DAY 47

PILING UP

Leviticus 19 & 20 and Matthew 27: 51-66

The laws have been piling up. We know why; God wants his people to be holy. By now this point is getting through into my brain. I do want to reflect on just a few things about this “holy people”. God is not trying to shape them into a “holier-than-thou” group, rather he is trying to shape them into a people that when others see how they live, they will want to know why they live that way and…they themselves, the onlookers, will want to live that way.

Who would not want to live in a world where children are not sacrificed? There were many ugly practices that were part of the prevailing pagan culture of the day. Some of those practices were driven by fertility worship and some by depraved societal norms. Child sacrifice, literally burning your child as part of the Church service, was the low of lows.

We read about other exclusions. Many of those have to do with worshiping idols. I am often asked if it is “still wrong” to get tattoos? I am not a big fan of “body art”. I wonder what it will look like on me as I age. I do think the point, or rather the question, is why? Why are you getting it? Are you having your body marked with a symbol or image that gives worship and glory to another god, an idol? If you are than I would suggest no. There are a number of other “thou shall not’s” and many of them have to do with pagan worship.

Beyond all the prohibitions, we also read about leaving food in your fields for the poor – what a wonderful act. We read about loving your neighbor. God is shaping a people who, if they work at it, will show the world who he is.

“If they work at it” became (and still is) the challenge. How we work at it, how we go about dealing with failure, and how we go about dealing with others who are still part of the old and other culture makes all the difference.

How we work at it: it has everything to do with us and not the “other person”. God wants us to live in a way that draw others to him; not drive them away.

How we deal with failing at it: do we accept God’s love of forgiveness through the sacrifices, and now through the complete and final act of Jesus; and not create systems and classes of sinners to make ourselves somehow feel better (well at least I am not like…).

How we deal with others who are part of the old and other culture: not judging, remaining separate from the culture, but always inviting.

SO LET’S ASK A QUESTION. Is that what the religious of the Jesus day looked like; People focusing on their own holiness in a way that was conscious of their own failures and inviting others to come and know this wonderful God?

Jesus gives us a different picture of the people who orchestrated his crucifixion.

Somehow the rules had “piled up”, somehow these laws had done the exact opposite of God’s design: holiness became holier-than-thou-ness, people were not focused on overcoming their own shortcomings – instead they pointed out others, and that other and old culture of paganism was judged rather than transformed. In all people looked upon all of this and we not drawn to God. The God of Israel was not to be approached and while apparently present in the Temple behind a steel curtain, He certainly did not seem to be “dwelling with them.”

Until…until the “curtain was torn in two”! That is what we read in the Gospel today. This pile of laws that seemed impossible to keep and was seemingly impenetrable was not destroyed, but fulfilled in the death, the sacrifice, of Jesus on the Cross.

Yesterday I was reflecting on the sorrow and sadness of this moment in time, but it also was dramatic. Think if you were standing in the Temple. It is 3 pm. The priest would have the knife to the throat of a lamb during the Passover. As he kills the lamb, The Lamb cries out on the Cross. He gives up His life. The perfect sacrifice to God has been made. You are standing there. Then, all of a sudden, you hear the screeching sound of the steel curtain being torn in two. Dare you look up? Dare you look at the Holy of Holies in the Temple? God says yes, for this is why Jesus came. Through Him we once again begin the work of becoming a holy people. Let us therefore look upon the intent, the goal of the Law, and learn from those who went before us. Let us not let “being a Christian” pile up on us, but rather shine through us to others.