The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, stands at the theological center of Leviticus. But what does this ancient ceremony teach us about our need for forgiveness today? In this reflection on Leviticus 16, we explore the role of the high priest, the two goats, and the powerful symbolism of sin being confessed and carried away. We also consider something that can get lost when we think about forgiveness only as an individual experience: the importance of confessing together and hearing the assurance of forgiveness from others. Through the United Methodist liturgy of confession and pardon, we are reminded that forgiveness is not simply something we know about; it is something we need to hear and receive. Through Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
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Good morning! I hope you’re doing well on this Friday morning. It’s the weekend! I hope you’ve got some good plans in store.
I believe it’s going to be a little colder this weekend. Today, I’m dressed much like that first robin of spring. It’s not my first time wearing one of these quarter-zips. Every middle-aged man like myself seems to love them, but I’m wearing mine today, and that’s a good thing. It keeps me warm, and I’m happy!
It’s going to be a cold weekend, but we have some exciting things happening. Sarah has her senior clarinet recital at Southern Miss, and we’re going down to celebrate her. We’re very proud of her as she nears the end of her academic studies and begins moving toward her career as a teacher in the coming months, including student teaching.
We’re looking forward to seeing our girl perform on Saturday. So I hope you have a weekend that’s just as exciting as ours!
Today, we’re going to look at one chapter of Leviticus: chapter 16, the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur.
This is really the theological center of Leviticus. Remember the structure we’ve talked about. You have the offerings and the covenant life of the people on the outer edges. As you move inward, you encounter the instructions about the priests and their responsibilities. Then you move into the laws concerning holiness and what is clean and unclean.
And right in the middle is the Day of Atonement.
This is the great answer to an important question: How do we, as imperfect people, live in relationship with a God who is holy?
How do we approach a God who is perfect when we know that we are not?
Part of the answer is atonement. We need forgiveness. We need restoration. We need to be reconciled to God.
And that’s a universal human need. It transcends religious traditions. We all know what it means to need forgiveness. We all know what it means to need to make things right.
There’s an interesting idea C.S. Lewis explored when he talked about the story of Jesus as the myth that became fact. The story of sacrifice, redemption, and restoration is something that appears in human cultures and stories throughout history. But in Jesus, Lewis argued, that story becomes a historical reality.
The need for forgiveness and redemption is something we all understand. And the Day of Atonement gives us an important picture of that need.
Let’s walk through the chapter briefly.
First, we see instructions for the high priest.
In verses 3 through 5, Aaron is given specific instructions about how he is to approach God on this particular day.
He must prepare himself. He must wash, make the appropriate sacrifices, and put on specific linen garments.
Interestingly, the garments he wears on this day are much simpler than the elaborate priestly garments we see described elsewhere.
I think that’s significant. This isn’t primarily about the power or prestige of the priestly office. It’s about approaching God with humility and recognizing the need for atonement.
The high priest is coming before God on behalf of himself and the people.
Then we encounter the two goats.
This is one of the most interesting parts of the entire chapter.
Two goats are brought before the Lord. One is designated for the Lord, and the other is designated for Azazel.
Now, I want to be careful here. There’s no universal agreement about exactly what Azazel means. Some understand it as a place in the wilderness, some understand it in connection with a spiritual being, and others offer different explanations. The text itself leaves us with some questions.
What we do know is what happens to the two goats.
One goat is sacrificed as a purification offering. Its blood is used in the rituals of atonement.
The other goat is the scapegoat. Aaron places his hands on its head and confesses the sins and transgressions of the people over it. The goat is then led away into the wilderness, symbolically carrying the sins of the people away from the community.
One goat is sacrificed. The other is sent away.
Together, these actions give us a powerful picture of atonement. Sin is dealt with, and the people are given a way to understand that their guilt is being removed.
The rest of the chapter describes the completion of the ceremony.
Aaron first makes atonement for himself and his household. He then enters the holy place and carries out the prescribed rituals using the blood of the offerings.
The sanctuary itself is purified, and the sins of the people are addressed.
Afterward, Aaron removes the linen garments, washes, and puts on his regular priestly garments again. The person who led the scapegoat into the wilderness must also wash before returning to the community.
