LESSONS OF THE SCAPEGOAT

Leviticus 15:1-16:28; Mark 7:1-23; Psalm 40:11-17; Proverbs 10:13-14

“The other goat, the scapegoat chosen by lot to be sent away, will be kept alive, standing before the Lord. When it is sent away to Azazel in the wilderness, the people will be purified and made right with the Lord.”

“Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’  For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition. Then he said, ‘You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.’”

“As for me, since I am poor and needy, let the Lord keep me in his thoughts. 
You are my helper and my savior.  O my God, do not delay.”

There is more than one way to die, and there are worse things than physical death.  Isolation is both a way to die and can be worse than physical death.  Make no mistake: isolation is very different from being alone.  One can be alone yet not isolated, and one can be isolated in a crowd.  Regardless of how it occurs, though, little is worse than being isolated by our sins and left in a desolate place to wander without companionship, guidance or solace.  The irony is that, sometimes, our sin is found in our very religiosity, and it is our sense of spiritual superiority or immunity which condemns us to the life of “dead men walking.”

Jesus’ death did not relieve me or any of us from personal responsibility for sin.  Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins, but my sins sent Him to the Cross as surely as if I had been the Roman guard who nailed Him there.  Any refusal to admit that, or blaming others instead, only separates me from the Body of Christ and condemns me to wander in isolation.  In fact, my reluctance to admit my own role in Christ’s death also separates me from the grace His death purchased for me!  That’s why Jesus made no bones about it: making others our personal scapegoats unwittingly makes us the most unfortunate goats of all!

Christ had no tolerance for those who misused what they claimed was God’s law to make spiritual scapegoats of others.  We should not tolerate the tendency to elevate ourselves at the expense of others any more than Jesus did.  It would be helpful if we started by refusing to blame others for our own shortcomings.  Jesus cannot, will not clean up anything we refuse to see as dirty.  And what He does not clean – we may rest assured! – eventually will leave us alone and isolated.  

Yes, the secret to success IS knowing who to blame.  But we don't need to look very far....