Sacrifice

Sacrifice as a religious rite was an essential part of all ancient religions. It saturated beliefs and practices. That was the context in which Christianity was born, and thus the first Christians assumed the words and symbols of sacrifice, both from the Hebrew Scriptures and other sources, to explain Jesus as Saviour and Redeemer. Nothing is more sacred to Christians than the SACRIFICE of Christ. The early Christians, proscribed and persecuted, used the sign of the cross to identify themselves with their underground colleagues, and since then, that symbol of His sacrifice has always been the principal identifying mark of Christianity, indicating its centrality in its beliefs.

To Satisfy God's Anger And Justice

Unfortunately, distorted interpretations of the 'sacrifice' passages in Scripture, led to viewing the Sacrifice of Jesus, as well as the sacrifices of his followers, as a payment or punishment to satisfy God's justice. Fathers of the Church, theologians, preachers and reformers have influenced our heritage with an unflattering portrait of God as a hurt and angry Father. Some of the extreme examples: "Divine Justice looks at His Son with flaming eyes, with a glance darting fire.... He looks on Him as a sinner and strides against Him with all the adjuncts of Divine Justice." (Bossuet) - "Clothed in the leprosy of sin, God's justice looks on Him as an object worthy of every punishment. Wherefore it takes up arms against Him and sword in hand pursues Him and pronounces on Him the sentence of death." (Bourdabue) - "Scriptures teach us that pestilence, war, and other calamities of this kind are chastisements of God, which he inflicts on our sins. . . . the nations whom thou now smitest.. . the individuals who are receiving thy stripes all who are bound in prison or afflicted with disease or ....... ." (Calvin). This, ironically, is from his "Forms of Prayer for the Church."

Effects of this Interpretation

Dr. Dorothy Soelle, a well-known theologian in Germany and the U.S., in her book Suffering, says of the above attitudes: "such statements, of which one could find dozens... are still regarded as normal in theology."

The residual effects of this approach to sacrifice are still found in forms of piety, religious practice, and people's spontaneous reaction to misfortune in their lives. . . . Witness the most often repeated exclamation: "What did I do to deserve this?"

The worst effect is that 'sacrifices' which individuals or families or even masses of people have imposed upon them, through no fault of their own, are considered somehow a necessary part of a payment that God is exacting from the human family. Examples abound of a too facile use of "God's will be done" which more often than consoling the victim, consoles and excuses the leader, speaker or counselor who can then let God be totally responsible.

The book Leviathan by Arno Schmidt pictures this with obvious loathing: 'And one of the children was almost entirely torn to pieces, neck and shoulders, everything by two huge shell fragments. The mother kept on holding the child's head and staring in astonishment at the huge carmine pool of blood.. . . The pastor comforted the weeping woman by saying, "The Lord gave; the Lord has taken away." And, damn him, that coward and sycophant added, "Blessed be the name of the Lord!"'

Meaning of Sacrifice in Sacred Scripture

The basic meaning of the 'Nord sacrifice is "to make sacred." In Sacred Scripture, a sacrifice is making an interior disposition - of worship, thanksgiving, communion with God, of sorrow for sin - by offering it to God. It is only symbolized in an external ritual. The ritual does not substitute for the interior disposition, as is clearly seen in Psalm 51: "My sacrifice, 0 God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, 0 God, you will not spurn. . . . Then shall you be pleased with due sacrifices, burnt offerings and holocausts on your altar." When ritual sacrifices without such interior dispositions became the practice the prophets excoriated the people, as in Isalas 1, 11 f. "What care I for the number of your sacrifices? says the Lord, I have had enough of whole-burnt rams and fat of fatlings; in the blood of calves, lambs and goats I find no pleasure. . . Bring no more worthless offerings . . . these I cannot bear. . . . (Instead) put away your misdeeds cease doing evil - . . learn to do good. . . . Make justice your aim; redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow." (cf. Amos 4, 4; Jer. 7, 21; Ps. 16 & 19)

The Sacrifice of Jesus

It was in the tradition of the Prophets that Jesus insisted upon the correct interior disposition as essential in any offering to God. When the Pharisees and experts in the law gathered around him and complained that the disciples took food without purifying their hands, Jesus replied: "How accurately Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites: this people pays me lip service, but their heart is far from me." Mk 7, 7. Watching the rich ostentatiously putting large sums into the temple treasury, and seeing a poor widow put in her two mites, he said to his apostles: "This poor widow has put in more than all." Lk. 21, 3.

