Leviticus 21:1-22:33
There are at least two things in this passage that kick forward into the bits of the bible that are a little more familiar. Firstly, we see that priests are not meant to mourn and bury any people they know other than their mother, father, son, daughter, unmarried sister and presumably wife, although I can’t see that mentioned. More than that, the High Priest is not even allowed to enter a place where there is a dead body. So, when Jesus in Luke 9:59 suggests to the man that he should proclaim the kingdom of God rather than going and burying his father Jesus is effectively laying the High Priest’s obligation upon the man. He is saying to him; my call on you is more important than the call on the Levitical priests and is, in fact, as important as the once-in-a-generation call upon the High Priest of the temple. As Leviticus has shown us over and over and over again, that is quite some call!
Secondly we see, quite astoundingly, that after all these rules have been given, Yahweh tells the Israelites that he is the Lord who is making them holy. Note that, it is God who is making the Israelites holy, not them who are making themselves holy by following all these rules. This is amazing. And it has always been the character of God right through the Old Testament, into the New Testament and beyond. God is the one working in us and for us, drawing us out of the pit and setting our eyes on the prize. This thing has never been about us people and it never will be. It is his grace, his effort, his power and his life being put in us for his glory and his renown. Leviticus is about how God’s work is going to impact upon us, not the other way around.
Mark 15:1-32
It is amazing how this narrative runs. Every detail, every last event screams painfully close to your ear that it is Jesus who should be pitied here - he is kicked around and abused and insulted. This occasion should undeniably prove that Jesus got it wrong and the human authority structures had prevailed yet again. And yet Mark sticks the sword of the Spirit of truth into each of these authority structures such that they are the ones to be pitied and Jesus is the one to be revered. We pity Pilate that he could be so stupid to choose to murder God just to satisfy a fickle crowd. We pity the soldiers that they thought the most valuable thing they could get out of the crucifixion was a small portion of Jesus’ clothes. And finally we pity the chief priests and teachers of the law that they could mock God and not grasp that God cannot be mocked and they would reap what they sowed. It is as if Mark is peering up out of the page at us and is urging us to see through human apparitions of power and to align ourselves with the KING OF THE JEWS.
Psalm 31:19-24
It is just so great that we can feel we are completely cut off from God’s sight and yet can know that he hears our cries for mercy.
