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Howdy. Now this last week we had Halloween, all right, and if you may remember there were

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plenty of really scary movies that were on at different times. You could be scrolling

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through, okay, and watch any number of really scary movies at different times, all right.

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And I was having a bit of a hard time with the list of movies that are on there. There

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was one where this one person had a boat that skewered her right in the middle of her stomach.

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Oh, it was terrible. And then there was one where this person fell many stories to their

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death. Oh, it was horrible. And one character eaten by hyenas. Oh my goodness. These, the

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movies were terrible. They were absolutely terrible. And that's why I have to stay away

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from the violence of Disney movies. Because if we're just being honest, oh my word, Disney

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movies are violent. They are, oh my word, little mermaid and Ursula over there and the

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boat comes and just gets her, okay. And then there's Gaston with his gigantic chin falling

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to his death. And don't even get me started on Scar over there. Oh my word. And everything

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that's happening. Don't even get me started on Fox and the Hound and Bambi. I am still

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scarred. All right. I'm just saying. And what is so funny about these movies is that in

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so many ways, these are feel good movies. Okay. They are feel good movies. There are

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things where we look back on them and they was like, oh, this or the other. But there

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is a lot inside of them that can oftentimes be hurtful and scary. And yet we're okay with

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it. That's what is so mind blowing about it is that in our minds, we have it in this context

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that we actually feel pretty good about all of them. And the reason why we feel good about

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it is because we know that those characters had it coming. All right. There's this kind

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of this feeling is like, you know, you know that what they've done, it's pretty terrible.

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You're like, yeah, but I know what they've got it coming to them. And what's interesting

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though is how much we were already starting to feel that way before we even got to the

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worst parts that before we even got to the part where Ursula was attacking, you know,

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Eric and Ariel is that even when she made that deal, we already hated her pretty hard.

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Or even before we got to the point where Gaston is attacking the beast is that we still wanted

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him wiped off the map from that movie. And all these times where it's almost like we

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get to this part in the movie where they almost have to put it in there that the main characters

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lives are at stake to give us an excuse to kill off the villain. It's almost like they

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know that we want it. And it's almost like they're giving us an excuse to have it. Because

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that's the reality of where we oftentimes find ourselves as people is that we are constantly

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saying there must be consequences. We are oftentimes thinking of and looking for reasons

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why it is that someone needs to pay a consequence. There was a practice that existed many, many

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centuries the time of Abraham before then after that, where people who had to live near

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each other could not live near each other very peaceably to people to tribes to nations,

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whoever it was that was next to each other. How did you know that they were not going

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to come and attack you in the middle of the night or that they were not going to somehow

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come and destroy your community? How did you know that they were not going to come after

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you when you were not expecting it? And they had to make a covenant, but it had to be a

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covenant that struck the fear of God into somebody. What they would have to do is they

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would take an animal and they would slaughter it, they would butcher it all over the ground.

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And they would have to walk around it because what they were saying to each other is either

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you keep this covenant with me, do not betray me or else this is the fate that you will

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see. Could they have just sat down with a couple of beers and maybe said, hey, are we

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cool? We are cool? Okay, we are cool? All right, I will catch you later. Or maybe they

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could go and do some crafting together or just at some point in time have a popcorn

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social. No, they had to make it very clear. There are consequences if you betray me. We

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don't do the same type of covenanting in today's world, but are we really all that different?

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Are we really all that different because when we feel that someone has betrayed us, no matter

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how big of a betrayal it might be, they've let us down, they've made us feel like they

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weren't there the way we wanted to be. How much does the seething start to set in? And

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how much does the anger start to take over? But in reality, where did this idea of even

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doing this type of covenant even come from in the first place? We see God over there

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having this covenant with Abraham using this to say we are in a relationship with each

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other. But is that really something that God originally came up with? You know, when we

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read the first few chapters of Genesis, and we get to know what happened with Adam and

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Eve and their legacy, you know, we get through the first few parts pretty quickly. God made