By his own manifestation of his interior dispositions, Jesus leads us to understand that it was his entire life of loving obedience which constituted his sacrifice, and not just his death on the cross as a single, separate event. Paul, in Philippians, after lecturing his followers on what their interior dispositions should be, says: "Have this same mind in you as in Christ.. . he emptied himself and took the form of a slave being born in the likeness of every person. He was known to be of human estate and it was thus that he humbled himself, obedient unto death, even death on a cross. For which cause God exalted him." Phil. 2, 5 f.

In contrast to a ritual sacrifice, in which a member of the priestly caste offered a gift distinct from himself, and in a single act, Jesus offered his very self, his total existence in the service of God and His fellow human beings. He was indeed the SERVANT foretold in lsaias, and he described himself as such. Thus his sacrifice is best described as BEING FOR OTHERS.

The accounts of his birth identify him with the little ones of society, and portray him bringing peace and joy and salvation to them. In his public ministry, he fulfills literally the prophecy of lsaias: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and release to prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord." Lk. 4, 18.

The LIFE sacrifice, given in total, obedient love is accepted by God. God raises Jesus from death, glorifies Him and proclaims Him as Lord and Saviour. Through raising him up, God shows his acceptance of Jesus' Being for Others, and grants peace and reconciliation to the world. Through Jesus, God's love is permanently extended to and accessible to all.

Consequences Application

The first and most important consequence of this understanding of sacrifice is that sacrifice, whether of Christ or of any human being, whether it is voluntary or imposed, is NOT God striking out in anger seeking retribution. On the contrary, it is God reaching out in love to receive and "make holy" the sacrifice, and to embrace the person offering it. Frances Young, author of Sacrifice and the Death of Christ, puts it: "He took responsibility for the existence of evil in His creation; he bore the pain of it and the guilt of it; he accepted the consequences into himself, and in his LOVE reconciled His holiness to a sinful and corrupt humanity, justifying the ungodly, accepting man just as he is .. ." She adds that this understanding of sacrifice is "an act not only offered to God, but an act performed by God himself . . . (thus) for the early Church there was an intimate relationship between the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrificial worship and service of the Church; there was an indissoluble bond linking Christ's sacrifice of obedience to the spiritual sacrifices of the saint and the martyr..."

In Elie Wiesel's book, Dawn, he describes a scene in the concentration camp in which two men and a boy are hanged. The two men died rather quickly, but the boy's agony lasted for half an hour. "On that day, horrible even among those days of horror, when a child watched the hanging (yes, the hanging) of another child, who has the face of an angel, he heard someone behind him groan: 'where is God? where is God now?' And a voice within me answered: 'Where? Here He is - He has been hanged here - on these gallows'."

There is redemption of all the horrible sacrifices which are beyond one's personal control and victimize innocent persons: those hanged, gassed and beaten to death in the concentration camps; those women and children screaming out their last breath as they are incinerated by the bombs at Nagasaki and Hiroshima; those famine bloated babies in Africa; those new-born children, in every corner of the earth, with birth defects which often destine them to a life of unrelenting isolation and struggle; those parents, wives, husbands, families and friends who share in the sacrifices of their loved ones.

Where is God? He is THERE! WITH them!

