Monday 7 March

Leviticus 15:1-16:34

I don’t suppose you’ve ever discussed chapter 15 in house group?  It details the discharges and bodily functions that we keep behind closed doors and feels bizarre to read in God’s word.  But, the truth is, that chapter 15 points to the grisly reality of humanity and to the absolute otherness of God.  These discharges are part of normal life - sex and sores, periods and bleeding etc - and yet they need to be atoned for before God can be approached.  This is the message of Leviticus - God and people should not mix.  God and people cannot mix.  It’s like putting metal in a microwave.  And that is where the glorious mystery of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, comes in.  This annual slaughter of bulls and goats is a little like a chemical formulae that somehow transforms metal into the state that it can sit in a microwave and not explode.  It is a yearly reminder that any approach to God defies the rules of physics and confounds the nature of things.  For people to be able to come into the presence of God is a mystifying miracle of mercy every time it happens.  It is a truly shocking privilege that we can, as Hebrews puts it, approach God’s throne of grace.

Mark 13:32-14:16

I’ve been deeply convicted of how I see Jesus, love Jesus and worship Jesus and yet choose to do things that I think will be effective rather than waiting to hear what he wants me to do.  This passage speaks into this conviction again.  Jesus unambiguously describes his followers as servants who have been given assigned tasks.  He calls us to primarily be watchers, not doers.  We should keep watch, be on guard, be alert.  This alertness needs to be to him and the things he is calling us to.  Not to plough on ahead on our preset agendas, even if they are ones we believe fully meet his own priorities - even relentless care for the poor can be a distraction from the most important thing.   We have to completely and utterly submit ourselves to Jesus, to waste all of our earthly resources on him and his call even if there is no obvious “result” in doing so.  When we start asking “what would be most effective” or “what would help most people” or even “what is on my heart to do” we need to be very careful that we are not starting to be alert to results rather than watch the Lord.  This thing is ultimately about keeping our eyes fixed on him, on straining to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches and to do whatever we see the Father doing.  We need to curb our independent spirits and come, day after day, as slaves to their master’s table.

Psalm 31:1-8

We see here Jesus’ last words before he died.  His declaration “into your hands I commit my Spirit” was not a final statement of completion but a hope-laden cry for help; people hearing him cry out would probably have expected him to finish the psalmist’s phrase “... redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth”.  The fact that Jesus didn’t get this far left this idea hanging in the air like a circling bird of prey.