Tag: Matthew

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Leviticus 14 Listen: (8:11) Read: Acts 10 Listen: (5:49)

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 14.2-7

2 “These are the regulations for any diseased person at the time of their ceremonial cleansing, when they are brought to the priest: 3 The priest is to go outside the camp and examine them. If they have been healed of their defiling skin disease,  4 the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed. 5 Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. 6 He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the defiling disease, and then pronounce them clean. After that, he is to release the live bird in the open fields.

Matthew 8.4

4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Reflection: Testify to Ultimate Healing

By John Tillman

Ritual uncleanness was ceremonial, not medical. It had little to no effect on individual or communal health. However, some Levitical regulations protected physical health. “Defiling” infections and contagious conditions required quarantines that separated affected people or property from others.

These conditions were not caused by individual sin but were part of living in a sin-defiled world, suffering the death and decay sin set in motion. However, from Job’s day until now, people often assume a spiritual or moral deficiency when sickness or trouble touches people’s lives.

When such conditions were cured, priests first acted as “health inspectors,” confirming the absence of the sickness or condition. Then priests shifted into spiritual mode, enacting a ceremony that celebrated a victory over death, defilement, and disease and honored God for the cleansing.

When Jesus healed the leper, he commanded him to make the sacrifice described in Leviticus 14. (Matthew 8.1-4; Mark 1.40-45; Luke 5.12-15) Jesus was directing attention away from himself as the source of the miracle, but the elements of the sacrifice point right back to Jesus. They represent Christ’s removal of all defilement and disease by defeating their source in sin and death.

The priest brings the sacrifice to the person outside the camp, just as Jesus came to us and was killed outside the city. Christ is the hyssop for cleansing the unclean. Christ is the red cord,  marking those saved, like Rahab, from destruction. Christ is the bird that dies in our place. We are the living bird, baptized into water and Christ’s blood and then set free. Even if the leper had simply carried out the ceremony, he would still have testified about Jesus.

Christ bears our sicknesses, and every sickness (mental, physical, and spiritual) will be healed—if not now, then in the future. Sin and death are dying. Their power is already broken. We live in the days before the final victory when these defeated enemies lash out in vain, but the heel is coming that will crush their head and bring ultimate healing.

Unlike the priest, Jesus touches the unclean before they are healed, because his purity is more contagious than the world’s impurity. Christ touches us before we are healed, while we are sinners, while we are his enemies. He does not inspect us for righteousness, but imputes it to us.

Celebrate whatever healing you experience as a testimony to the world and testify to the ultimate healing to come.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. — Psalm 95.6-7

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

Read more: He Is Willing

Jesus is willing to touch, heal, and restore. It is part of his identity and mission to touch the untouchable

Read more: Knocking on Heaven’s Door

Cornelius and Peter found the truth and freedom from sin by seeking God through prayer. Their prayers were invaded by the Holy Spirit.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Leviticus 6 Listen: (4:17) Read: Acts 3 Listen: (3:33)

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 6.1-7

1 The Lord said to Moses: 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.”

Matthew 5.23-24

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

Reflection: Jesus Is as Serious as Leviticus

By John Tillman

Leviticus treats sin both as an issue between God and the worshiper and between the worshiper and other humans, not as one or the other.

Sins toward God are dealt with solely through the priest, the sacrifices, and worship. But not all sins are solely toward God and not all sacrifices or actions required for worship are directed towards God.

Jesus reinforced this teaching. He taught that wrongs between humans should be reconciled before reconciling oneself to God. “First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5.24)

Think for a moment how impractical this was. You travel several days to Jerusalem and purchase an overpriced goat from the money changers. Right before the sacrifice, you remember that your neighbor is angry about a lost mule they loaned to you. To follow Jesus’ command, you leave the goat with the priest, travel several days home, make restitution to your neighbor (consistent with the instruction in today’s passage), and then return to Jerusalem to deal with your sin before God. Is Jesus being serious here?

Perhaps Jesus was engaging in some hyperbole. Perhaps the point would be to make sure you restore relationships with humans before coming before God. Even if we think Jesus was being metaphorically exaggerative, it is clear that in the New Testament and the Old, restitution is part of the process of forgiveness. When it comes to restitution, Jesus is as serious as Leviticus.

It is an abuse of the Christian concept of forgiveness for people to say to their victims, “Jesus forgave me. Why can’t you?” A victim may grant forgiveness as part of their act of worship. Those who do harm must make restitution as part of theirs.

It is not possible to restore every kind of damage. Even the value of a lost mule could be debated. And what if the wrong we have done transcends a financial cost? How do we calculate the cost of someone’s broken heart, hurt feelings, depression, anxiety, or rage?

We need the Holy Spirit’s help in making or receiving restitution. But if we try to dodge our responsibility to at least attempt to restore wrongs, it shows that we have not truly repented of our sin.

Ask God to guide you in necessary restitution and to desire wholeness for your victims more than you desire forgiveness for yourself.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church

Be, Lord, my helper and forsake me not. Do not despise me, O God, my savior. — The Short Breviary

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

Read more: Waiting at the Beautiful Gate

Jesus didn’t give us the Holy Spirit for warm, fuzzy feelings in our sanctuaries. The Holy Spirit is given to us to heal

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