Sunday, March 15, 2015

Jesus, the Great Reformer

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Say to Aaron, "For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near...No man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed, no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed or who has any eye defect or festering sores or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the Lord by fire...because of his defect he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar and so desecrate my sanctuary."
Leviticus 21: 16-23

     Having decided to read through the Bible in a year's time, I find myself sullenly slogging through Leviticus. I find it so full of rules, demands and stiff expectations. To be honest, God seems so aloof and unloving that it depresses me to read this.

     However, I know that all scripture has purpose so I strive to see the larger picture. I see this setting the stage for the beauty of our Messiah. The sinfulness of mankind so separates us from the holiness of God, we wonder how we can ever approach the Holy of Holies?

     When Jesus walked this earth, he had compassion on the lame man who had no one to help him into the pool of Bethesda. He touched the leper whom everyone shunned. He broke barriers of social stigma by speaking to the Samaritan woman by the well. He mixed mud with saliva and applied the strange salve on the eyes of a blind man. He touched the dead and they came to life.

     The God I see in Leviticus is demonstrating his pure holiness, but the God of the Gospels bridges far more than just the way to heaven. He restores relationships.

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