“He Takes Away the First to Establish the Second” by Melanie Rigney (@melanierigney)

“He Takes Away the First to Establish the Second” by Melanie Rigney (@melanierigney)

Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

… when he came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings, you took no delight. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God.’” First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. (Hebrews 10:5-9)

Here am I Lord; I come to do your will. (Psalm 40:8a and 9a)

But he said to them in reply, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:33-35)

Piety

Master Chef, I offer my obedience and surrender, the key ingredients You need from me.

Study

I was talking with someone recently about my inability to veer from the directions in any recipe. “Oh,” she said, “you must be a baker.” I wrinkled up my nose a bit and wondered whether I should be offended because, yes, I’m a good baker, but I also am more than competent on the art of cooking in general.

“In baking, it’s important you measure exactly and follow directions,” my friend

explained. “There’s a big difference in the result between a teaspoon of baking powder and a tablespoon, and between self-rising flour and all-purpose flour. But with cooking, there’s not so much difference between a cup of carrots and a cup and a half of carrots in the result, or between walnuts and peanuts other than the taste.”

Maybe that’s why I feel empathy for those who were bewildered by the concept that sacrifices and offerings were not what the Lord desired once His only begotten Son had died for all. They were used to knowing that Sin X required the sacrificing of X number of goats, lambs, or doves. There didn’t have to be a lot of thought given to what wrong had been done and how to turn away from it in the future; those types of sacrifices are more about ritual and process.

Through Jesus, God showed us He’s less of a baker and more of a master chef, maybe along the lines of those on “Chopped,” that reality show where contestants are given a strange list of ingredients to turn into a mouth-watering course in just a few minutes. It doesn’t ruin His recipe for us if we fail more or less often than the person next to us, or if our sins are more or less egregious. Rather, He manages to make something amazing every time with the flawed, confused mess of humanity each of us brings to Him. All we have to do is surrender our will, and be willing to be shaped in the way most pleasing to Him.

Action

Identify a sacrifice you are offering the Lord out of routine, not out of sincere repentance. 

Image credit: stevepb, https://pixabay.com/en/kitchen-scale-weighing-baking-532651/.