Tomorrow is the most holy day of the year for Jews - Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Two days after Sept. 11th.
I find it poignant that Yom Kippur falls just two days after September 11th this year. Atonement for sins in the shadow of the Day of Great Sin when planes flew into towers killing thousands.
The Day of Atonement is inaugurated in the book of Leviticus, chapter 16, as part of the law (code) for Israel. Read the details of the Day of Atonement and you will realize that it is a tremendously bloody ordeal.
Aaron was to take a young bull and slaughter it as a sin offering for himself and his household.
Then he was to bing two goats and slaughter one and the other one became the scapegoat.
The Day of Atonement was a BLOODY MESS for the people of God, wherein the blood of these animals symbolized a needed sacrifice to "pay" for the sins of a people.
This year's Yom Kippur reminds me of the other bloody ordeal, 12 years ago on September 11th. It was not the blood of animals, but rather the blood of thousands of victims of senseless terrorism. Those people's blood did not atone for anyone's sin - it reminded us that atonement for human sin is so desperately needed in our world.
And that reminds me of yet another bloodshed - the ultimate bloodshed on a lonely hill in Palestine. One person's blood shed for the future bloodsheds perpetrated by the very people loved so dearly. This is the story of Jesus, the Messiah.
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