Author: John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 8.6-9
6 Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water. 7 He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him. He also fastened the ephod with a decorative waistband, which he tied around him. 8 He placed the breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece. 9 Then he placed the turban on Aaron’s head and set the gold plate, the sacred emblem, on the front of it, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Reflection: Anointed Servants
By John Tillman

It is not so much that “leaders serve” as that “servants lead.”

The Bible shows us not just moments of God-ordained goodness but of ruin, failure, and rebellion. Because of this, we cannot look at any leader’s actions in the Bible, other than Jesus, as a foolproof behavioral template. We cannot simply cut and paste “biblical” actions into our lives.

All mortals in scripture have moral skeletons in their closets. Moses has a literal skeleton, a victim of his rage, buried in the Egyptian sand. (Exodus 2.11-15) The miracle of the gospel is that murderers like Moses, and sinners like us, can be transformed into leaders that show what Jesus is like.

In the desert, God told Moses that he would make him like God to Pharaoh and Aaron would be his prophet. (Exodus 7.1) Here in the ceremony initiating Aaron’s priesthood, we see pictures of the entire Trinity, the disciples, and the church universal. The washing, the sacrificial meal, and the covenant of blood, stand as pre-visualizations of Jesus’ actions in the final days leading to the crucifixion.
 
Moses’s ceremonial actions show God initiating the work of sanctification out of love for the children he desired to call his own. Aaron shows us Jesus, our high priest, willingly stepping into the gap to open up a way for the children to return to God, their rightful father. In the fire, the oil, the incense, and the blood, we see the Holy Spirit, pervading our lives to make us holy. 

If the rituals required for the priests to pass through the closed curtain of the Tent of Meeting and minister before the Lord seem long and elaborate, we should remember the greater ritual which opened that same curtain for good. Jesus’ 33-year incarnation was a long, elaborate ritual which tore open the curtain of the Temple, allowing us to enter God’s presence.

Sometimes when we think of sacrifices, and especially of the cross, we think of God demanding to be “satisfied.” This is an incorrect/incomplete picture. God is not sitting back, vengeful and angry, hoping the Son suffers enough to calm his out-of-control temper. God initiates mercy—he doesn’t settle for it.

It is God who applies the sacrifice of the Lamb of God to our ears that we may hear God’s Word. God anoints our hands that they may serve as his own. God touches our feet that they may go where he wills.

God anoints us as servants in Christ. Servants lead.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church
Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 8 (Listen – 5:06)
Psalms 9 (Listen – 2:21)

Read more about Priests of Life and Peace
As Christians and priests, may we maintain the new “covenant of life and peace” in Christ’s blood.

Priests of Life and Peace

Read more about The Righteous Judge :: A Guided Prayer
May our highest, most prized right, be to stand before you.

The Righteous Judge :: A Guided Prayer

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 5.15-16
15 “When anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the Lord’s holy things, they are to bring to the Lord as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. k It is a guilt offering. 16 They must make restitution for what they have failed to do in regard to the holy things, pay an additional penalty of a fifth of its value and give it all to the priest. The priest will make atonement for them with the ram as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven. 

Leviticus 6.2-7
2 “If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor, 3 or if they find lost property and lie about it, or if they swear falsely about any such sin that people may commit—4 when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, 5 or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering. 6 And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the Lord, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. 7 In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.” 

Reflection: Jesus, our Restorer — Good Friday
By John Tillman

In the Levitical code, peace with God came through atoning for sin toward God, but many offerings also required restorative justice.

If the repentant had harmed another person or defiled something holy, they brought a typical sacrificial animal to God and, on the same day, paid restitution to the victim that was 120 percent of the value of the loss.

God is not solely concerned with our forgiveness and restoration of relationship with him. He is also concerned with us seeking forgiveness and restoration with our neighbors. As we ponder Christ’s sacrifice on this Good Friday, let us see how he treated those harmed by his followers. 

As Jesus hangs on the cross dying for sin, somewhere walking around with two ears instead of one, is Malchus. In the garden, Peter had struck him and cut off his ear. Jesus not only rebuked Peter, telling him to put his sword back in its place, he put Malchus’s ear back in its place, healing him with a touch. (Luke 22.50-51; John 18.10-11)

Later, lurking near Jesus’ trial, Peter is confronted by a relative of Malchus, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” (John 18.26-27) We don’t know for sure, but this question could sound a bit like, “Didn’t you attack my relative with a sword?” Peter responds with louder and viler curses and anger at these accusations, until the cock crows and he runs, weeping, into the night.

