But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. – Hebrews 9:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 8, 2018): Hebrews 9

Nelson Mandela had a great definition of a saint. Referring to himself he states “I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” For me, that might be the perfect definition of a Saint, someone who refuses to give up. It is exactly what I hope is the legacy that I will leave for those who know me. It isn’t that I have never had struggles and doubts about God, but rather that I refuse to give up – both in my belief with regard to God and my belief with regard to people. I hold tight in the worst moments of my life to the times when I know that God has moved in my midst. But the most that I can hope to be is a Nelson Mandela Saint; a sinner who keeps on trying.

It is also the way that almost all religion is constructed. We are the ones pushing, one way or another, toward a goal. Each religion has its own way of pushing and of appeasing the gods, but what we strive to be is the community of those who keep on trying and not a community of those who have already arrived.

In Judaism, that method of recognizing that we have failed but that we are still trying was symbolized by the Jewish High Priest entering the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. The Holy of Holies was probably the most restricted place on earth. Only one person could ever enter this section of the Tabernacle or, later, the Temple, and he (yes, it was always a he) could only enter into that space once a year as part of the Yom Kippur celebration. Ancient rabbis remind us that this was not an opportunity for fellowship with God. It was not a chance to explore the small room or to give it a good cleaning. The entrance of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies was a get in and get out proposition. And the reason for that was that the people believed that if the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies without the proper sacrifice and attitude, he would be killed by God. Because only the High Priest was able to enter the room, and he could only enter it once a year, the other priests would tie a rope around his ankle before he entered the Most Holy Place. If he died while he was in the room, the other priests could use the rope to retrieve his body. And if the High Priest stayed too long in the room, the waiting priests on the outside of the room would believe that he was dead. And so the High Priest did not linger in the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement, he entered, did what was appropriate, and left the room.

But maybe the most important part of the Yom Kippur Celebration was that it was for the sins committed in ignorance. Other sin offerings were presented for the sins that the priests and the people had knowingly made, and other confessions that were necessary for the faith. But there was always the feeling that the people didn’t quite measure up, and so there needed to be a yearly accounting for the sins that we didn’t even know that we had committed. This was the heart of Yom Kippur.

For the Christian, every day is our Yom Kippur because we understand that the blood of Christ covers us moment by moment. It is the blood of Jesus that the ancient High Priests lacked, and so they had to continue the same action year after year. But as Christians, as long as we are sinners who keep trying, we are saints – and we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are Nelson Mandela saints.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10