We Confess

We continue reading the Bible with a passage from Leviticus that lays out the ritual for the Day of Atonement. Carol gives some background for Leviticus with the freed Hebrews wandering in the wilderness for a generation, while God, through Moses, leads them and gives them the laws and rules for living. On the Day of Atonement, the people come together to lay out all their sins for this ritual of atonement. Two goats are chosen, one for sacrifice, and the other to carry off the burden of all those sins that are confessed. As New Testament people, we are influenced by the letter to the Hebrews to see Jesus in the same light as that goat, lifting the burden of our sins from us. Although we know that God forgives us, sometimes we have trouble forgiving ourselves, and it is in confession that we can release that burden to Jesus. Sometimes those sins are individual, and sometimes corporate, and as we gather at the communion table and confess we can release all of them.