Hundreds of thousands of Hindu believers gathered at a temple in southern Nepal last Tuesday to celebrate a long standing custom of their Hindu history. It is a festival that has drawn the attention of animal welfare advocates. This particular ceremony involves the slaughter of more than 200,000 animals. One noted Nepalese minster said it is the largest sacrificial slaughter of animals in the world. Many of the activists have protested the killing of these animals, but the Hindu organizers have refused to halt the celebration stating it is a tradition that dates back several centuries. The animals under the knife include buffaloes, goats, chickens and pigeons. They will be sacrificed to the Hindu goddess Gadhimai. This celebration is held every five years and the sacrifices are believed to end evil and bring prosperity to the believer. The slaughtered animals are taken back by devotees to their villages and eaten during a feast. The meat is considered blessed and consuming it protects them from evil.
You and I, as Christians, celebrate every first day of the week a sacrifice that was given for each and every one of us. That death and spilled blood defeated evil forever and brought us an eternal prosperity to those that believe. Jesus became that sacrifice because of the sin in our lives; that evil that we allow to come into our life. Sin has but one outcome, and that is death. However, because of Jesus and His loving sacrifice we can rise from that death to walk in life. Throughout the centuries of time animals have been sacrificed, their blood running freely upon the ground: and it looks as if that practice will continue. If only those people could know Christ, could see that His sacrifice is what they need, could understand the love of Christ, could experience the new life in Jesus that awaits them. How can they know the answer is through us that do know.