Even in the intensity of his own suffering, Christ healed those Peter attacked and forgave those Peter cursed at.

Who have we harmed, swinging our swords, wild to defend our Lord Jesus? (Who needs no defense from us.)
Who have we been afraid to face because of what we have done?
Who have we cursed in our anger and fear?

The Levitical code spends significant time discussing sins done in ignorance. What sins are we a part of, yet ignorant of? Sins of systemic lust? Systemic greed? Systemic racism?

Who have we allowed to suffer because they are “sinners”?
Who have we refused to help because they opposed us politically or economically?
Whose suffering and torment have we ignored, glazed over, minimized, or contributed to?

May we weep like Peter. But may we also remember that Jesus will come to us to restore us.

Do we love Jesus?
May we put down our swords and feed his lambs.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Be pleased, O God, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me. — Psalm 70.1

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 5 (Listen – 3:35) 
Psalms 3-4 (Listen – 1:56)

This Weekend’s Readings
Leviticus 6 (Listen – 4:17), Psalms 5-6 (Listen – 2:45)
Leviticus 7 (Listen – 5:13), Psalms 7-8 (Listen – 2:58)

Read more about The Sword Versus The Cross
Some have been like brash, foolish Peter, swinging away with a sword of vengeance—we must put it away.

The Sword Versus The Cross

Read more about The Commission of Truth
The first verse in Leviticus chapter five, identifies a unique kind of sin—the sin of not testifying to the truth when it is called for.

The Commission of Truth

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 2.1-3
1 “ ‘When anyone brings a grain offering to the Lord, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it 2 and take it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil, together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 3 The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the food offerings presented to the Lord. 

Reflection: Jesus, Our Grain Offering
By John Tillman

The connection between grain and worship is deep. Its roots go all the way back to Eden, in which, before any other profession, we were gardeners.

The first worship controversy involved Cain’s grains being unacceptable to the Lord. (Genesis 4.3-5) Presumably they were not the best of his crop. Abel’s offering of the “fat portions” of the “firstborn of his flock” was accepted. “Fat portions” does not mean literal fat or waste fat that a chef or butcher might trim from a fine steak and discard. They are the richest part of the animal—the best cut, not the worst. 

All offerings prescribed in Leviticus, whether grain, baked bread, oil, cakes, incense, or animals, were expected to be of the “finest” ingredients. Leftovers, defective animals, second-rate goods, or anything less than the “finest” was an insult to God.

Another way the scripture describes offering God the best is the term, “firstfruits.” Firstfruits referred to the first and best part of the harvest. 

Metaphorically, Israel was the firstfruits of God’s efforts to cultivate righteousness on Earth. Scripture shows Israel as a wild, unruly vine that resists being cultivated. She is a stubborn and unfruitful fig tree that requires great labor to be fruitful. These images show the deep emotional investment God has in his people. God is a cultivator of hearts. He is willing to dig, fertilize, work, prune, labor, and invest in his plan for Salvation. (Luke 13.6-9)

But, until Jesus, all the seeds that God planted failed to fruit. Where he expected righteousness, he would find only leaves—or worse, rot and corruption. (Luke 6.43-44; Matthew 7.19; 21.19; Hosea 9.16)

Jesus recognized that his life was a seed that when planted would fruit one-hundred fold. Paul described Jesus as the “firstfruit from among the dead.” (1 Corinthians 15.20) Jesus is the first and best part of God’s harvest of righteousness. 

When we stand before God, Jesus is our grain offering of the finest ingredients. Jesus is the fully-fruited head of righteousness, from which we can feed and be made fruitful in him. He is the healthy vine into which we can be grafted, so that his life-giving sap can flow in our branches.

Jesus is the bread, the grain, of life. He has offered himself for us and to us. 

Through worship, prayer, and the word of God, may we feed more and more on Jesus, the bread of life, who brings health, strength, and righteousness to the body.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Prayer Appointed for the Week
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give me this bread, that he may live in me, and I in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 2-3 (Listen – 4:43) 
John 21 (Listen – 3:58)

Read more about Normal is Dead—Resurrection Appearances
Scripture doesn’t tell us why Peter went fishing but it is not hard to imagine he needed a touch of normalcy. 

Normal is Dead—Resurrection Appearances

Read more about Bread and Oil
The bread represented that God’s words were the sustenance of life that the community needed.

Bread and Oil