Cross as ‘Passive' Symbol and as ‘Active' Symbol

The Cross can be perceived as a "passive symbol" of sacrifice, that is, "to endure". That is an aspect of sacrifice which has always been held in honor, in the spirit of 1 Pet. 2, 20:"... If when you do right and suffer and you take it patiently, this is acceptable to God. Unto this, indeed, you have been called, because Christ also has suffered for you... But what can be overlooked is the "active symbol" of the cross, that is, "to do", in the spirit of "I was hungry and you gave me to eat. . .." etc., as Jesus commanded. The death of Jesus was not just an unfortunate event which terminated the good He was doing. lt was because of the good he was doing. Jesus challenged the social patterns of his time which were causing so much suffering. In that context, he was a seditionist, a threat to the established order, and for that reason was sentenced to the form of death reserved for such persons: crucifixion.

A Perfect Example

In the midst of writing this, I attended a Conference concluding the 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons, and beginning the 1982 National Year of Disabled Persons. That conference was a blessing in many ways, not the least of which was providing a perfect example of "passive" and "active" sacrifice. Here is the scene: masses of wheel chairs - some propelling themselves by pushing a button with a shortened limb or badly twisted, shaking fingers. One lady with no legs and only the upper parts of arms, ingeniously managing her chair. . . . Moving among these chairs, as well as those who are afoot on crutches or walkers, or making it alone on wobbly, unsteady legs, a string of blind persons, loosely clinging to each other, tapping canes to avoid collisions, make their way. Other clusters of persons who have emotional or mental impairments, are carefully and lovingly chaperoned by attendants through the maze. . . . The sounds are different too! Not the usual socially-accepted constrained buzz as with a crowd entering a concert. There's slurred speech, sometimes loud and atonal . . dissonance . . . some shrill cries of joy or pain....

One could get the impression of a complete dependency or passivity in that group. I can imagine many of the black-tie, fancily-furred group in the lobby remarking: "Aren't they marvelous the way they bear their sufferings. . . .They even seem cheery too!"

What a different vision they would see if they were to attend the study sessions! These same 'cripples' (as disabled persons humorously and derisively use the term society has placed upon them) would shame any able-bodied person or group with their activism - their determination to fight for justice. Not just justice for themselves, but for anyone discriminated against. The intelligence, intensity and honesty with which they approach the subjects of: the dignity of the person . . . the civil rights of persons . . . the problems of un-education, institutionalization (warehousing), and non-employment, are so forceful, so challenging that one feels the presence of Christ the "Being for Others" among them. One hears his challenging words again: "Love . . as I have loved you . . . laying down my life for my friends." Jn. 15, 12 f. One also is conscious of those other words of Christ: "I praise thee Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent, and didst reveal them to little ones." Matt. 11, 25.

References

• Since current exegesis locates the saving 'sacrifice' of Jesus In His entire life-death-resurrection events, and not just His death on the cross, most of the current material on 'sacrifice' is incorporated in the recent books on Christology. Principal among these are:
• Kasper, W. Jesus the Christ. NY: Paulist Press, 1976, pp.215-225.
• Schillebeeckx, E. Christ. NY: Seabury Press, 1980, pp.222-290, 744~835.
• Kung, H. On Being a Christian. NY: Doubleday, 1976, pp. 424~36, 255-277. Senior, Donald. Jesus: A Gospel Portrait. Dayton, Ohio: Pflaum Press, 1975.
• Ratzinger, Joseph. Introduction to Christianity. NY: Herder and Herder, 1970.
• Scheffczyk, Leo and Semmelroth, Otto. "Sacrifice," Encyclopedia of Theology.- The Concise Sacramenturn Mundi. Edited by Karl Rahner. NY: Seabury Press, 1975, pp.1488-1495.
• A book that deals exclusively with the subject is: Young, Frances, Sacrifice and The Death of Christ, Philadelphia:Westminster Press, 1975. It covers the history of sacrifice, the different types, the sacrifice of Christ, and consequences of the doctrine for today.
• The booklet of Zachary Hayes, O.F.M., To whom Shall We Go, is a very clear and readable summation of current scholarship and reflection on the Person of Jesus and His saving work.
• A book containing very scholarly articles, edited by Daniel Durken, O.S.B., Sin, Salvation and the Spirit, Collegeville Press, treats the subject in a variety of studies on various parts of the Old and New Testament.