I am not a big fan of Leviticus, in fact in my less pious
moments I wonder if the Levites didn’t make a good bit of it up just to pad
their pensions. And I question what seem to be arbitrary laws as I am highly
suspicious of the tyranny of religious systems. On the other hand I cannot
escape my Augustinian understanding of the depravity of the human creature,
mostly because I know myself all too well. So what turns out to be saving grace
for me in this lesson full of law is the refrain. “I am the Lord your God.”
It’s not a threat. It’s a promise. It’s not conditional. It’s guaranteed. The
grace that is found in the whole of scripture is God’s desire to be in relationship
with us. And like all relationships of significance there are sacrifices made
and a joining that calls for compromise. We who are less than perfect are made
perfect in God and God who is more than perfect takes on imperfection for the
sake of loving us. The part that we often miss or worse reject entirely is the
prominent feature of Leviticus. To be “holy” has more to do with how we care
for others, especially the neighbor, ones in our employ, the poor, the alien,
the deaf, and the blind than the sacrifices we make to God because God’s
holiness has everything to do with how God cares for us. So serving the other
is serving God and the refrain “I am the Lord your God” is just another way of God
saying remember “I love you”.
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