Beyond the usual reaction of awe at the size and scale of the structures and the engineering marvels they are, I was also struck by some cross-cultural similarities between Mayans and what I know of ancient near eastern religion. Although the names differ, central to both cultures were deities and rituals that seemed very similar. Sky gods and earth goddesses, those associated with the sun and with the moon, again gods and goddesses respectively. Ancient Canaanite religion was, at its essence, a fertility cult as was that of the ancient Mayans. The practice of cutting oneself with the thought that the blood will induce the god to action was known by the ancient Mayans, and apparently by the ancient Canaanites. (see I Kings 18:28) This must have been a very messy and unsanitary practice, not to mention noisy, and puts into perspective our usual modern worship concerns about sermons being too long or music too loud. But I digress...Common, as well, was the notion of sacrifice - the shedding of blood of animals and, in some cases, humans. The practice of sacrifice was also part of ancient Israel's temple worship (the human part excepted.)
But what is sacrifice? I have not looked up the word in a dictionary (online or paper), but when we use the word generally we mean the giving up of something valuable for some good purpose. In the case of ritual sacrifice this is certainly true. The sacrifice of the animals was done to appease the gods, or induce them to send rain and increase the fertility of the earth. Even taken out of the context of religious cult, we speak of making financial sacrifices to achieve some other good end, or even of sacrificing our lives to spare the lives of others.
In the case of ritual sacrifice, however, the notion seems to be that the god or goddess consumes the things sacrificed. Or at least that appears to be a common understanding. But an understanding which, for the people of Israel, was corrected. In Psalm 50 we read:
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fulness are mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
This is, perhaps, a little confusing if one looks back a few books of the Bible to Leviticus where there are clear instructions to sacrifice bulls and goats as well as grain and wine. There's nothing more frustrating than a deity who changes the rules on you part way through the game.
But are the rules indeed changed, or have we missed the point of sacrifice? The Levitical code always instructs the people to sacrifice the best - the unblemished cattle, the first fruits. That's the "valuable" part of the sacrifice. Sacrifice always costs us something, or else it is not sacrifice. But I am not sure that the point, even in Leviticus, is that God is hungry. The fact that the best is asked is, maybe, an indicator of the real point of sacrifice. To give the best bull is to trust that there will be more good bulls. To yield the first fruits is to trust that there will be second and third fruits for us. Sacrifice for us, then, is a reminder not to trust in our stuff - our goods and chattel - for security. In yielding this to God we are saying that we trust him to provide - not ourselves.
This is one reason why our giving, charity, tithing should always be first, rather than out of what we have left over at the end. It is an act of trust toward a God who will provide. Does God need our stuff? Does he eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Does he buy lattes at Starbucks or need a new coat for winter? He needs nothing and provides everything.
Sacrifice to God is not about appeasing, but about trusting the one who provides.
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