range armbands. That’s what set apart the sacrificial lambs from the rest of us. The folks at the front of the march were chosen because of their willingness to march at the front of the line, to be the first to cross the line, penetrate the wall of law enforcement. Old folks, young folks, middle-aged faithful in Birkenstocks and clerical collars, they all walked bravely, singing along with the old protest tune: “I Shall Not Be Moved.”

The protest route wound around the front of the White House, around three blocks to the back of the White House. I had ventured to Washington, D.C., on the call of Reverend William Barber, founder of Repairers of the Breach and Moral Mondays, Sojourners, and our friend Claudia Allen, executive director of Adventist Peace Fellowship. This peace rally and protest — opposing so many governmental policies and positions — required our presence, the calling out of injustice, and sacrifice.

It’s the last part. Orange armband people were appointed first. First to get their heads cracked, if it came to that. The rest were reserved and preserved back in the line in order to live and die another day, said Barber.

In that protest model, that very spiritual couplet — sacrifice and life — we can’t help but see the move of Jesus. As the writer of Hebrews lays out, we were headed for our just due:

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment …” (Hebrews 9:27).

But, our stand-in, our substitute, our sin-bearer, the sacrificial lamb of God, put on sin, and shame for us. He was a marked Man whose life and sacrifice changed our destiny:

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28, KJV).