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The word "mock" in the recipe above carries with it the idea of a substitute. The
recipe above (Mock Mushroom Soup) is designed to create a substitute for
something else. The real thing has too much fat, so we prepare a substitute.
There are other reasons for preparing a substitute. There are recipes for Mock
Turtle Soup - because obtaining the real thing involves obtaining large turtles,
and many of these are now protected species.
As a teacher, I have a different meaning for the word "substitute." I haven't had
to have one too often, but can there be anything like the terror of, "Mr. Know-it-
All" is sick this morning; could you take his class? The one that all the PCC
professors are in?" Substitute for the one with the flu can also be called
"lifesaver;" I'm not so certain the substitute sees it that way. But I'm grateful just
the same.
Sometimes we must use a substitute because the item originally intended for the
purpose is somehow not suitable. God taught this principle throughout the Old
Testament with regard to sin and sacrifice:
• The sins of the people were to be laid on a substitute - a goat. We still use
the phrase "scapegoat" in our language today.
• The firstborn were to be consecrated to God; but God allowed the Levites to
substitute for this service, making them a tribe of priests'
In this example from the Old Testament, God is teaching us concerning what
Christ would become: our substitute. The Bible clearly teaches that using
animal sacrifices did not, in fact, deal with sin. God was simply instructing the
people, in a vivid picture, about what Jesus was to do.
He is our substitute; are we grateful for it? Do we show it?
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