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. 

Sunday 6 March

Leviticus 14:1-57

Not a high-point of scriptural revelation.  It does show us though that there is nothing too minute or too mundane for the attention of God.  If God is bothered about the colour of the mildew in my house then he is far more meticulous than I and, as a consequence, far more reliable than me.  I can be fully assured that God is never going to be caught out by the small print!  This is really amazing.  God’s horizons expand so far that our eyes water just to look at them and yet his attention is on bacteria and microbes so titchy that we need a microscope to even see them.  We know that He is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine but we also need to recognise that he is able to contemplate more tiny, mundane details than we could ever be bothered to think about.

Mark 13:1-31

I was reading an article about the fall of Jerusalem the other day and was shocked to find out that very few Christians were killed in the battle as they had fled at the very start of the trouble.  These followers of Jesus survived one of the most ruthless and blood-thirty sieges of the Roman empire because they took seriously Jesus’ command to flee to the mountains when they saw the abomination that causes desolation (vs 14).  I find this very challenging.  While it is true that Jesus used some dastardly difficult language when he talked about the End of the Age he did also give some clear, practical instructions for his followers to, well, follow.  He told people to be ready for trouble, to be ready to witness to some pretty senior fellows and to be ready not to worry about what to say as the Holy Spirit would provide them with their material.  I seem to have spent most of my life doing the exact opposite of this; I’ve gone to lengths to avoid all trouble, I’ve generally kept schtum when around anyone important and have worried a lot about how I could tell my friends about my secret Jesus addiction. So, while I know this passage is difficult I’m determined not to get stuck in the weeds nor to ignore it all together but rather, like the early Christians who fled from Jerusalem, put into practice the simple instructions of Jesus that it contains.

Psalm 30:8-12

Some scholars are convinced that this Psalm denies any belief in resurrection (ie the answer to “will the dust praise you?” is “No”.  Other scholars are convinced that the psalm affirms a belief in resurrection and that the answer to “will the dust praise you?” is “Yes”.  I don’t know either way and, if I’m honest, not a lot of me cares.  I do know though that in our darkest times as a family God did seem to remove our sackcloth and clothe us with joy, he did take our wailing and turn it into dancing and he has done more for us than we could ever, ever begin to thank him for.  

Saturday 5 March

Leviticus 13:1-59

Generally fairly dull and, if I’m honest, something I mostly skim-read but there is within this passage a truly heart-breaking picture of life outside of the grace of Jesus.  Chapter 13:45-46 condemns all people with infectious skin diseases to an awful fate.  These people were brothers and daughters, shepherds and priests, worshippers and doubters but when they contracted an infectious skin disease they had every aspect of their identity stripped away from them.  Wrenched away from all support networks (they lived alone) and divested of any personality (their clothing style was enforced upon them) it’s like these poor wretched souls were transferred into a separate race - the walking dead - whose new vocabulary had just a single word - “Unclean!”, “Unclean!”.  Taken on its own this instruction could cause you to doubt the goodness and the compassion of God.  How could He possibly prescribe this as a way to treat people, let alone the victims of a disease?  I take consolation from two facts. Firstly, we know that this was not God’s plan for the world but is a direct product of the sin of Adam.  As we have seen before in the bible, the Fall and the curse are not just theological concepts - they were tragic events with real consequences - they really do bite and they really do hurt.  Secondly, we know that it was precisely these people, these lepers, that Jesus so actively sought out.  Any perception of injustice we might have had about God’s treatment of these people is put through the mincer by the God-in-flesh’s outlandish provision for them.

Mark 12:28-44

A demonstration of loving your enemies.  We’ve seen on either side of 12:28-34 Jesus’ uncompromising assault on the teachers of the law.  He has called them hypocrites, murderers and arrogant despots and yet, when one of them approaches him Jesus is willing to engage.  A few of things that I noted about how Jesus did this: 

1. Jesus listens to his enemy - He hasn’t let cynicism towards teachers of the law monopolise his opinion and he pays sufficient attention to discern that this question is genuine. 
2. Jesus doesn’t cede ground to his enemy - He doesn’t just accept the terms of the argument set by the teacher of the law (ie which ONE commandment is most important) but he provides an answer that fits with his own understanding of the issue (ie there are TWO most important commandments).
3. Jesus affirms his enemy - Jesus probably could have taken exception to the slightly arrogant tone of the teacher of the law but instead he decides to encourage the good that he is seeing in him.
4. Jesus challenges his enemy - Jesus’ statement that the teacher of the law is not far from the kingdom of God carries with it a clear challenge; will the teacher of the law choose to step into the kingdom that he is approaching or will he remain on its fringes?

