The korban chatas is a powerful expression of the infinite chesed that a person gains access to only if he sins. A parable brings out the point.
There once was a child who was warned again and again not to ride his bike on the road, but he did not listen. One day, he rode his bike on the road and got injured. As he was lying in the hospital after the accident, his parents bought him a present. They bought him a brand-new bike.
This is puzzling. The child rode his bike on the road even though he was warned not to do so, and in the end, he got hurt. Is that a reason to give him a prize?!
It’s hard to explain, but there is a certain instinct that Hashem created, that when someone gets hurt, it arouses in those who care about him a powerful, hidden love, to the point that they shower him with enormous warmth and love.
This is the way it is. There are certain wonderful gifts that are reserved for when tragedies happen. They are only for “bad children” who get themselves into trouble. This hidden love was created especially for them. The father is willing to spend a lot of money and invest a lot in this bad child if he senses that he is in danger.
How did the Jewish people merit receiving the Yud Gimel Midos Shel Rachamim? By getting into a serious “accident” (the sin of the Golden Calf ). Hashem then showered on them endless love, to the point that they received in the end a wondrous present: the Thirteen Traits of Divine Mercy. This is a gift that will always save them from all types of tragedies.
So it is also with the korban chatas. This offering expresses Hashem’s hidden and endlessly great love. This love comes out only in a time of great necessity, when a sin occurs. It is only for “bad children,” so to speak.
This is why a korban chatas may not be brought as a freewill offering. Only when a person sins, does Hashem say, so to speak: It’s such a shame for my Yankeleh! Because of his sins, he is going to die and go to Gehinom!
When a person commits a sin, the chevra kadisha is already standing by his bed, so to speak, because הנפש החוטאת היא תמות – “The soul that sins shall die.” However, the Torah found a way out: יביא קרבן ויתכפר – “Let him bring an offering and be atoned.”
Such a chesed comes only after sin. It is expressed in the korban chatas that a person brings and thereby atones for his sin.
1 Yechezkel 18:4.
