Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: YEAR (05/17/18)
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TITLE: Getting It Right | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
05/21/18 -
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It sounded like an honor at first. Dressing up. Prestige. Decision-making powers. Millions of people depending on my every word. Watching my brother sacrificing time and time again. Realizing my sons were going to walk in my shadow and learn every part of the role I had.
My own time to sacrifice was coming. The smell of roasting meat filled my nostrils and the benefits of leadership gave me the courage to step up one more time. Acrid smoke stung my eyes and tears involuntarily flowed down my cheeks and into my beard.
The tears reminded me of what I’d lost already. Shadowed memories fought for prominence in my mind. 365 days ago. In this very place. Then, it had been different.
The menagerie of animals milling around my sons had made me smile. Nadab prodded a year old bull in my direction. Abi tugged on the rope around the necks of a goat and a lamb. The air was thick with the noise of animals protesting. A festive celebration with nothing to fear. Then, tragedy.
The sting of my brother’s lecture; the judgment of God upon my family; the humiliation; the confusion for my other sons: all of that was paralyzing me now.
The crowd below was watching – expectant. Patriarchs and matriarchs alike – bronzed by the sun and leathered by the winds. Young fathers and mothers holding children close – hoping to see a future secured. Young ones on the verge of manhood and womanhood wondering what mysteries today would bring.
The mountains beyond stood like sentinels hoisting an army of cloudy warriors marching across the sky. A flock of pelicans flapped past followed by a cast of hawks floating on the thermals into the valley. A rabbit scurried from bush to bush.
365 days go fast.
“Nothing to drink – nothing to cloud your judgment. Not a single miscue.” My brother’s whisper echoed through my soul. “If you do this wrong there’s no second chance. This is life or death – for you and for us.”
365 days ago I had hugged my sons and joked with them about how quickly life changes. How good it was. How blessed we were compared to many people in other parts of the world. They had smiled and picked up their censers like soldiers bent on a mission. I was sure my instructions were clear.
And yet, here I was. 365 days after being left speechless. The small mounds of rock and earth under which they were hidden were almost leveled by the ceaseless desert winds. The turmoil in my soul on many a night matched those swirling gusts. How do you erase the memory of your own flesh?
“Breathe,” I whispered. “Just breathe. In and out. In and out.”
The silk turban on my head matched the silk sash around my waist. The swish of my robes reminded me of the breezes blowing through the window curtains. An audience with the king of kings demanded no less than the finest. The gift rested in my cupped hands – sloshing slightly in the golden bowl.
Rarely did my body tremble so strongly. A container of coals, two handfuls of finely ground incense, the life force of a bull and a goat – their lives for mine and for the people. Too late for my sons.
“Take one step. One step. Pray. Beg for mercy.”
This job had to be done alone. Pushing through the curtain on legs as weak as reeds. Balancing containers, light, incense, and blood. Behind me, the bleat of a goat – a scapegoat which would be released in the wilderness to carry the sins of the people away from the community.
What purpose could there be for innocent life to be given up? For blood to be shed? For this risk to face the Almighty. Why did everything have to be done so perfectly?
Spilling life under the wings of the Cherubim and on the cover over the Tablets of Law had to be done precisely. What significance was there in pouring blood over top of the Law? What grace and mercy could there be possible in the mind of the Glorious One?
Once a year – this one day of Atonement. All I had to do was survive it. (Leviticus9,10,16)
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