Wednesday-Borrowed

Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.

Hebrews 9:25

I’d bet my last dollar that we all know someone like this. Someone who came and asked to borrow something. They were in need and came to you for help. The kind of help where they asked to borrow something of yours.

When you think about it, it sort of makes sense. After all, does every household need a carpet cleaner? It’s not something you use every week like a vacuum cleaner. Isn’t one inside your circle of family and friends enough that you can borrow? Or you can always rent one from a store.

Probably if you’re like most normal people, you don’t really think about this question. But there are people out there who do. There are local, national, and worldwide organizations and associations that have a strong opinion about this[1].

The best example of this in our family is pretty simple. Someone asked to borrow our rug shampoo machine, and we immediately said yes. So, with a smile on our face and a song in our heart, we let them borrow it. They kept on borrowing it. They’ve borrowed it to the point that if possession is nine-tenths of the law, they own it.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. They continued to borrow things from us and others. They borrowed tools. Gardening equipment. Brushes, rollers, and painting supplies. The list goes on and on.

One of the keys of borrowing is that it’s supposed to be temporary. There’s a start and then there’s an end to borrowing. You borrow it and then you return. Borrowing is supposed to be like ocean tides. There’s low tide and then there’s high tide. The water goes out and then returns.

When the writer of this letter to the Hebrews describes sacrifices, he used the idea of borrowing. I bet you never thought about it like this, but that’s what they did. Priests borrowed the blood of animals for all the different sacrifices. The blood of bulls, sheep, goats, and birds were used.

Nowhere in the sacrifices that Moses wrote out was there a single word about a priest bringing their own blood. They always, always, always borrowed blood from an animal. All the sacrifices for sin needed borrowed blood.

But it didn’t end there. The sacrifices that the priests made for sins were temporary. Over and over again, they had to kill an animal, borrow it’s blood, and make the sacrifice that God had told them about through Moses.

There wasn’t anything permanent about those sacrifices. They never truly took care of sin. After all, if they really took care of sin, then you’d never have to do it again. A sacrifice that pays for sin should be done only once. There’d be no need to keep doing it over and over again.

Jesus is different than every other priest or religious leader in the history of the world. They all have to keep making sacrifices over and over again. They bring their borrowed sacrifice someplace special, pray some prayers, and follow some ritual. And then after a while, they do it all over again.

Does this sound frustrating to you? Doing the exact same thing each and every time. Over and over offering the same sacrifice. Asking forgiveness over and over. Get some forgiveness, sin, and then offer a sacrifice. And then do it again. And again. And again.

Late one night, I was in the Magic Kingdom outside Orlando, and it was empty. So, to take advantage of this most unusual set of circumstances, I went to my favorite ride; Space Mountain. There was no line, so I walked right up and hopped in. The ride didn’t disappoint. It was as exciting as ever. Just like I remember it.

As I got out of my spaceship, a most unusual thought popped into my head. Why not do it again? Normally it takes a lot of time waiting, but not tonight. So, I ran out the exit and right back through the entrance. The second ride was just like the first. I laughed my head of.

So, why not a third time? Yes, I went on Space Mountain a third time. And a fourth time. And a fifth time. And a sixth time. And a seventh time. By the end of the eighth ride in a row, I knew exactly what was going to happen. When the ride was going to turn right. Left, Go into a corkscrew. This great and exciting ride had lost its thrill all because I did it over and over.

Maybe that’s where you are with God. Doing the same thing over and over, but nothing changes. You just can’t stop what you’re doing. Or you can’t do what you should be doing. We can’t fix ourselves. Only Jesus can. His once-and for-all sacrifice for sin can forgive everything. Make us new. Bring us into his family. And he does this one time. No more borrowing to sacrifice. He brings himself for you and me. And that changes everything.

Noodling Questions

• How easy/hard is it for you to borrow something? Explain.

• When you fix something, why do you want it to last?

• Explain why doing the same thing over and over is so frustrating.

[1] Association of Rug Care Specialists, National Carpet Cleaners Association, Association of Rug Care Specialists, Low Moisture Carpet Cleaners Association, International Sanitary Supply Association, Vacuum Cleaner Manufacturers Association