Leviticus 16:23-28: a reflection

23“Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting, and shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. 24Then he shall bathe himself in water in a holy place, put on his garments, and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. 26“He who lets the goat go as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. 27The bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp; and they shall burn their skins, their flesh, and their dung with fire. 28He who burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

In the Day of Atonement ritual, the bodies of the sin offerings, the bull and the goat whose blood had been brought into the Holy Place to make atonement, were carried outside the camp and burned there. The sin offering, having borne the people's sin symbolically, was taken outside the community, away from the dwelling place, and consumed. It is a detail easy to overlook, but the New Testament sees deep meaning in it.

The letter to the Hebrews draws the connection: the bodies of these sacrifices were burned outside the camp, and so Jesus also, to sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Jesus was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem, outside the camp, bearing the sin of his people, just as the sin offerings were taken outside and consumed. The ancient ritual foreshadowed the place and the meaning of the cross: the sin-bearer, carrying our sin, taken outside, so that we might be made clean.

That gives this obscure detail a moving depth. What the sin offerings pictured, Christ fulfilled: he bore our sin and suffered outside the gate to sanctify us by his own blood. And Hebrews adds a call: let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the reproach he bore, willing to be identified with the one cast outside for us. When you consider the cross, remember that Christ went outside the gate, bearing your sin, to make you clean. And be willing to go out to him, to belong to the one who suffered outside for you, wherever that identification leads.

Lord Jesus, as the sin offerings were carried outside the camp and consumed, so you suffered outside the gate, bearing my sin, to make me clean by your own blood. Thank you that what that ancient ritual pictured, you fulfilled, taken outside, bearing my sin, so that I might be sanctified. Help me never to take lightly the place and cost of your cross. And give me the willingness to go out to you, to be identified with the one cast outside for me, to bear the reproach you bore rather than clinging to my own comfort or standing. You went outside the gate for me; help me belong wholly to you.