... the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed. – Leviticus 14:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 12, 2012): Leviticus 14

There is a great scene in Henry Harland’s novel (written in 1900) “The Cardinal’s Snuff Box” where the protagonist of the story (Peter) is confronted with the sickness of his servant (an older lady called Marietta). And at the beginning of the sickness, Marietta simply denies that she is sick. She just wants to keep pushing through the sickness to get the job done. Maybe in the back of her mind is the thought that she just cannot afford to be sick – that she needs to keep at the job and keep making the money that needs in order to live. There is also a feeling that she if she stops, she might be replaced. And that was a chance that she just could not afford to take.

But finally, Peter finds her in the kitchen hard at work and he has to give her an order. And it comes in the form of a question – do you want to please me? And there is nothing more that the Marietta wants to do than please her employer. And so Peter tells her, the only way for you to please me is if you will go to bed and begin the process of getting better. She finally complies with the wish and Peter sends for the doctor.

The illness is serious, but not grave. But as Marietta lies in bed she begins to consider her own mortality. She asks the doctor to send for the priest – in her mind she is preparing to make her final confession. The doctor comes to Peter with these instructions – “She is no worse—she is, if anything, rather better. Her malady is taking its natural course. But people of her class always fancy they are going to die, if they are ill enough to stay in bed. It is the panic of ignorance.”

Maybe we all suffer under the panic of ignorance when we are sick. It is then that our mind allows us to ask the question – is this the end? What do I have to show for the years that I have spent on this earth? And in most of our cases, the road to recovery is dependent on our ability to understand our own capacity to get well. It was a fact that the doctor in Harland’s novel understood well.

Leprosy in the ancient world was incurable. So it was almost ridiculous to have a ritual for the cleansing from it. And the ritual had to be powerful enough for the patients to really believe that they are clean. So God orders the priests to use powerful symbols in order to illustrate the cleansing process.

The cleansing process started with two birds – cleansing always starts with a sacrifice. But the sacrifice was not the end of the process. It continued on with the presence of three other symbols. The first was cedar wood. Cedar in the ancient world was considered to be relatively indestructible. Its value was that it was not normally subject to disease. The scarlet yarn was simply in an indicator that death was still present. The participant had been cleansed from an awful disease, but death was universal and still in the future. And finally hyssop was present in the cleansing ritual. The disease would often create a powerful negative smell as the flesh began to rot. Hyssop was a strong smell that reminded people of God and of his ability to cleanse in the first place. It was the smell of God that permeated the tabernacle. And when the ritual was completed, God’s plan was that we would understand that we really can be cleansed and can be well.

But the process cannot even start until the person recognized both his need for cleansing and God’s ability to cleanse. The truth is that God cannot heal us from a brokenness that we either will not admit or that we do not believe that he has power over.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 15

When anyone has a swelling or a rash or a bright spot on his skin that may become an infectious skin disease, he must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest. – Leviticus 13:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 11, 2012): Leviticus 13

I really like the movie “A Knight’s Tale.” No, it is not a believable movie based on historical fact - Chaucer is a little out of time for the events in the movie, and the rise of the protagonist is ultimately unrealistic, but realism was never high on my list when evaluating a movie. I think the reason why the movie ranks high with me is because of the belief at the center of the movie that it is possible to change our future – to change our stars.

Maybe one of the tasks of a pastor that we do not always excel at is the task of removing people from the community in order to keep the community healthy. I think it is one of the weaknesses of our faith. We always want to look forward with grace and love; we believe that real change is possible. The idea that the stars can change is important, because we have all stood in a place where we have needed those stars to change. And yet, I also realize that sometimes exclusion is necessary. Sometimes there exists a poison inside of people that can destroy the entire community – and sometimes the possessors of the poison just have no real desire to do anything about that poison.

I think possibly that was why the task of exclusion was left up to priests in the Mosaic Law. The thought had to be that they would be the ones most likely to react with grace, and the slowest to react with exclusion. I am also not sure that it always worked the way it was supposed to, but I think that was the plan.

Leprosy was a horrible disease –and in ancient times it was also a disease without cure. Exclusion was necessary because if the patient was not excluded, the disease would destroy the community. But there were also strict rules that needed to be followed, as well as ways of checking up on the patient – and in all of this it was the priest’s responsibility to exclude or include at each point.

