But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used in making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. (Lev. 16:10)
I am giving quite a bit of time to Ron Rolheiser’s latest book: The Sacred Fire. Rolheiser is always challenging when he finds images and twists in sacred scripture which are new to me. For example, he describes the image of the scapegoat as a type of Jesus. Jesus takes upon himself all the filth and guilt of our sins and goes away with that guilt and grime so that we can become new people, no longer disgraced by our sins but now graced by the love of Jesus. He lays down his life for me and for you. This is the doctrine of atonement, something you don’t hear often in Roman Catholic sermons. So far, so good.
Then, Rolheiser, with no warning, declares that the scapegoat of Yom Kippur was traditionally clothed with a purple manle and crowned with a laurel of thorns before being led by a man a dozen miles into the wilderness to be released there. Thus we have a stunning prelude in the old testament to the moment when Jesus is crowned with thorns and vested in a purple robe at his sentencing.
I love all this but I cannot find a reference for it. Rolheiser doesn’t say where he got this information. It seems he expects that the reader knows this. I don’t, though. I did try to find references for this information but I have drawn a blank. I suddenly want to know and appreciate more the sacrifice of Jesus as atonement for our sins, for my sins.
This is one of the reasons that I like Rolheiser. He uses shock and awe sometimes to wake up the reader from the slumber of religious and ritual familiarity.
I will continue to look for more on this and I intend to email Rolheiser and ask for references.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of blood to be received by Faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance he had left the sin committed beforehand unpunished. (Romans 3:25)