Poop and sacrifice

Not trying to be cavalier with my titling conventions; There is, really!!! a connection between these two disparate topics. Give me a few moments to explain and it might make sense.

First, one of the family dogs was experiencing some digestive issues that resulted in a rather, shall we say, ‘soupy’ version of what we’ve come to expect from our trips to the gravel dumping area. The whole matter was complicated by the fact that Teddy is a Maltese Che Zhu with a long haired tail. I guess I don’t need to go into any more graphic detail. Any one with children remembers and knows the noxious duty of cleaning up those that can’t clean themselves. In my book it is a supreme act of sacrifice. And depending on your brain’s ability to desensitize the olfactory the ‘sacrifice’ may stay with you longer than you’d wish…

And secondly, last Sunday the pastor of the church that Toni and I have been attending introduced a new series based on the book of Luke. This series at Mars Hill (marshillchurch.org) will last approximately three years as he goes through the book line-by-line. Pastor Mark Driscoll is supplementing his teaching in this series with video footage which was shot during a recent trip to Greece, Turkey and Israel. It has all the makings to be a great series. You can go to the church website and follow this teaching either by podcast or vodcast.

As Driscoll wrapped up his introduction he reiterated a question that was asked of him upon his return from the middle east: “Did you learn anything new?” His Jewish tour guide offered him some powerful insight and he shared that with us on Sunday. I will do my best to paraphrase this.

One of the many photos that were taken showed two of Mark Driscoll’s children sitting on a stone ‘bench’ with holes cut into the top and front edges of it. It was long bench and had a dozen of these openings. This was the communal lavatory of the time. No walls, no doors, no place for secret liaisons by Senators from Idaho. And consequently, no toilet paper, so there was a trough right in front of the ‘seat’ where one could scoop the running water there to cleanse oneself.

Bear with me. I’m getting to my point.

One of the means that the poor had to earn money was to stand in front of those (how do I say…) “doing their duty” was to offer to cleanse the (augh!) ‘privates’ of their customers. This was done with a sponge stuck to the end of a stick which was inserted into the hole as the patron was seated. Obviously there was an issue with using and reusing this sponge so these business people had to do their best to sterilize the sponge. A vinegar mixture was used…

“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land  until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, "This man is calling Elijah." And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him." 50And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and  yielded up his spirit.” Matthew 27:45-48 (ESV)

“And at the ninth hour Jesus  cried with a loud voice,  "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Elijah." And someone ran and filled a sponge with  sour wine, put it on a reed  and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." And Jesus uttered a loud cry and  breathed his last.”  Mark 15:34-37 (ESV)

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19: 28-30 (ESV)

“They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” Psalm 69:21 (ESV)

And HERE was Driscoll’s point: That between Jesus stating “Father, forgive them” and “it is finished”, a shitty sponge was shoved into the mouth of our Savior. After offering his own body as a sacrifice for us all, his tongue was left with the taste and his nose was filled with the stench of our uncleanliness.

Cleaning up my dog’s butt and having that smell waft into my nostrils was bad enough. But the power of Driscoll’s sermon was dialed up just a touch more when I thought of this new insight and detail of one more thing that Jesus endured to “clean me up”.

What an (even more) amazing grace! I am so thankful for his kindness, mercy, patience and forbearance on my behalf.

To listen to last week’s sermon, go to http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke/eyewitness-to-jesus

 

Peace