Leviticus 4 and following articulates a wide variety of sacrifices that should be brought to God for sin, depending on the person’s position in the community. The high priest has to bring an adult bull. The nation as a whole, a young bull. A leader, a male goat. A common person, a less valuable female goat. A poor person, just a dove or pigeon. A very poor person, only a cup of flour.
The more influential you are, the more terrible the effect of your sin. Leviticus does not treat sin in the abstract, but by how it impacts the community. We are not all in equal positions in life. Some are leaders and teachers, some aren’t. Some are rich, some are poor. If you are the president of the USA or the CEO of a huge corporation and you sin, it effects tons of other people. We may not be famous like that, but when we sin, it effects are children and our community. When the CEO of Wells Fargo lies (as it came to light this past week) then 5000 people lose their jobs. When our nation’s leader’s sin, they may rip thousands of families apart by sending young men to a pointless war. When I sin, the result is not so dramatic, but it hurts my wife or screws up my children and maybe causes strife or jealousy amongst my friends. When your 4-year-old sins by throwing a fit when it’s time to go to bed… not a whole lot happens. That’s a good time for training!
“With great power comes great responsibility” is not just some idea from Spiderman. The sacrifices that the priest or the king had to offer were bigger to symbolize this. We often like to think of ourselves as potentially just as smart or important as anyone else. We could have been an astronaut if we had really wanted to be, right? But in reality, we are all in different spaces in life. We have different strengths and weaknesses and circumstances given us by God. Let’s not burden ourselves with impossible expectations and beat ourselves up over our failures. At the same time, let’s be aware of what riches and responsibility we DO possess, even on a small scale, and seek to honor our creator with them. It is natural and just to do this. The devil would seek to make us ever confused us as to what is required.