One of the most heart-wrenching experiences in my life was the day that we needed to put down our old dog, Emma. She was 17 years old, couldn’t stand up, and was in constant discomfort. We laid her out on a towel in the middle of the living room, and the family gathered around to say goodbye. It was a mercy when a vet who made house calls came with the needle and serum. A mercy, yes. For Emma. But for the family, it was excruciating. I stroked her side and held her head, as she fixed her eyes on me, trustingly, as she always had before. She had always found comfort in my touch and my voice. And now, I knew something she did not, and I wasn’t protecting her this time.
My lap was her safe zone when she first came into our house as a puppy, and she had bonded with me in her little nest there. She had always been jealous of the children when they would sit in my lap. One of our favorite entertainments over the years was how she would come up and ever-so-slowly and gently insert herself between the child and me. After a few minutes, the child would give way and sit next to me, while Emma was in her special, secure spot, safe in my lap. It was so endearing. She was “my dog,” and I was her Alpha.
So that day, when the vet administered the shot, I was there with the rest of the family, my hand on her head, offering comforting words. Saying, “Thank you for being a good dog.” You probably know the experience yourself, if you have ever had a pet.
I think part of the depth of pain is feeling like you have betrayed your loyal friend. You have spent that animal’s entire life, teaching it to trust you, having your touch be healing and comforting, and now your emotions cause you to feel as if you are doing the opposite of love.
As I read the first few chapters of Leviticus, I have flashbacks to my soul-wrenching experience with my canine friend. Check out this sampling:
Bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. . . . bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting . . . lay his hand on the head . . . to make atonement for him. . . . kill the bull before the LORD . . . throw the blood against the sides of the altar . . . burn all of it on the altar . . . pleasing aroma to the LORD.
. . . an animal from the herd, male or female . . . without blemish . . . lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting . . . throw the blood against the sides of the altar . . . a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
. . . an animal from the flock, male or female . . . without blemish . . . a lamb . . . lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it in front of the tent of meeting . . . throw its blood against the sides of the altar. . . . burn it on the altar as a food offering to the LORD.
. . . a goat . . . lay his hand on its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting . . . throw its blood against the sides of the altar. . . . a food offering with a pleasing aroma.
. . . the anointed priest who sins . . . lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the LORD. . . . dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part. . . . all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar.
If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally . . . a bull from the herd . . . elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be killed before the LORD. . . . the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it . . . blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar . . . the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.
When a leader sins . . . a goat, a male without blemish . . . lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it . . . it is a sin offering. . . . some of the blood . . . with his finger . . . pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. . . .the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
. . . anyone of the common people sins unintentionally . . . a goat, a female without blemish . . . lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. . . . some of its blood with his finger . . . pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. . . . a pleasing aroma to the LORD. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
. . . a lamb . . . a female without blemish . . . lay his hand on the head . . . kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. . . . some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger . . . pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. . . . make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.
I found myself shuddering with each statement, imagining the awfulness of laying a hand on the head of a year-old lamb (have you seen how cute they are at one year?), while with the other hand, I am slashing its throat, with its blood pouring out. Notice that each of the animals comes from my flock, which means that I have fed it and cared for it every day of its young life. Especially if it is the Passover Lamb, and it has been living in my house for a week, I have definitely spent the last several days earning its trust, and now am betraying that trust.
YOUR ENCOUNTER
What happens with the laying on of hands? Laying on of hands imparts something, and it is far more powerful than we might imagine. It is as if a transfer of spirit is taking place. I place my sins on an animal, or I impart a blessing or gift, as if my spirit travelled through my fingertips and went into the object. Jesus placed His hands on little children and blessed them, or on the sick and healed them, and he promised that His followers would be marked by that same ability. Jacob placed his hands on the sons of Joseph and blessed them. The apostles sent each other off with the laying on of hands and prayer, and they imparted the Holy Spirit to believers through the laying on of hands. Paul told Timothy not to neglect the gift that was given to him at the laying on of hands. There was something from the elders of that church that imparted a spiritual gift to Timothy. Something in their words that declared Timothy’s calling and course.
Now, I’m going to invite you to do something mysterious and personal. I’m going to invite you to behold, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. See the crown of thorns, see the blood pouring down His face, and slowly, deliberately, do this: Place. Your. Hands. Upon His sacred head. Dip your hand into the blood flowing from His wounds. See the moment of His death. This is how He makes atonement for you. He absorbs your sins—every last one—and bears them in His own body on the cross. And they remain in Him into the grave. Buried and gone. For as gruesome as it is, this is the best news you will ever hear.
But here’s even better news: YOUR SINS remained IN THE GROUND when Jesus rose. They are buried, but He is alive.
And so, it turns out, your spirit, your human nature, is symbolically transferred. But His Spirit, transferred to you, will never die! Rejoice! Share your experience with someone, and write about it in your journal.