Leviticus 11:1-12:8
These food regulations sound like my grandfather’s rules for having a bath; on Tuesdays, as long as the sun is shining and the month doesn’t have an ‘r’ in it. They also make me feel rather smug about my life-long distrust of shell-fish.
It’s important to recognise that we have now moved on to talk more about cleanness than devotion. I’m not sure this is necessarily the best way of making this distinction but it does appear that Israel’s view of holiness comprised both single-minded devotion to Yahweh (Leviticus chapters 1-8) and rigid protection of his community (chapters 11-15). By ‘protection of his community’ I mean that the purity laws in these chapters seem to be angled directly at managing disease and infection in a travelling community with no refrigeration, no NHS and no supply of Cillit Bang. If this theory is correct then these laws, although incredibly rigid, point not to God’s killjoy spirit but his trenchant commitment to the preservation of his people. It also points to the inescapable commitment each and every member of God’s people has to their fellow believers. This chapter suggests that you just cannot consecrate yourself to holiness and worship of God if you are not committing yourself to the preservation and health of his church.
Mark 12:13-27
Jesus is like Simon Cowell. Some motley group strutt into the audition hall ready to show the judges they are where it is at and then, after throwing down their thang, Cowell cuts them to the core. I suspect the Saducees would have felt as mystified and aggrevated by Jesus’ description of them as “not knowing the scriptures or the power of God” as the X Factors contestants do when they are told they can’t sing and look like a pig. And this inflammatory message of Jesus is a huge challenge to us today. Essentially he is saying that you can talk religious, act religious and even think religious and yet be completely excluded from everything that God is doing. And, on the more positive side of the equation, Jesus goes on to declare that God is alive and well and to be experienced today. This is the amazing news for us. God is not some dry theory to be postulated about and debated at length. His book is not an academic treatise to be analysed and rolled up into batons to whack people with. No, God wants his book to be learnt but as the menu rather than the meal. He wants to be explored as a person, not developed as a concept. Jesus brings this message to the people in no uncertain terms; God is very real and desires deep, current, empowering relationships with his people. If that is not your understanding and experience of God then you need to take stock - decision time is coming, and you really don’t want to get 3 “No”s.
Psalm 30:1-7
“His anger lasts a moment but his favour lasts a lifetime. Weeping may remain for a night but rejoicing comes in the morning” Wow. I just love the authenticity and hopefulness of it!
