Torah Portion: Leviticus 1:1-6:7
Vayikra (‘And He called’)
While Moses was up the mountain, the Lord spoke to him from within the cloud. Now, the Lord called from the Tent of Meeting with instructions for the people on how to approach their holy God. We cannot come to the Lord while still in our sin and trusting in our own righteousness – there must be a sacrifice.
Directions for offering different sacrifices are given in this week’s Torah portion - usually in the format of presenting an animal that had to be killed before handing it over to the priest to be burnt. This was a physical and graphic illustration of the cost of sin, since the one making the sacrifice would have to choose the best of his animals to die in his place, the blood being sprinkled on the altar before the animal was burnt, to make atonement for his transgression. In the mercy of God, there was also provision for the poor to offer birds if they could not afford bulls or rams.
Perhaps it is hard for us to think of a burnt offering like this being a pleasing aroma to the Lord, yet this is what He repeatedly says, and what He commanded the people to do.
What Pleases God
Saul was chosen to be Israel’s first king, but he was selective in the way he carried out the Lord’s instructions because he was afraid of the people and gave in to them. Samuel told him that “to obey is better than sacrifice…for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” (1 Sam 15:22-23).
The Lord has no need of a bull or goats, for He owns every animal of the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps 50:9-10). “He who sacrifices thank-offerings honours Me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God [Yeshua Elohim]” (Ps 50:23). Yeshua Himself commended the man who said that “to love [God] with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33).
The writer of Hebrews recognises this tension between what the Torah required and pleasing the Lord: “‘Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor were You pleased with them’ (although the law required them to be made). Then He said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do Your will.’…And by that will, we have been made holy though the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb 10:8-10).
So, “let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb 13:15-16).
Right Sacrifices
The sacrificial system was a costly and awe-inspiring experience for any individual who needed to make atonement for their sin, but sacrifices of animals could never achieve lasting salvation. They could only make people aware of their own sinfulness (Rom 3:20).
We have every reason to make the right sacrifices of thanks and praise in wholehearted devotion to God and care for our neighbour, because we know what Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach, has accomplished through the sacrifice of Himself on the Cross. Yet perhaps we need to stop and consider: have we become casual in our approach to the throne of God?
However, “we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses” and so are invited to “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb 4:15-16).
Author: Catharine Pakington
