Once for All

This is the best time of year to visit Nepal. The rainy summer season has just ended leaving the terrain plush and green; yet the temperatures are still warm and comfortable. We are also in the middle of the largest Hindu holiday, Dashain, with today and tomorrow being the most important days. Because of this holiday, traffic is minimized and people are in a festive mood. We are able to see the culture in "full-bloom" so to speak. In some ways, it could be compared to someone visiting the United States for the first time during the Christmas/New Year holiday season.

Last night we took the bikes into town. We went to one of the central places for sacrificing and Hindu worship. Everything was heightened because of the holiday. It was an intense experience. As we first pulled up and parked the bikes, we were greeted by this eerie sound of worshipers inside of a massive tent. There was howling, guttural laughs and clanging symbols. A sample (although nowhere near as intense) is below:



Then we walked up to the river that runs next to the temple. This river is believed to be holy. Along the sides of the river are many platforms used to cremate bodies in a ritualistic fashion. The river is literally lined with burning bodies while many more corpses are queued up further back. This produces a repugnant odor that permeates the entire area. However, what is even more shocking is the other activities surrounding this river.
Because it is thought to be holy, people swim, wash and bathe in it. We even saw a woman washing her dishes in it. This river is disgusting -- contaminated by the ashes of countless corpses and many other repulsive contents.

Elsewhere along the river there are mini temples where sacrifices are offered to various gods. There is blood puddled around along with fruit and other various offerings. It is a lot to take in and much of it seems quite bizarre to our "civilized" Western eyes. However, I believe that the idea of sacrifice appears in most religions. Whether it is animals, foods, labors, our will, our minds, or any other offering; the concept of giving to the gods to find favor and appease them shows itself.

As Christians, I think it is easy for us to "sterilize" this idea. We may tend to think of it in a symbolic or metaphoric way. But, our Old Testament history enumerates countless sacrifices very similar to the things we witnessed. And our own faith is rooted in a real sacrifice. Christ had to come to earth as a real man and endure a real, bloody, agonizing sacrifice on our behalf. Because His was the ultimate sacrifice, it brought an end to all other necessary sacrifices.

"And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." (Heb. 10:11-14)

We must never forget that the very object of our faith is the sacrificial work of Christ. As Americans, most of us are insulated from morbid and bloody sights such as the ones described above. But real blood was shed on our behalf resulting in a real death in our stead. We should thank God that this sacrifice was complete, once for all; but let us not forget that it was a real and true sacrifice, without which we would be lost forever.