12. The Sacrifice
What sacrifice?
12. The Sacrifice. In the sequence of the cards of the major arcana of the Tarot, there is often a correspondence between succeeding cards. After having showed that the true believers can shut the mouth of a lion, there is no room for pride, as if the power of true belief comes from the believer. No, the card before us, the Sacrifice, reminds us that the road of following purity and goodness often leads to persecution. The apostle Peter was crucified upside down just as the victim pictured on card 12.
Jesus told Peter this would happen to him:
I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you tied your own belt and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will put out your hands and someone else will tie you and take you where you don't want to go." {19} (Jesus said this to show how Peter would die to give glory to God.) Then Jesus said to Peter, "Follow me!" (John 21:18-19)
True disciples of the heavenly Alpha and Omega can expect no more glorious an earthly fate than that of Peter. The words of Jesus echo down through the ages: "The student is not greater than the teacher. If they did these things to Me, how much more to you?" The gold pieces dropping from the victim’s hands are a reminder that the refinings of persecution we undergo are meant to purge us of the dross of carnality and the fallen nature. The love of money and pleasure must be removed by the skilled surgical hand of the Great Physician.
Jesus gives a message to believers living in days like ours where earthly treasure is abundant. This message tells them to buy gold from Him:
You say, 'I am rich, and I have become wealthy and do not need anything.' But you do not know that you are really miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. {18} I advise you to buy from me gold made pure in fire so you can be truly rich... (Rev 3:17-18)
Gold. That is what the seeker should get. Gold. The kind of gold dripping from the fingers of the Sacrifice in card 12 of the Tarot...the gold of self-sacrificing character, the gold of nobility, the gold of purity, the gold of large-heartedness. This gold is not valued in today's Hollywood culture. It is not often valued on sensationalist talk shows. It is not valued by opportunistic politicians.
But there is one sober character, if he is allowed to get the attention of the seeker, who can help him/her see that gold of character is something worth living for, whose value does not fade...
One of Life's inevitabilities...