Leprosy is no longer a problem in the modern world – it is cured by a simple pill. But there are still poisons and diseases that need to be dealt with – and an unteachable spirit that needs to be disciplined is one of them. And if the poison cannot be dealt with any other way, than exclusion is the only response possible so that the community can thrive. But in our case, exclusion is avoidable by an honest evaluation of our own attitudes – and often just by asking ourselves one question. Do we believe that, with God’s help, the people around us can change their stars? As long as the answer is yes, then grace is still extended and God is still working in our midst.

   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 14

If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding. – Leviticus 12:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 10, 2012): Leviticus 12

One of the hardest things to teach our children and anyone else around us is that life makes no attempt to be fair. Even our attempt at describing an original sin is not really fair. Why should i be punished for something that someone else has done? And yet in almost every arena of life the reality of that single fact shines true. If we want, there will always be someone else that we can blame for the things that have happened in our lives. We never really have to take responsibility. Except that I cannot think of an unhealthier way to live.

And so, according to the law, a child’s life begins in sin. It begins as a reminder of the things that happened back in the original garden, generations before conception. Childbirth becomes a constant reminder of the sin penalty that we live under. And the sin penalty makes no attempt to be – fair.

And even in the rituals of purification, fairness seems to take a backseat – it is not fair. The time given for the purification of a mother after giving birth to a daughter is twice as long as the time given for a male child. But it would probably be proper to recognize the times for a woman’s cleansing after giving birth to a daughter is really the norm. The time of purification for a male child is simply cut short by ritual of circumcision. Circumcision becomes an act of grace, and yes, it is an unfair grace – but grace is usually unfair.

We never really get all the bad that we deserve. God’s grace always seems to intervene long before we get to that point. Sometimes we describe the Old Testament as being dominated by the law and the New Testament being dominated by grace. But what we often miss in our description is that grace is also present in the Old Testament. It was present from the very beginning of creation, and even codified into the Law of Moses. 

 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 13

Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: - Leviticus 11:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 9, 2012): Leviticus 11

There is an age when children begin to assert their own independence – and it happens long before the teenage years. By the time a child has reached the ancient age of two, they are already beginning to see themselves as the lord’s of their own lives. It is then that they first really begin to question whether or not the things that we want them to do are really the best for them. It is a time of testing for the parent.

The search for independence often starts with a single word – why? It is a word that kids learn to use early and often. And frequently the adults in their lives do not possess the answer – at least not in a form that a two year old can understand. The simple two year old question of “why is the sky blue” becomes a bit of a problem. We can tell the child that it is blue because of the process of scattering that happens when the diffuse sky radiation enters our atmosphere and hits the small particles and pollutants in the air – and that depending on which of the rainbow of colors are scattered is the real reason why the sky is blue and also why it sometimes changes color – or we can just tell them that God made it that way (which is a little closer to a two year olds understanding.) But often our answer to the one word question of ‘why’ comes down to another one word response – because.

As unfulfilling as the answer might be for both the parties, ‘because’ might be one of the better answers that we can give.  For one thing, often that is just the way life works. Often we do not have complete understanding of the whys of our own behavior. And yet, whether we understand or not there is the societal expectation that we will obey. Getting ahead in life often seems to come down to being able to live within the boundaries of the society, regardless of whether or not we understand all of the implications of our own whys.

It is a task that God set us up for early in our existence as a race. In the garden was one tree, the fruit of which we were not supposed to eat. The ‘whys’ really did not play a role. It was simply a rule of God – the only appropriate response was ‘because God said so.’ And as we venture into the dietary laws of the nation of Israel we run into the same response. Yes, the dietary laws set the nation apart from other people groups, a difference which would play a very important role in the nation’s developments, and there were some health benefits in finding animals that fit within certain characteristics, but the best answer for the food laws is still ‘because God said so.’

The next time you run into a persistent why, remember that both ‘because’ and the fuller ‘because God said so’ are viable answers. And both answers are a part of the reality of the life and society in which we have learned to function.

  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 12

So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. – Leviticus 10:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 8, 2012): Leviticus 10

Our actions carry with them their own consequences. I think sometimes we come running to God because we want to get away from the consequences, but God has never told us that that was an option. He has promised us his grace and strength to get through the tough times and he has given to us freely his forgiveness in the times that we mess up, but he has never said that our actions will be without consequences. It is one of the reasons that we need to pray about big decisions before we act. And we need to be a people that are constantly in the Bible so that God can actively speak back to us. Too often I have had a person come to me to tell me that they were going to do something that was clearly forbidden biblically with the words “in my situation, I think God is okay with it.” And then I have watched them follow through – and crash and burn. It is at that point that they come back to me hoping that God will absolve them from the consequences, and I have to remind them that it just does not work that way. We earn our own consequences – and often we have to suffer through them.

