While driving home last night from a Good Friday service, I was thinking about Jesus dying on the cross and about how his dying for our sins superseded the animal sacrifices the Jews previously made for atonement for their sins; and I was thinking about how in many ways neither seems “necessary,” in that why wasn’t just a sincere apology to God ever just enough. I was thinking about how when we sincerely apologize to people, that typically the apology is accepted and reconciliation (at least on some level) occurs—so why wasn’t the same always true of people’s relationship with God.

But then I started thinking about the people of Moses’ day, about how they were always looking for something tangible to worship, because they couldn’t conceptualize the spiritual, and God is spirit. That seemed to be a long-running battle for the Jews, of wanting something they could see in order for them to believe and to worship. So God sent his Son, God in a tangible form, that the Jews could see. I thought about how Jesus served as a liaison, a “bridge,” between God and people, trying to redirect their errs in their interpretations of God’s will to His true will, while giving God a better understanding of all the emotions and experiences we as humans face. And then I thought about how even today people still often primarily only believe that which is tangible, that which they can see, and less so that which is spiritual.

Many years ago I had written out my faith stories that I had shared in a website. During my horrific custody battle, one of the things I had written in my faith stories was used against me in court, my account of an experience with an angel hugging me. My ex’s attorney had the audacity to ask me while on the witness stand whether I had ever seen an angel, and in that moment I knew that my greatest responsibility must always be to God, and so I answered truthfully, “Yes,” which was met with a visual smirk from his attorney. Even today—even today many people still want that which is tangible and fail to realize that God is spirit.

But God tried to connect deeply with people by sending his Son Jesus to earth, God in human form. But even in human form, they rejected him—who was “he” to criticize “them.” It’s all about belief. And it’s about spirit. And it’s about our spirit connecting with His spirit.

So even though animal sacrifices and even Jesus’ death for our sins in some ways seems a higher price than what perhaps would seem necessary, Jesus paid the price that God demanded for our sins. God always desires to be reconciled with us, to connect with us, and the lines of communication with our God are always open through prayer.

Through His forgiveness, we are able to be imperfectly perfected.

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