Today’s Scripture Reading
(September 28, 2018): Leviticus 9
Mystery writer Agatha Christie
commented that “One doesn't recognize the really important moments in one's life
until it's too late.” Sometimes she is right. I think back to the special
moments that I have spent with my children and recognize the truth of the
statement. We let the moments pass without realizing how important those
moments might have been. But, sometimes, the moments are all too clear.
Early in the
Television series “The Crown” the writers of the drama tried to capture one of
those important moments. The young Princess Elizabeth was visiting Kenya in place of her father who was at home
recovering from surgery. She is having a good time, although she seems to
recognize how out of step she and her husband, Philip, are with Kenyan culture.
It is a moment for which she seems unprepared. And then her dad dies. In the
Television drama, it seems that everyone
knows what has happened, except Elizabeth. But finally,
the news catches up with her as well. She came to Kenya as a Princess, but she
leaves the African nation as a Queen. And as the
car pulls out of the remote Kenyan village, the people, both great and small,
come to the side of the road just to
watch the car of the Queen of the United Kingdom pass. It was a moment. And
somehow even in this remote African place, they seemed to recognize the moment.
Did it really happen that way? I have no idea. It
would be great to sit down with the Queen and her Prince and ask that question.
Maybe she would not even remember; all that would be contained in her memory was the awful grief of that day. But
now, we recognize the moment.
The priests
were about to begin their ministry. They were going to take the sin offering prescribed
in the newly formed law and make the sacrifice at the entrance to the newly
constructed Tabernacle. They were about to cross over a threshold into a
different future, one constructed around the law. And as they prepared to make
the sacrifice, the people gathered to be witnesses of the moment that was about
to happen.
In my mind, I can see the crowd as they gathered. I
am not sure that many would actually get
to see the moment that was about to take place. After all, I have attended
parades, and even at over six feet tall
you have to be part of the first few rows to see
what is going on. But they gathered recognizing the moment; the
beginning of a ministry that God had designed for them, reminding the people
that God had been with them and would continue to be present as the nation
moved into an uncertain future.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 10
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