Tag: Leviticus

Psalm 24.8
Who is this King of glory?

From John:
First, we look at a few verses from our Leviticus reading that bear special reflection on “Tax Day” in the United States.

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. Do not steal. Do not lie…Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights… — Leviticus 9-11, 35-36

Reflection: Who is this King of glory?
By John Tillman

Today, as American citizens prepare to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” on “Tax Day,” the calendar of the church, marks the week that Jesus began to walk resolutely into the teeth of the Roman Empire. That’s the part we don’t like. We like the triumphal entry and the triumphal resurrection. The middle bits are like verses of a hymn that we too often skip.

On Palm Sunday churches around the world remembered the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. Many in the Jerusalem crowd must have had the ending stanzas of David’s 24th psalm in mind:

Lift up your heads, you gates;
   be lifted up, you ancient doors,
   that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?

But Jesus was not the king they were expecting. And Jesus is not the king we often wish for either.

Some want a glorious warrior-king to defeat the foreigners and rule though vengeance and retribution. These believers want the second-coming of David the giant-killer on a horse, not the first coming of God’s suffering servant on a donkey.

Some expect a liberating mage, with heavenly signs, miracles, blessings, and plagues to confound and punish their oppressors and bless and free the downtrodden. They look for a second Moses, a liberator and lawgiver, not the Lamb of God who comes to be imprisoned, cursed, and slain.

As we follow Jesus through Jerusalem this week, may we not misunderstand him or mistake him for someone else. Let us have eyes to see what many wished to see before us, and ears to hear what many wished to hear. May we let go of our heroic versions of kings and watch the lamb of God, ride his borrowed donkey, straight to his borrowed tomb.

Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Deliverance belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be upon your people! — 3.8

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 19 (Listen – 4:39) 
Psalm 23-24 (Listen – 2:03)

Thank You!
Thank you for reading and a huge thank you to those who donate to our ministry, keeping The Park Forum ad-free and enabling us to continue to produce fresh content. Every year our donors help us produce over 100,000 words of free devotionals. Follow this link to support our readers.

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In the ancient world donkeys were used for ceremonial purposes. Whereas horses were symbols of war, donkeys were symbols of peace and often used to enact treaties.

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Psalm 5.9
Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
   their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;
   with their tongues they tell lies.

Reflection: Honoring The Truth
By John Tillman

A common theme taken up by many psalmists, including David’s pleas from today’s reading, is being slandered by one’s enemies.

The Scriptures, and Christ himself, see clearly that not every accusation is motivated by a desire for truth or justice. But in our culture, many have stooped to the level of conspiracy theorists when defending the leaders they love. Some communities have chosen to shame accusers, rather than listen to them and investigate. This is harmful to the cause of truth because it discourages anyone, anywhere from reporting anything.

Yesterday we examined a scripture telling us that those who withhold information about wrong-doing, bear part of the responsibility. If we, because of shaming and blaming victims who report abuse, suppress the truth from coming out, we also bear part of this blame.

How can we honor the call for testimony, while dealing with the reality of potential slander and false accusations? How can we give proper scrutiny to testimony without discouraging truth-tellers from coming forward? There are no easy answers. Here are three principles we can apply.

Be guided by reputation, but not blinded by it. While it is true that a good reputation is valuable (Proverbs 22.1, 1 Timothy 3.7) and can save someone from a false accusation, we cannot allow a good reputation to blind us to potential wrongdoing, prevent us from due diligence, or cause us to treat those bringing accusations in an unloving manner.

Follow the example of Jesus. Peter counseled persecuted church leaders to follow Christ’s example. Christ, “did not retaliate…made no threats,” and “entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” With Christ’s example before us it is inexcusable for believers to allow accusers (even false accusers) to be threatened or to seek retaliation against them. We must pray for and pursue the truth and trust that even if earthly justice fails, God’s justice, provided through Christ, never will.

Remember that it could be true. Even though today’s psalm from David is the cry of an innocent man who was slandered, eventually there came a day when accusations against David were true. Nathan’s words, “you are the man” stand as a prophetic example for every Christian. We all need to be prepared to speak this way to well-loved leaders when needed.

Seeking the truth is not only a spiritual quest. It is sometimes a civic one. Or a legal one. As followers of Christ, the Truth, we should ask, seek, and knock, not giving up until the truth is revealed.

Prayer: The Request for Presence
Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling… — Psalm 43.3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 6 (Listen – 4:17) 
Psalm 5-6 (Listen – 2:45)

Thank You!
Thank you for reading and a huge thank you to those who donate to our ministry, keeping The Park Forum ad-free and enabling us to continue to produce fresh content. Every year our donors help us produce over 100,000 words of free devotionals. Follow this link to support our readers.

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Leviticus 5.1
If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.

Matthew 25.45
Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.

Reflection: The Commission of Truth
By John Tillman

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 implication in the text is a legal one. When authorities were investigating an event, they would call for those who had knowledge of the event to come forward with information. Those who neglect this duty are partly responsible for the crime because they are not standing up for the truth.

We are called to be a testifying people, testifying not only to the truth of the gospel, but to the truth about our workplaces, our houses of worship, our houses of government, and our schools.

When leaders or organizations are under investigation, or are being accused of wrongdoing, it is common for other similar stories to come to light.

But the tendency in our culture is to only support truth-tellers when they are telling a truth that is comfortable for us to hear. We defend quickly those who accuse our political enemies of wrongdoing, but are suspicious of those accusing people or institutions we support.

What if instead of considering those voices as opportunistic attention seekers, we saw them as people answering the biblical call of Leviticus 5.1 to testify?

In response to investigations of political and religious wrongdoing, Ed Stetzer has often spoken to the Christian community reminding us that, “Facts are our friends.” He is correct, but facts are more than our friends—they are our responsibility. And not only are facts our responsibility, truth is our identity.

As children of God, and followers of Jesus who called himself, “the Truth,” we are acting according to our nature and our calling when we help facts come to light and when we stand up for truth and for truth-tellers.

Whenever the call for truth goes out, may we join Jesus in answering it.
Whenever the light of truth shines, may we never join in trying to cover up or deny what is revealed.

“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” Luke 12.2-3

*Tomorrow we will look at how this command relates to scripture’s realistic expectation of false accusations.

Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living. — Psalm 116.8

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

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

Thank You!
Thank you for reading and a huge thank you to those who donate to our ministry, keeping The Park Forum ad-free and enabling us to continue to produce fresh content. Every year our donors help us produce over 100,000 words of free devotionals. Follow this link to support our readers.

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There are many strange and unfamiliar images in Revelation that we have no context for and do not easily understand. But one that has a very familiar ring is the description of scandal-filled churches.

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