Proverbs 6:20-29

Another example of the Jewish obsession with passing clear and robust instruction from one generation to the next.  Don’t be a loaf of bread!

Friday 4 March

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!

Thursday 3 March

Leviticus 9:1-10:20

Blimey, I didn’t expect to find that in Leviticus!  I must confess that I had bought into the fairly common opinion that Leviticus is just a book that you have to get through in order to become a ‘proper’ Christian.  You know, a bit like a harrowing initiation ceremony to get into a university rugby team.  I didn’t really expect to find something so electrifying, so inspiring and so terrifying as this.  What I find so energising about this is that Moses, Aaron and the Israelites were obsessed with the same thing that we all are - getting a view on the glory of the Lord.  That is the agenda behind all the fat scraping and kidney roasting just as it is behind our worship singing and prayer ministry praying.  And what is so inspiring about it is that this rabble of wilderness dwellers actually got to see the fire of the glory of the Lord blazing out in front of them.  Through simple, dogged obedience they plodded themselves into a place where they could witness a dynamic and awe-inspiring display of God’s greatness.  The things that is so great about this is that is shows God really does reveal himself to people in overwhelmingly dramatic ways. The ‘come Holy Spirit’ stuff of our ministry times is not a postmodern interpretation of pentecost but is really grounded in the truth of the whole bible.  But we have to be careful here, and perhaps none more so that me - as naturally flippant as I am.  The glory of God is not to be presumed upon. Nadab and Abihu were key members of Israel’s worship team who were  performing “worshipful” actions and yet they were smoked to kingdom come.  I think it is only right to pause and reflect on this, honestly asking ourselves whether we really do want this holy glory of this uncompromising God to come down into our midsts.

Mark 11:27-12:12

If Jesus’ followers were afraid when he turned to walk on Jerusalem (7:32) their teeth must have nearly dropped out of their gums when they heard his parable of the tenants.  You can imagine them nervously backing away from him, surreptitiously trying to put enough distance between themselves and Jesus so that they wouldn’t become collateral damage of the spitting rage of the chief priests and the elders.  I just can’t get over the face-spanking audacity of this parable which piles blasphemy on top of blasphemy on top of blasphemy. Jesus claims not only that the entire religious authority had been killing God’s servants, nor just that Jesus himself was Yahweh’s only son and heir but also that God was now on the war-path and that he had the chief priests in his sights.  Can you imagine facing down a legion of the most powerful people in your line of work, calling out their evilness before all their followers and then claiming that a time of terrible punishment is soon to come upon them.  That is effectively the role that we have been called into, perhaps not putting things in quite such offensive terms (although Jonathan Edwards - he of the American Great Awakening fame - did almost do as much with his “miserable sinners in the hands of an angry God” routine) but still recognising and acting upon the agressive overthrow of the Kingdom of darkness by Jesus’ kingdom of light.  Perhaps that is the most significant thing I am going to take away from this passage today; we, as followers of Jesus, are called to move into conflict, not to edge away from it.  We have been bought by Jesus to join him in his plundering of Satan’s domain and, even though that may scare us witless, we can no more just walk away from it than Jesus could just walk away from the chief priests and elders.

Psalm 29:1-11

This language is breathtaking.  I love the sound of the phrase “the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh”.  It’s just so poetic and glorious.  Somehow, “the Lord shakes the bit of scrubland next to Worcester Park station” just doesn’t sound so beautiful.  Maybe I should move...

Wednesday 2 March

Leviticus 7:11-8:36

It’s encouraging to see that the tabernacle was not just about atoning for sin.  Offerings were also made to give special thanks to God (the fellowship offering) and to ordain the priests for service.  The fellowship offering feels like a vicar’s tea party with people bringing a selection of cakes for the priests to eat.  And I particularly enjoy the fact that the priests had to finish them all off on the day they were given (7:15) - what a life of sacrifice they lived! 

The ordination stuff is interesting.  First of all the priests have to dress up like Mr Miyagi from Karate Kid then they undertake a drawn out process of purification; putting hands on a bulls head (I assume it was already dead when they did this, otherwise this ceremony seems to take on a whole other angle??) and then on a rams head and then on another rams head before being smeared with a bit of blood on their ear, thumb and toe (I’ve no idea why those bits of the body were chosen).  Finally they go through the positive empowering or anointing phase being flicked with oil and having a 7-day-long meat fondue at the entrance of the tent.  I don’t suppose any of these practices are crying out to be reinstated today but the priorities they reveal are valuable, especially as we now have the priesthood of all believers; both purity and anointing are absolutely critical, as is obedience to the commands of the Lord.

