Obedience, Not Burnt Offering

By Fr. Tom Lam, March 2010

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever noticed that when Hollywood makes a movie that is based on a book, they have to streamline the narrative into a two-hour running time?  And in the process, they have to cut out a lot of the rich details from the original text that gave the story so much meaning and depth?

Well, that’s how I feel about what the secular world has done to the whole practice of making sacrifices during Lent. The world has somehow watered down the practice of Lenten sacrifices into giving up soft drinks, our favorite television show, or that iced Venti green tea latte.

So as we embark on this new Lenten season, I thought it would be worthwhile to remind ourselves of the true reason why we make sacrifices. After all, it is in our human nature to make sacrifices.

Man has been making sacrifices to God as early as the time of Cain and Able, the first children of Adam and Eve. And even then, Scripture teaches us that there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to make sacrifices.

Remember, Able offered the best firstling of his flock, and that sacrifice was pleasing in the eyes of God, while Cain’s offering of fruit of the soil was not so pleasing to God.¹ That was why Cain grew jealous of Able and eventually committed fratricide. 

This theme of offering sacrifices the right way as opposed to the wrong way appears throughout Scripture.

Remember the poor widow who deposited the two small coins vs. the rich people who put in large sums of money in the temple treasury? Jesus said: “This poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury.”²

Or the time when God rejected the burnt sacrifice offered by King Saul. No? Well, the prophet Samuel had to remind King Saul that to God, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”³

If obedience is what God prefers, then why has man, since the beginning of time, been placing on the altar of sacrifice the flesh of animal as offerings to God?

The answer has to do with the Incarnation, the reason why Jesus took on our human flesh. The Son’s obedience to the Father’s Will resulted in the Incarnation—the Son taking the flesh of humanity so that He can place His human flesh on the altar of the Cross as the perfect sacrifice to God the Father.

The Passion of Christ is the perfect sacrifice because it is the perfect act of obedience. And so, when we conform our will to the Will of the Father, we can offer our act of obedience, which is grafted onto the Son’s gift of Himself to the Father.

You see, when you unite your sacrifice to Jesus’ sacrifice, it gives flesh to the act of our obedience, which, when placed on the altar of God, becomes a fitting sacrifice to God. 

So, if you decide to “give up” something for Lent, let it be for the right reasons. Whatever you do, whatever you give up, make sure that it is a fitting sacrifice in honor of the “Supreme Good”, who is God. 

And as you go along your Lenten journey (these five weeks of Lent), don’t forget, each Sunday during the Offertory at Mass, when those among us in the congregation come forward to the altar to present the bread and wine to be consecrated during the Eucharist, don’t forget to offer yourself, your life, and your sacrifices, and present them to be included in the sacrifice of the Mass.

That is when the Sacrifice will be transformed into flesh—into the Body and Blood of Christ.