Have you ever made a sacrifice? My parents sacrificed so that I and my brother could be successful, go to college, have a good life. To sacrifice of course means to give up something and they gave up having fancy things, better homes, so that their sons could have a chance to be successful.
As you consider what you have sacrificed, think of this as a natural response to the needs of others, those close to us especially. What can be sacrificed? Well, just about anything, but it has to have the consequence of self-denial. It is not a sacrifice if you give up your seat at a meeting for example and then take another seat. If you give up that seat and you have to stand for the entire meeting, that is a sacrifice.
It is also not a sacrifice if you have two of something and you give one away. That may be generous or even incredibly generous, but it is not a sacrifice, you still have enough. A sacrifice always means you do without, not just that you have less. So, think of this: what have you sacrificed? And for whom? And, if you have, was it worth it?
Scripture talks about making sacrifices. The Temple was the place in the early days of the people of Israel. Before that, Abraham in the wilderness with Isaac, that was going to be a tremendous sacrifice. In war, many have made the “ultimate” sacrifice of their lives to save others or the sacrifice of a healthy body so that others might not be injured. These are sacrifices that represent doing what is best for another, without considering the cost to oneself.
The sacrifice God made was to give up being God and to become Jesus. God did it because God saw the need of others and that is what mattered. Interestingly, it really doesn’t have to do with dying so much as giving up the privilege of never having to die. The sacrifice of the Cross was just that, giving up being God and, choosing human instead. The Eucharist is the celebration of God becoming human, body and blood, totally human.
We are taught to present ourselves as “living sacrifices”. What does that mean? That we die? And what are we doing without that we need? We die to ourselves, we give up what we think is best for us and choose another path. And, that path has no guarantee that we will get anything in return. If it did, then it would not be a sacrifice.
Too many Christians do not understand sacrifice. When bad things happen, they say “why me God?” Or “why is God punishing me”? But, you know what they never do? When all of the good things of life happen to them they never ask “why me”? To be a mystic is to always ask why me? When there is a beautiful sunrise, a mystic thinks, why has God honored me with this sight? This is living a life of sacrifice, to give up what I think I want and need and risk it all on a life that may or may not be fun, happy, or easy.
So, let’s risk it each day. Let’s sacrifice getting our way for once and just take the risk that God will accept that sacrifice. And please note, God is not required to accept that sacrifice. Why should we get rewarded for what we are supposed to do every day? To give up our own life without expectation of reward is to sacrifice. That does not sound easy and it isn’t. But it is worth it…..but to know that you have to risk it.
TMM