scape·goat
[skeyp-goht]noun
I was made the scapegoat recently.
Innocent of wrongdoing, I nevertheless bore the consequences of another's actions.
There were good reasons why I didn't speak up for myself. I took the blame to protect someone vulnerable. Although it was painful to be judged as guilty for something I didn't do, I don't regret it. I care more about my vulnerable friend than I care about myself.
There were good reasons why I didn't speak up for myself. I took the blame to protect someone vulnerable. Although it was painful to be judged as guilty for something I didn't do, I don't regret it. I care more about my vulnerable friend than I care about myself.
The term scapegoat has its origins in biblical history. Once a year, during Yom Kippur, the High Priest would take an innocent animal, a goat, lay his hands upon its head, and symbolically place all the sins of the people upon it.
"He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites-- all their sins-- and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the desert.
The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place."
A thousand years later another scapegoat bowed his head to accept the sins of the world.
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed" (1Pe 2:24).
Have you placed your hand on the head of the scapegoat? Have you confessed your sins before Him and accepted His death on your behalf?
"And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood. Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.
(Hebrews 13:12-13)
Have you?
If you'd like to know more about how to have your sins forgiven and your slate wiped clean, please click here to visit the page, How to Know God.
If you'd like to know more about how to have your sins forgiven and your slate wiped clean, please click here to visit the page, How to Know God.
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Great thoughts this Easter season, Lori. Thanks for sharing it. So many blessings are ours in Christ!
ReplyDelete"If we with ink the ocean fill, or were the sky of parchment made, if every stalk on earth a quill, and every man, a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, if stretched from sky to sky! Happy Easter, Gail!
DeleteThanking Jesus for being our scapegoat, as undeserving as we sometimes are.
ReplyDeleteAnd even from sky to sky could not contain all of our love notes about God!