I am currently working on a series of messages slated for the fall that is asking questions about God’s anger. It is easy to read a passage like the one we find in Leviticus 10 and find an angry God. We may even read the author write of God’s anger, but in these instances I am not sure that that is really what is going on. I wonder if this passage, and others like it, is really about the consequences of our actions. It is something that most of us try to train our kids to think about – the fact that consequences exist.

Maybe the big difference between the Biblical texts and today is how often sin resulted in death. But I also wonder if that was maybe just a visual way of making sure that we understood the relationship between our own actions and the consequences that follow them. I am also not sure that we are free from death now. Sometimes I am sure that the sicknesses we suffer through have a lot to do with the way that we have decided to live our lives – our lack of health is just another consequence. I know that we do suffer death because of our sin – it is a spiritual death that threatens to turn is into a kind of spiritual zombies just trying to make it through life one event after another. And spiritual death is not worse than its physical counterpart.

In this verse, it is simply God’s presence that consumes the offenders – and I admittedly like that wording. And I think that we need to understand that coming into God’s presence while actively rejecting him is always a dangerous thing to do. It is also dangerous to enter into his presence out of a sense of routine. Our worship is always something we need to prepare ourselves for. Are you ready?

      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 11

On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. – Leviticus 9:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 7, 2012): Leviticus 9

We seem to be designed for a seven day week. It just seems so natural. The seven day week may have been in use with Israel since the very beginning. There is historical evidence that the seven day week was in constant use by the Jews during the Babylonian Captivity. But it has not been the only week that has been used. Various cultures have used weeks that have varied in the number of days, most between three and ten days. The Aztecs and Mayans have even experimented with a thirteen day week. But it is the seven day week that we seem to continually return to. The most recent divergence from the seven day week might have been in Revolutionary France where they tried a ten day week called a décade. But even this experiment gave way to the seven day week.

In a culture built on seven days, and a culture that emphasizes the importance of the seventh day as a Sabbath day of rest, there is also a special emphasis on the eight day. The eighth day in the Bible was significant as a day of perfecting and purifying both man and animal. It was on the eighth day that the circumcision was performed on a newborn baby boy and it was on the eighth day that an animal is made acceptable as an offering to God. And Ezekiel says that at the end of days, that it is from the eighth day on that God will accept our sacrifices. There is significance in the eighth day.

Moses summoned Aaron and his sons to him. The seven days of their consecration was complete. And now they would be installed into their offices and be ready to make the sacrifices for the community of Israel. It was the time of the eighth day.

And maybe it is significant that Jesus rose from the dead, completing the sacrifice that he made for us on the eighth day. The work of perfecting and purifying all of mankind had been completed and the creation that had been set into place in seven days was recreated on the eighth day. And so, as Christians, we continue to celebrate the work that God did on the eighth day. It is the reason why Sunday has become so important to Christ’s Church.

       

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 10

Moses said to the assembly, “This is what the LORD has commanded to be done. – Leviticus 8:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 6, 2012): Leviticus 8

Sometimes, one of the hardest things that we have to do is to give authority to someone else over things that we once had responsibility for – to give away the dream that we had carried for a while. And yet, at the same time, it is the healthy thing – the proper thing - that needs to be accomplished as our organizations grow. Often the limiting factor of leadership is found in our ability – or rather the lack thereof – to delegate responsibility. But as we hold tight onto our dream we become the factor that threatens to kill our vision of the future.

Jethro, Moses father-in-law, had already warned Moses of the danger of trying to do everything himself. But to be the leader that Israel needed, it was advice that Moses was going to have to put into practice. It would start with the arguments that Moses sat in judge over, but the implications went far beyond just that. Every aspect of national life had to be delegated to leaders that would take care of that responsibility.

So, this would be the last time that Moses would preside over a ceremony in tabernacle. It was one of the things that he had to delegate – in this case to his brother Aaron and his sons. This ceremony would consecrate them for the job and the torch would be passed. It was a big deal, and it needed to be celebrated that way.

Maybe that is one of the mistakes that I make – not remembering how big a deal it is when I delegate. Another mistake is that I often seem to forget what Moses knew, once a job was delegated, it was delegated. Moses walked away and left Aaron with the dream to be carried out the way that he – and God – saw fit. And Moses never looked back.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 9