Jesus did not have to die. Our Father did not require Jesus to die. Nor did He require us to die. Our Father was not so angry with us that He needed to pummel the life out of Jesus instead of pummeling the life out of us. That is not love. That is torture. Death in all its forms is torturous. Torture is not the consequence of our bad choices. Every choice comes with its natural consequence, not a contrived punishment, a natural consequence.

Jesus came to teach us how to live. Jesus came to show us the personification of His Father’s character. Jesus came to show us how to be love.

I believe that animal sacrifice was instituted to prevent humans from selfishly killing each other to seek favour from the hollow gods whom they created because of the deception of the enemy of Love. And we might ask why God never told people that animal sacrifice was an ineffective ritual. I believe that He did.

Hosea chapter 6, verses 4-7:

“O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord. “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.

I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces— to slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light.

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust.
Hosea 6:4-7 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Hosea%206:4-7&version=NLT

And if He said it once, I am positive that He said it before, since, and over and over again. But we do not listen.

Therefore because He speaks to us and interacts with us in language that He knows we will understand, He allowed sacrifice for a while. And maybe knowing that the horror of the brutal murder of His innocent Son, Who perfectly lived love, would forever stand as the best example of the horror of blood sacrifice, They allowed His death to be, knowing that Jesus would be resurrected. Humanity has never simply done what we are told is best.

Truth is God’s only weapon. The truth cuts through our brokenness with divine accuracy, and allows love to be born and to mature in us, if we let it be so.

For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish, but would have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved.
John 3:16-17

To be honest, I don’t even know if I believe that God instituted the sacrifice of animals. This is a conversation that we shall have, maybe.

Do animals fear us? Do animals typically look at us with fear and terror, if we have not terrorized them?

Something does not compute.

May we begin to learn how to live in love. May we begin to embrace truth, truth-telling, and truth-tellers in our lives. All in love.