No Need for a Sin-Eater

Yesterday I read The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers. I didn’t mean to read it all in one day, but it just kinda happened. It was that good! It’s a fictional story based on a real tradition in England, Scotland, and Wales that lasted up into the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The tradition actually came to certain portions of Appalachia in America, as well. I don’t want to give any of Rivers’ novel away, but the gist of it is that a “sin-eater” was a man, usually either a beggar or someone chosen by lots, who would “take upon himself” the sins of someone after they died. He would be cursed by their sin, so that the deceased man or woman could rest peacefully.


It’s an interesting tradition, isn’t it? I had never heard of it until yesterday. Imagine having to choose lots to pick a man who would “carry” all of the sins of a community. He would be shunned and left alone, an outcast of the society. I think the saddest part about this whole tradition, however, is that people really believed that their sin would be taken by the sin-eater, and the sin-eater truly thought he was helping his town or village by “taking” their sins. He thought he was doing God’s work, but instead he was actually just a way for Satan to blind people from God’s truth.


It made me start thinking about and remembering how blessed we are that we don’t need to designate a sin-eater, because Christ came and took our sins upon Himself! We don’t have to try to find a human scapegoat, because the Son of God became the sacrifice for us.  


He died, so that we might live.


I know that I take this for granted all too often. It is amazing, absolutely amazing, that God gave up His own Son as atonement for our sins! We don’t have to try to find a way to get rid of our sin on our own, because if we accept God’s gift to us, our sin is covered by the blood of Jesus. Amazing!!


We don’t need a sin-eater, because we have something so much better… We have true hope in Christ.



(By the way, if you’re look for a novel to read, I definitely recommend The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers!)