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all this stuff. That's awesome. Oh, Adam and Eve, they ate that fruit. Yeah, you probably

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should have gone for the pomegranate instead of the pineapple. But instead, we kind of

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then get to the part of you're going to have to deal with sin. And then we skip those last

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few verses that God had to cover their nakedness with the skins of animals. Adam and Eve, they're

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called to follow after God and instead they decide to go their own route. And now they

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are ashamed of their nakedness. And what has to happen is that they are desperate to have

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it covered. Could you imagine what it is for God that he has made all of these beautiful

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things and these beautiful animals and now to help his children. The first deaths have

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to occur just to give them something to wear. Isn't it amazing how often that while we are

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having to make these covenants is that instead we still look for ways that when we break

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them and we don't want to suffer the consequences ourselves, we look for ways to cover over them

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or even for opportunities to blame others instead. We know many times whenever we have

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done wrong or whenever it is that we should have done something more than what we've already

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taken on. We have broken a covenant and yet what do we want to do? We want to figure out

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why there was an excuse, why there was someone else or something else that there was to blame.

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I'm sure Ursula in her mind was saying I'm just dealing with the contract that we had

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in play. I'm sure Gaston is thinking, oof, you know what, I should be the one with the

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beautiful girl. That person over there, that's a pretty ugly, terrible person, probably needs

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to not be there anymore and now there's even going to be a future movie to help understand

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scars background. Apparently there are so many times and so many ways where we're looking

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for reasons why I'm not the villain even though I'm the one who did something that was wrong.

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But that's the way we conduct our everyday life. We are continually covering what we

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don't want to face and that's also where we end up seeing what Hebrews is talking about

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with the tabernacle today. See, we did not always have churches and the altar and the

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cross hanging from here. When the people of Israel are walking through the wilderness

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and they have this tent that they carry along with them everywhere, this tent had two main

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rooms. There was a front room. This was one that had an altar of incense because you needed

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to burn the incense so you weren't constantly smelling the blood of the sacrifices. A lampstand,

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a menorah to light in the room because it was dark, it had a curtain and a showbread

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table. The showbread being a table where this bread that's there is the presence of God

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because it is then feeding the priests. Even as God feeds us that this bread, the presence

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of God is feeding the people. And all the priests were able to go in and out of that

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room. That room by itself was not something to be worried about. Light your candles, make

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things smell nice. Here's some food, here's some bread, bed, bath and beyond. That's essentially

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what we end up having here in the front room. Nothing to worry about. But there was a second

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room. And it was always there. That room was always there with the Ark of the Covenant

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inside of it. That room was always there with the presence of God. That room was always

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waiting behind the curtain, but you did not go into it. Why? Because if you go into the

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presence of God without the punishment for sin, you would die. Because we continually

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keep going our own route and the punishment is death. And yet we would continue to look

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for reasons and ways that we don't need to be the ones to pay for it. To the point where

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the priest would put blood on his toe so that the very first thing walking in the room was

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blood. So that as soon as God sees someone is coming into my presence, but there was

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blood shed. You don't need to take my own. But it didn't matter how many times an animal

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was killed time and time again. Is that it was never enough? And why? Because the same

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people were still pursuing the same sins and they would never change. It did nothing to

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change who they were. It was just covering over and masking themselves. And that's the

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thing about where we oftentimes find ourselves is this part where we don't want to face

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who we could be. We don't want to face what we know about ourselves. How readily do we

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keep looking for some other way to just mask over it until finally Jesus comes to deal

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with it himself? One of the things that's interesting about Jesus with his gospel lesson

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for today is that as he's speaking to this gentleman and they're trying to figure out

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which is the greatest commandment. Love God, love your neighbor. Absolutely. You should

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do this. And then what does that man say is even greater than all the sacrifices and offerings

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that have been made? Isn't that amazing that if we were to love God and to love our neighbor,

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would there even be a need for sacrifice at all? But you see, instead of being honest,

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instead of the leaders at the time being honest about who they'd been, what they had been,

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how they had failed and how they had struggled, instead, it was easier just to punish one

