sacrifice (or happy holidays)

we walked out of our apartment and beheld a pool/stream of blood running down our outdoor staircase. the stench of blood and death were in the air as we heard our neighbors talking while slaughtering a ram/goat/sheep (not sure).

its the eid al adha, or the holiday based around remembering abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son (purported to be ishmael by the locals), and allah's provision of a sacrificial ram in his place. every year, muslims sacrifice a sheep/goat/ram as a rememberance and a duty to allah. they keep 1/3 of the meat for themselves, give 1/3 to extended family, and give 1/3 to the poor.

the parallels are hard to avoid. prophetic voices rang in my ears as i watched the blood sacrifice streaming down the stairs into the street, saying things of the blood of the lamb. but, i think the lesson to be learned here is completely different. its about sacrifice. true sacrifice.

when was the last time you saw a dead thing? or watched something die? or when was the last time you considered what God asked of abraham when he told him to sacrifice the son through whom he had promised to bless and multiply the whole world? and what the significance of blood is?

our brothers in the middle east know what it means to cut the throat of an animal and bleed it out, skin it, carve it, and give it away...not for sport, but for God. they are much closer to understanding what it really does mean to need a blood sacrifice for sin. in the west, we are insulated from this "barbarism". we are comfortable.

this is ishmael (i named him that as a sideways joke). he was sacrificed today. he knew it was going to happen. and he had to be dragged across the street and down the hill to his death. he wasn't willing. he was fighting the whole way.

this made me consider the willing sacrifice that was made for me. it made me consider all of the things in my life that i am unwilling to kill for his sake. it made me want to change, to make this christmas one of sacrifice and life-change instead of consumption and self-service.