The Protocol of Reconciliation

Somewhere between cheap grace and letter of the law is the path our Creator has charted for us to be at peace with Him and with others. 

Leviticus 1:1-6:7; Isaiah 43:21-44:23; Luke 17:1-4; 1 John 2:1-6

Click here to download a transcript of this podcast: The Protocol of Reconciliation

 

Not long ago I caused offense to a good friend. It happened in a public meeting when I asked a question of the speaker. Although I tried to word my question carefully to avoid offense and misunderstanding, the offense came all the same. My friend was so wounded that she couldn’t help but speak out loudly. At that instant, I and everyone in the room knew that something was wrong, and that my words were the cause.

I was not able at that moment to deal with the offense. Our speaker was already answering me, and when he was done he turned to another question. Nevertheless, a little voice inside my head kept telling me, “You’ve got to make this right.”

There was never a question about dealing with my trespass; I was definitely in the wrong and my friend needed to be made whole. The question was when and how. Since the offense happened in a public forum, it was proper that my corrective action be public as well. That’s why I determined to address the issue as soon as I had the microphone again.

As one of the hosts, I was expected to step in as soon as our guest was finished with his presentation and introduce the next item on the agenda. That gave me the opportunity to acknowledge my error to the group and apologize to my friend. She graciously forgave me, and all was made right.

I hope that I never offend my friend, or anyone else, again. However, the probability is that at some point someone will find something I say or do disagreeable and take offense. It might be that their offense is not because I have done something wrong, but because I have done something right and they don’t like it. If so, then there is little I can do to fix the problem. However, it’s just as likely that I will be in the wrong, and if so it’s up to me to go through the protocol of repentance and reconciliation. We learn that from Messiah Yeshua in teachings such as this one Luke recorded in his gospel:

Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

Luke 17:1-14 NKJV

As always, Yeshua was expounding on principles God first explained through Moses. The Torah is filled with instructions about how to make things right with God and with other people, but we tend to get bogged down in the details and miss the principles behind them. The first chapters of Leviticus, for example, contain instructions for the various offerings the priests are to present to God on the altar. If we’re not paying attention, we’ll miss the fact that everyone among God’s people of Israel at some point is required to bring an offering. The priests present the offerings on the altar, but it’s the people who bring them. There are designated sin offerings for the priests and leaders, for common people, and for the congregation as a whole. The context of these offerings is in atonement for something done unintentionally or in ignorance – in other words, an offense that happens by mistake, like the one I caused for my friend.

The principle is that offenses must be made right both with God and man. Leviticus establishes a protocol for this, of which the offerings on the altar are only one part. The altar protocol will be reestablished when there is a new Temple in Jerusalem, but it’s as yet unclear whether it will be only for Jewish people, or for anyone who wants to bring an offering. Even so, the protocol still applies to everyone, and especially to all who are included in the Commonwealth of Israel, both Jews and Greeks, as Paul says.

Lest there be any doubt, compare these instructions from Moses with Yeshua’s teaching. It might help to pay attention to how much, or how little, is said about bringing a sacrificial offering:

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby—if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty.”

Leviticus 6:1-7 ESV

We Christians know a little about atonement, or propitiation, as in Messiah Yeshua “is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Yes, Jesus paid it all, as the hymn says, but we still have the responsibility to do our part. The protocol of reconciliation isn’t simply a ritual God created, but a mark of our obedience and maturity in him.

 

Cover photo by mark tulin, Palm Springs, California, July 27, 2021, on Unsplash.

Music: "Song of Glory,” The Exodus Road Band, Heart of the Matter, 2016.