Punishment?

Passage: Leviticus 16

In the 8th chapter of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the story’s narrator, Scout Finch, is shocked to wake up to the sight of snow falling outside her window. She lives in Maycomb County, Alabama, a region that hasn’t seen snow in fifty years. Over breakfast that morning the phone rings, and the local phone operator informs them that, given the unusual meteorological circumstances, school will be canceled for the day.

When Scout and her brother Jem go out to explore the effects of the snow on their neighborhood, their surly neighbor, Mr. Avery, shakes a finger at them, and says, “See what you’ve done? Hasn’t snowed in Maycomb since Appomattox. It’s bad children like you makes the seasons change!” Scout concludes, “…if this was our reward, there was something to say for sin.”

Some of the rituals the Israelites are given to atone for their sin seem to lead toward the same conclusion. For instance, the Israelites are instructed to eat the meat of many of their sacrifices. Far from a somber exercise in penance, these sacrifices may well have looked more like family feasts. Then there’s the annual “Day of Atonement”. At the end of his detailed instruction about this rite of repentance, God tells his people,

This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien living among you – because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest…

The Day of Atonement is a day on which the Israelites reflect on their sin; a day on which sacrifices are offered on their behalf. But it is also a holiday – a day of rest.

The atonement rituals God gives his people aren’t designed to hurt them. They aren’t punishment. They’re celebration – a celebration of the reconciliation of God and his beloved people. That being said, these rituals are far from incentive to sin. Instead, they reinforce in the people’s minds the fact that God is on their side. This in turn motivates them to live with increased loyalty and gratitude.