sacrifices bringing us closer to God. Sacrifices that are made to show off our piety or to draw attention to ourselves do not fulfill the important aspects of true sacrifice. As Azariah reminds us, “And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you.”