Dear Friends
The Day of Atonement, as described in the book of Leviticus, is about purifying the camp from the sin which has infested it. It is not solely about people, else what would it mean that the High Priest was to atone “for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting and the altar,” (Leviticus 16:20) but was a purification, a cleansing, a washing.
Two goats were brought, one as a sin offering, a sacrifice, to be offered to the Lord but the other,
the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness. …
verses 10, 21–22
Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.
The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
We see, as Christians, the sacrifice of Christ as being the fulfilment of Pascha, often called Passover: “For indeed Christ, our Pascha Lamb, was sacrificed for us.” (First Corinthians 5:7) But we also see the sacrifice of Christ as being the Day of Atonement. Whereas the ritual in the Law which came through Moses was to be repeated annually,
This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.
Leviticus 16:34
Christ’s one Sacrifice has eternal effect.
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
Hebrews 10:11–18
But this Man [Christ], after He had offered one Sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,
‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’
then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’
Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
Christ is both goats, firstly He is offered to God as our sacrifice, secondly He is sent out of the camp, outside the city, bearing on Himself the sins of the whole world.
And He Himself is the atonement for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
First John 2:2
For Christ Himself, being both goats, both God and man, both Offerer and offered, eternally reconciles mankind with God.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we celebrate the Great Feast of the Elevation of the Venerable and Life-giving Cross, the means by which our Lord and Saviour established this renewed Covenant. Let us come together and rejoice in this Victory: that the power of Death has been destroyed, that we are released from slavery to sin, that idolatry is destroyed for indeed,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
John 4:23
Let us come together to greet our High Priest.
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Hebrews 4:14–16
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
“Most assuredly, I say to you,” Christ tells Nicodemus a few verses before today’s reading, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:5) Yet Nicodemus does not understand: “Are you the teacher of Israel,” says the Lord,
“and do not know these things?
Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”
vv. 10–12
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews and a member of the Sanhedrin, but did not understand. Yet he was not unwilling to learn. Christ, throughout this passage, shows us that Nicodemus was seeking reality, seeking Truth, so gives us this beautiful teaching. The Lord continues immediately with today’s reading, “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.” And we marvel! We marvel not that Christ ascended to heaven, rather that He was willing to descend—descending to the earth to find Adam whom He loves, and not finding him upon the earth descending even to the depths of Hades—that mankind might be restored to our ancient beauty.
Whereas Nicodemus wanted to understand but did not, at least not at this stage, I do not want to understand. I like the message of Life, of forgiveness, of the Kingdom, I like whenever and wherever the Gospel benefits me, so the Lord must demonstrate to me the path by which I must travel to get there.
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Services this week
Friday 12th September
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 13th September
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 14th September
Matins & Divine Liturgy, 9 am
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Online session is via Google Meet: please get indd contact for the details.
Please join us: all are welcome, come and see.
Attending Church
We meet at 3rd URC Scout HQ, Kings Rd, Chandlers Ford SO53 2EY. The Scout hall is behind and to the left of the URC Church. Come and See.
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With love in Christ
Fr Alexander
webenquiry@orthodoxeastleigh.uk