There are a lot of rituals and details here. But when we step back, we see the larger purpose: the Day of Atonement provides a way for the entire community to acknowledge its sin and receive the assurance of forgiveness and restoration.
And that’s where I want to spend the rest of our time today.
I think one of the things we Protestants have sometimes done is make forgiveness almost entirely an individual experience.
Now, there’s something right about emphasizing that we can go directly to God. We don’t have to go through a priest to be forgiven. We can confess our sins directly to God, and God is the one who forgives us.
But sometimes, in emphasizing that individual relationship, we’ve pushed aside the communal nature of confession and forgiveness.
And I think that’s a loss.
Because there’s something powerful about confessing our sins together. There’s something powerful about being able to speak out loud the things that weigh on our hearts and souls.
There’s an old saying in therapy: “Your secrets make you sick.”
I think there’s some wisdom in that.
Sometimes we carry things around inside us. We carry guilt, shame, regret, and the knowledge that we’ve done things we wish we hadn’t done. And sometimes simply bringing those things into the light, acknowledging them, and confessing them is an important part of the process of healing.
That’s part of what we see in the Day of Atonement. The people aren’t simply told privately that they need forgiveness. They participate in a communal act of confession and atonement. They can see the scapegoat being led away, carrying the sins of the people out into the wilderness.
It’s something they can witness. Something they can experience. Something that helps them understand that their sins have been dealt with.
And I think our souls need that.
When forgiveness is only an individual experience, we may miss something important. We miss the opportunity to hear another person speak the words, “You are forgiven.”
We need to hear those words.
That’s one reason I appreciate the liturgy and rituals of the church. They don’t save us. And certainly, they can become rote or routine if we’re not careful. I understand that.
But there’s something powerful about standing together with our community and confessing our sins.
Think about the prayer of confession we use before communion in our church. We acknowledge that we haven’t loved God with our whole heart. We haven’t heard the cry of the needy. We haven’t always lived as God has called us to live.
And I think about the prayers of confession I remember from growing up. In the old Methodist hymnal, we used language about how we bewailed our manifold sins.
That’s old language! But it still speaks to me because it was part of the language of faith I learned as a child.
And then, in our United Methodist liturgy, something happens that I particularly love.
We confess our sins together. And then I, as the pastor, pronounce the words of forgiveness to the congregation:
“In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.”
But if you’ve ever paid attention to the liturgy, you’ll notice that the congregation then says those same words back to me:
“In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.”
That’s beautiful.
We’re not saying that I forgive you or that you forgive me. God is the one who forgives us. We’re publicly proclaiming and affirming the forgiveness that God has given us through Jesus Christ.
I pronounce those words to you, and you pronounce them to me.
We’re all receiving the assurance of God’s grace together.
And I think that’s incredibly important.
There’s a wonderful quotation from Richard Rohr’s The Ragamuffin Gospel that captures something of this idea:
“Very few of us really believe we’re sinful. So very few of us really believe we’re forgiven. We live a life of pseudo-guilt and pseudo-bliss, never truly experiencing the power of forgiveness.”
I think that’s a powerful observation.
We can spend our lives carrying around guilt without ever really acknowledging it. Or we can pretend that everything is fine without ever truly confronting the ways we’ve fallen short.
The Day of Atonement does both things. It reminds the people that they are sinful and in need of redemption. But it also gives them a way to experience and receive the assurance of forgiveness.
And that’s beautiful.
Because all of us are broken. All of us need redemption. All of us need healing.
And sometimes we need to hear those words from another person. Sometimes we need to hear them from our church. Sometimes we need to hear them from the people who love us.
So today, friends, let me remind you:
You are forgiven.
As Scripture tells us, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You are forgiven in Jesus’ name.
And I hope you can hear those words today. Not simply as something you know intellectually, but as something you can receive deep in your soul.
Through Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
That’s the importance of the Day of Atonement. It’s the center of Leviticus because it reminds us of our need for forgiveness and God’s provision for reconciliation.
Next week, we’ll continue working our way through the second half of Leviticus and see what else this important book has to teach us.
Thanks for being with me today. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you Monday morning