Mark 11:1-25

I don’t know whether you would have seen the WWJD wrist-bands that were sported by every hip christian dude (including yours truly) during the 1990s.  They helped us ask ‘What Would Jesus Do’ which in turn led us to doing the kindest, most loving thing in every situation.  So that time that I stole a donkey, well I couldn’t understand what the police’s problem was.  And why was my neighbour so angry when I made his apple tree wither?  Don’t even get me started on how out of order my vicar was after that church-trashing episode!  

I guess my point is that the call to walk like Jesus walked is not as simple as just acting like a hippy.  Jesus was such a provocative revolutionary I just don’t know that I could never begin to live up to him.  It is a tricky thing to emulate the blazing light of the world! So, I think walking like Jesus is about following him, not copying him.  I think the biblical call is more for us to ask him (through faith-filled prayer and repentance) to empower us to do what he wants us to, rather than relying on our own ability to do what we think he would have done.  Jesus tore down a kingdom and established a new one of his very own, we are called to join him in his work but we are only ever going to get anywhere through complete and utterly groveling dependance upon him.

Psalm 28:1-9

I love the fact that in every context David always seemed to have the Lord as his primary focus. God was so dominant in David’s thoughts that you sometimes wonder if he ever thought about anyone else.

Tuesday 1 March

Leviticus 5:14-7:10

Woah there Moses, you might say, is it really fair to call a little bit of dishonesty being “unfaithful to the Lord” (6:1-3)?  Aren’t you being just a little bit super-spiritual, going and getting all uppity about a tiny bit of rule bending?  After all, we know Jacob deceived just about everyone he met and yet the Lord was still willing to have a little wrestle with him.  

Well, what I would say is that we see here in Leviticus the flip-side of our sinfulness.  Previously, in the story of Jacob and his chums we looked at the human side of the drama; how individuals were called into God’s redemption narrative and how he walked them towards his promise.  Here, we see God’s perspective.  While God joyfully acts in grace, overlooking people’s sins and drawing them to himself he can’t just ignore the junk that these same people keep spewing out into his world.  It’s almost like every decision to disrespect another person, every choice to play down the importance of God is an act of pollution putting something toxic out into the spiritual atmosphere.  God doesn’t instantly enforce on every individual the punishment for this polluting - if he did there would be no-one left - but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the pollution can’t be tolerated and that amends needs to be made.  So, while we wait for the true sacrifice that will deal with this problem once and for all, Leviticus installs a series of offering that point out to Israel the issue their sin is causing for God.  The aroma of sizzling fat is a constant reminder that while God is gracious and compassionate and has committed himself to his people, he also doesn’t like sin and won’t tolerate a single piece of pollution in his atmosphere.

Mark 10:32-52

The point about the downwardly mobile nature of faith has already been made over the last couple of days so, while Mark lays it on even thicker here, I think I’ll focus on other things today.  

I particularly like verse 32.  The disciples are astonished and the people following are afraid but it is not clear to me quite what was causing such fervour.  Maybe these were just the default emotions of anyone who got close to Jesus.  To those who saw a bit, it all looked pretty terrifying and, for those who saw a bit more, this fear metamorphasised into an eyeball-straining state of astonishment.  In fact, I think these vivid emotions were probably prompted by the fact that Jesus had just made the unbelievably ballsy move of turning to head directly for his enemies HQ; Jerusalem.  A lot of people talk about sacrifice but it is a scary thing when you find yourself aligned with someone who actually intends to become one.  This aspect of Jesus’ character is one that I completely admire in him - he was utterly, utterly brave.  How could he go through with this even knowing that he would have to give himself as a ransom?  How on earth could he have taken step after step towards confrontation and death? I’m sure his emotions were as wired as those of his followers at this point but incredibly, somehow he still managed to control his muscles and steel his resolve and walk, slowly but surely towards his fate.

Proverbs 6:12-19

Aren’t “a lying tongue” and “a false witness who pours out lies” pretty much the same thing?  Maybe Solomon was right the first time and there are only six things that the Lord hates.  I’m just surprised prunes didn't make the list - they always struck me as the most sickening of foods.