The match was already into injury time, and United were leading 3-2. Only seconds to go and the Manchester side would have won. All that was needed was sensible and safe play. What you don't want is someone trying something clever and getting it horribly wrong. What happened next? Well to quote Alex Ferguson, “But Nani decided to try and beat a player, lost the ball and they got a penalty kick against us.” That penalty brought the scores to 3-3, took the match into extra time and the rest, as they say, is history.
How often, when things go wrong, do we look for someone to blame? There is an inbuilt instinct to look for a scapegoat. Shifting the blame from us on to someone else.
The term 'scapegoat' originates in Leviticus 16 where God gives Israel the regulations regarding the Day of Atonement. The 'scapegoat' was a live goat, that was selected and brought to the centre of the camp.
The High Priest placed his hands on the goat's head and confessed the sins of the people - and in this way the sins were somehow transferred to the goat. This goat was then led out through the camp and into the wilderness where it was released - carrying the sins of the people away to a remote place - where they could not be found and from where they would not return. This was a very visual and dramatic demonstration to the people of what was happening to their sins.
When we come into the New Testament we discover that part of what was going on when Jesus died on the cross was that he had become the ultimate scapegoat. Although totally innocent, our sins were transferred onto him. As a result it is as if those sins have been carried away to a remote place and we can know forgiveness instead of guilt.
In Psalm 103:12 it says, 'as far as the east is from the west, so far has [God] removed our sins from us'. Micah 7:19 it says, '[God] will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea'.
Sometimes we find that hard to believe. We struggle to accept that Jesus' death can totally deal with my sin. Maybe the next time you're at the beach you need to find a pebble, lay your hands on it, and throw it as far into the sea as you can - and thank God that we can know full forgiveness.
