This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Shadows: A Glimpse of a Scapegoat! (WATCH HERE)
Leviticus 16:21 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.
A scapegoat by definition is one who is made to bear the blame of others. The word is used regularly in our English language and we ourselves have probably experienced a scapegoat or been one ourselves. Whenever someone is blamed for something they didn’t do and treated as the guilty one even though they are not, they are a scapegoat. A scapegoat can be the kid in class that gets blamed and punished for the unruly behavior of others in the class. A scapegoat can be the person who gets fired for the failure of the whole team. Situations come up that from the outside looking in, someone needs to get punished, but no one knows who and so someone is picked and treated as the guilty one.
If this has happened to you, it stinks to be the scapegoat.
Yet we can find it very easy to want a scapegoat or make something or someone else the scapegoat for us. Every time we blame someone or something else for wrong we do, we are really trying to find a legitimate scapegoat.
We are uncomfortable with sin and the guilt it creates. We want to get rid of it because we don’t want to deal with it or feel it. So what is our answer? We blame someone.
This tactic really started in the Garden of Eden when God approached Adam for eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam responded, (Genesis 3:12) “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Adam didn’t want to admit he was at fault too. He was looking for somewhere to transfer his guilt and appropriately blame for his sinful behavior. Eve was no different. When God approached her, she said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” In other words, “the devil made me do it.”
Taking personal responsibility for our sins is so hard. The natural response is to blame Satan or blame someone else. I suppose one could minimize the seriousness of their sin also, but the goal is to get rid of the sin and the guilt it creates.
So do these tactics work? Does it work to blame someone else and claim to be the victim of someone else’s behavior? Perhaps for a very short time, but the reality nags at your heart because deep inside, you know that blaming someone else doesn’t really get rid of the issue.
That’s where Jesus as our Scapegoat comes in.
In fact, we don’t have to sneak our sins onto Jesus or forcefully put them on him, the Lord himself lays on him the sins of us all. The Lord himself is willing to take our sins and transfer them to Jesus.
Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
The impact of this is profound. When we blame someone else, we know we still did something wrong. When we minimize sin, we know we are fooling ourselves. When we blame the devil, we know it really is our fault. However, when our sin is placed on Jesus, guilt is gone. The sin is not coming back because it is fully given over to Jesus to pay for. Our blaming is a pseudo transfer. We just think the sin is gone, but it really isn’t. When the Lord lays our sin on Jesus, it is gone from us onto him.
So forget the blame games and pseudo solutions for guilt. The only place where sin can be placed for a true solution is on our scapegoat, Jesus Christ.
Apply: What sin have you blamed someone else for and never really owned or confessed. Stop blaming someone else and place it on Jesus and let him carry it away!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your grace that takes our sin and lays them on Jesus. Jesus thank you for being willing to be my Scapegoat and take the blame and punishment for my sins. AMEN.