Sinful Donkeys and Redeeming Lambs

Exodus 34:19-20

Today we're going to look at a story of redemption in the Old Testament. Moses has just come down from Mount Sinai for the second time (the first time he got angry and smashed the Ten Commandments). He has not just the ten rules, but a bunch of other laws, which are essentially an instruction manual on how to be Jewish. One of these ancient Hebrew laws: the law of redemption, an odd rule that is essential to understanding how the bible says that our sins our forgiven.

"All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep." God established a concept with Abraham that has endured to the modern church called a tithe - a tenth of what we grow, earn, or make belongs to God. We offer it to him as a gift and a reminder that everything we have is not really ours; we are simply caretakers of what God has given to us.

Check out Genesis 1:28. "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." God creates man in his image and gives him the assignment of subduing and caring for the world. God gives us money to manage, families to care for, neighbors to look after, and a world to maintain. Our work is a gift from God. He gives us the brain to think, strong hands and a strong back to work, and created the boss who would be willing to hire us. A tithe is to remind us of this, that what we have is not really our own, everything belongs to the creator. Moreover, if we honor God with the first and best of what we have been given, he promises to bless us a hundred times over. "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need". Malachi 3:10.

One problem with giving a tenth, if you're a goat herder, you can't exactly give God 1/10th of your goat (I suppose you could, but then there would be a bunch of three legged goats). So God makes a different system for animals - the firstborn of cows and sheep are to be offered as a sacrifice to God and the remainder will belong to the shepherd.

Drive by Golden Rule or Saw's on a Saturday and smell the meat smoking. It smells divine, and God apparently likes BBQ too! The sacrificial animal would be roasted, the aroma would make The Lord happy. The sacrifice system sounds weird until you think about just how awesome barbeque is!

But donkeys are different from sheep and goats; people ride them or put them to work rather than BBQ them. So God gives a special instruction for redeeming donkeys: "The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck". Did you catch that? Bam, the gospel straight in the middle of the Old Testament! A shepherd must either redeem the donkey with a lamb or it must be killed.

How is this the gospel? We are like firstborn donkey. Look at what Paul writes in Romans 3:

"None is righteous, no, not one;

no one understands;

no one seeks for God." 3:11

"for fall have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" 3:23

What do we confess during church? "We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone. . .we justly deserve your present and eternal punishment". Humans are sinful donkeys - our job is to care for the world, to spread God's love and give thanks for his blessings, but we do neither. We do not do the good we ought to do and we do the evil we ought not to do.

If you are like me, this is probably a bit difficult to grasp; just how sinful we are. I'm a pretty nice guy, I don't feel like I should have my neck broken. It might help to look at the world - look at the Joseph Konys, the genocides, the murders, the Bernie Madoffs, the liars, cheaters, thieves, the Jerry Sanduskys. The thing to remember when we see this evil is that we all have this murder, violence, and capability in our hearts. Jesus says if we look at a woman, we commit adultery in our hearts, if we think evil thoughts about someone, we commit murder. We should not be surprised by evil we see in the world; we should be surprised by the lack of it - I wonder if the only reason we are still standing is because God honors the prayer we pray: "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Humans work hard at sinning. There is a fancy word for it: concupiscence - which means love of sinning. We do it all day and we dream about it at night. Look at the Ten Commandments that Moses just received. Honor your father and mother. . .not a chance. Don't covet your neighbor's stuff. . .pretty much all we do is think about getting better stuff than our neighbors. Keep the Sabbath - when is the last time you did nothing on a Sunday? Don't have idols - we make ourselves, our things, our loved ones into gods. We love sinning.

When God made his covenant with the Jews; God gave rules for how life should be lived in very specific detail. The rule for firstborn donkeys was that they should be killed unless there was a lamb to redeem them. The rule for sinful people was sin = death, and the people, like the donkey, would have to be redeemed by a sacrificial lamb.

"The wages of sin is death, BUT the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

There is a lamb that redeems us. John the Baptist, the first time he sees Jesus, exclaims: "behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". Peter explains: "you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot". 1 Peter 1:19. John in Revelation 5 describes a scene in heaven where the elders and creatures and thousands of angels sing songs of praise to the lamb who was slain: 
"Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. 
 Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 
 A donkey could be redeemed by a lamb; we are redeemed by the lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

My favorite explanation about Jesus as the lamb is a quirky little story in Acts. Ethiopian Eunuch in the book of acts was reading a passage in Isaiah when Philip shows up: "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth". Philip asks if the Eunuch understands what he is reading, the man says no, and they have a conversation about the good news of Jesus.

Philip tells the Eunuch how Jesus came as a redeeming lamb to take away the sins of the world. He was God's son sent to earth on a mission, to die for our sins. He called the disciples, including Philip, to follow him. Philip probably told the Eunuch about the miracles and teachings of Jesus. He explained how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the old testament, and how he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. Philip spoke of the despair of the days after Jesus's death and the utter joy when they met him again after the resurrection.

Philip explained that whoever believes and is baptizes will be saved. The Eunuch does believe, he is so fired up when he sees a puddle by the side of the road that they pull the chariot over and Philip baptizes him right then and there. Acts 8:23-40

The Lord gives one last thought at the end of the donkey law. "And none shall appear before me empty-handed". Imagine you were standing at the gate of heaven. The gatekeeper looks at you and asks, "you're empty-handed, why should we let you in?" How would you answer?

Obviously this is hypothetical, there is no get-in-to-heaven test, but one might say something like: "I don't deserve to come in, I'm a sinful donkey and I deserve nothing but a broken neck. But Jesus, the lamb of God, died to redeem me. I come holding Jesus".

That's what we do, we come to God through Jesus and holding Jesus. Our hands are full; not of our own goodness but his, not of our own obedience but his, not of our own power, but his. We come to God holding a birthday present of sorts: the free gift of God, eternal life through Jesus Christ our lord. We come with only what has been given us by Jesus, for only that is enough to satisfy the great giver!

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine".  Isaiah 43:1

Great Name by Natalie Grant
"Jesus worthy is the lamb that was slain for us
Son of God and man you are high and lifted up
All the earth will praise your great name"