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person in order to deal with it. Caiaphas, the high priest ends up telling the people

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it's better for one person to die for the sake of all the people. What he didn't realize

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was how true what he said truly was. Is that it was easier? Because then if they didn't

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have to face what they had done and who they were, then could they just go back to the

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everyday life, light their candles, burn their incense and just say, God loves us and we're

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going to move on. But what we end up seeing goes even deeper than that. There was a movie

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that came out, it was a little while back, it was an Adam Sandler movie, Mr. Deeds, probably

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the only Adam Sandler movie that isn't somehow gross. I don't know quite how to explain it

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in the eyes. But in this movie, Adam Sandler plays this character who has inherited this

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large amount of money and he ends up ruining so many things because he has no idea what

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he's doing with it. But what ends up happening is that at the last minute, because he had

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made a deal and this business person was going to take all the wealth, all the riches, fire

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the people from this company, they were going to go in and ruin everything, is that they

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ended up going back and discovering the true will of the person who had passed away and

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found out that Adam Sandler's character was not actually the heir to this kingdom. It

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turned out it was the butler, the servant. And because they discovered at the man's death,

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they discovered who his true heir was, this person was able to fix everything and make

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it right because that will, once it is done and the person has passed away, can no longer

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be changed. And it turns out that's what we end up seeing with who Jesus is. Jesus was

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tired and done with everything that we keep doing. Jesus was coming to end all of the

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sacrifice that there would be no more need for sacrifice ever again. And that there it

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is that he is willing to give himself for the people. But when his life came to an end,

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what was his will? His will was for all of us to have new life. And that's the thing

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about this is that as much as we keep putting all of the blame then on Jesus is that he

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is willingly taken it to end all of the bloodshed. See, that's the thing about this is that Jesus

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is coming to do more than just to end the animal sacrifices, but he has come to change

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us too. How much is it that we end up spending so much of our life and so much of our energy

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trying to figure out who else and what else is to blame? And I'm almost afraid of what's

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going to happen later on this week with whatever does or doesn't happen after Tuesday. And

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how many of you are going to figure out whether or not you should hate me if you can figure

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out how I voted? I'll give you a hint. I ain't telling you. But even more than that is to

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realize this is our world is that we are continually looking for somebody else that we are to blame

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instead of pausing to say we all have been a part of it and that we as people need to

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change because we need to stop figuring out who else it is that is to be sacrificed and

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instead to realize that that old way is done. And with that, I need to teach you a word.

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I need to teach you a word. Apparently the word we already knew what it meant before,

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but there's apparently a new meaning. It's the word basic. Apparently if something is

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basic, if somebody is basic, it means that you've been doing things that are unoriginal.

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You're basically old news. So somebody comes up and says, you're basic. Apparently it's

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saying you're really unoriginal. Like there's nothing that you had to say that's really

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interesting or cool. Did that sound as weird coming from my lips as it felt trying to say

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it? Absolutely. But the problem is the old sacrifices are basic. That way of living in

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this world that needs to be done. We need to be done with it. We are now given a new life

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because Jesus life was taken from him. And his will is that each one of you no longer

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lives by your own thoughts in your own ways, but rather by his spirit because God's spirit

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does not lead us down a path where we continue to blame and to attack and to try to harm others

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hoping that their blood will somehow take care of things. But instead, the spirit that

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leads us and moves us to say, I have sinned and I need to change. So wherever it is that

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you may find yourself today, whatever things that you don't want to go in that other room,

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you don't want to see it. You don't want to acknowledge it is that the curtain is down

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and we are there in God's presence. But when he sees us, he sees the blood of his son.

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And so you don't have to spend your time in fear or trying to avoid it any longer. You

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can look at right in the eye and say, this is who I no longer need to be because God's

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spirit is here to change me and to lead me down the paths that he wants. So may we, whatever

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does happen in the world around us, may we learn how to live with our neighbor, to love

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our God and to be the people that he has called us to be. No more sacrifices. It's finished

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in Christ Jesus. Amen.