Jesus. PETA. And a tough read.

Leviticus. After pages and pages of what gets burnt, sprinkled, not touched, clean, unclean, who to marry, who not to marry, slave purchase agreements and faulty out of warranty clauses, etc.All I can say is wow. This is non stop.

It's good stuff and all, but I am earnestly just trying to get my head wrapped around it. How is it relevant? What's the purpose? The questions fall like a Houston summer rain, however one question sticks. One thought on perspective.

With Jesus and the cross how is this all important?

Progressive revelation makes sense I guess. Jesus came, tore the curtain, redeemed, saved a few sheep, a couple of goats, man kind. Life moves on.

Still, why is Leviticus important?

I think maybe its important because I think Leviticus is like that part in someone's Journey where they just left church camp, and they are really pumped about God, and they really want to make a difference, so they destroy all their CD's they get rid of their movie collection, tear down the posters, give up television, the list of sacrificial lambs goes on and on. And I think its funny how in this stage of our progression with Christ, this Leviticus part of our journey, we give up these things as if they matter. We give up these things as if that pigeon still matters, if that spotless goat still matters. We give these things up and we hold onto our selfishness. Our hate. Our bitterness. Maybe in my Leviticus, I was sacrificing sheep to ignore what He was really after.

My heart. My being. He was really after me.

Jesus talks about progressive revelation, He makes it sound like someone falling in love.

He talks about it like a story of a Groom. He talks about it like the story of His bride.

Joy and Fear

There's a great scene in Leviticus 9:23, where after receiving all the requirements for the tabernacle and the offerings, the people build the tabernacle and God's presence inhabits it. Then, Moses and Arron went into the tabernacle. When the came out "the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering ... AND WHEN THE PEOPLE SAW IT, THEY SHOUTED FOR JOY AND FELL FACE DOWN."

Don't you love that. The presence and glory of God produces joy and fear. They shouted for joy (YAHOO!!!!!) then fell face down (HOLY POWER WOW EEK!!!). God bring us into your presence so we can experience this intense meeting of Joy and Fear.

A discussion on yeast

Here's a link on the meaning of YEAST. I thought it really made some since. It mentions that unleavened bread was a result of a quick escape. It doesn't really explain why Moses had mentioned the no yeast rule prior to the Exodus, an explanation that can be assumed is that unleavened bread is faster to cook.
A few quick notes:
1) It can be assumed the leavening process was picked up from the Egyptians during captivity, not definite but possible.
2) Leaven in this time is about process, time, how something was done, yeast was not yeast as we normally think of it. You had to have some grain go through the "leaven" process and then add it to the bread

I guess just throwing something in the ol' crock pot is a bad idea right before liberation from bondage. From the brief research I have done, it looks like the bread was unleavened because the Israelites really, really, really, wanted to get out of there.

Interesting enough the author discusses bread as a symbol of God's Word, and unleavened bread represents Gods Word before it has 'yeast' added to it.

Peace!

ps Also, unleavened crackers used at Passover are called Matzo, a name similar to Matzah found in Matzah Ball soup.

Understanding vs. Denial

Matthew 10:34-40 was one of "those" passages of scripture. The kind that basically slaps you in the face, it shakes your values. Your beliefs. Your understanding of Christianity.

Reading the passage I was perplexed, having read it before, having heard it taught before, I had this reaction of wanting to really get down to the bottom of what the Big J was getting at here. After reading a brief commentary, I realized, a lack of understanding was not the problem here, but acceptance of the teaching. The commentary offered a simple to the point statment:

...the vast majority of people still cling desperately to life (compare Eph 5:29; Epict. Disc. 2.22.15-16). But the moment we become Christ's followers, our own lives and wills become forfeit; we die with Christ to sin (that is, to the right to make selfish choices; Rom 6:3-4) and choose a path that could lead any day to our execution for Christ's name (Mt 16:24). Although we may speak glibly today of "our cross" as the need to put up with Aunt Molly or a leaky roof, "taking up the cross" in Jesus' day meant being forced to bear the instrument of one's execution past a jeering mob to the site of one's imminent death as a condemned criminal (see Hengel 1977)


The words are writing difficult now. Syntax and sentence structure, and cohesive thought are being over ruled by this thought:

Christian community is made of men and women living selflessly for others. It's giving up your sunday afternoon to fix a car for someone you've never met with a church you don't go to. Its giving water to people you don't know in a part of the world you don't understand and that may not even like you. It's going to baseball, soccer, and basketball games when you'd rather be taking a nap. Its not allowing inconvenience to blockade you from a divine moment of not being selfish.

Bad Aliens

Poor Abimelech. Abraham, an alien traveling through the land of Gerar, fears the people there and so he conceives a deception. He decides to tell them that Sarah is his sister rather than his wife. (It turns out the Sarah is actually his half sister, but a terrible deception nonetheless.) King Abimelech takes Sarah as his wife. God comes to Abimelech in a dream and tells him that Sarah is Abe's wife. Apparently a God-fearing man, Abimelech takes Sarah back to Abraham and says... "How have I wronged you that you would bring such great guilt upon me and my kingdom. What was your reason for doing this." The reason is obvious. Abraham feared men more than he feared God. Afraid for his own life and not willing to entrust his protection to God, he takes the extraordinary action of offering up his wife. Unbelievable.

What's the lesson here for us? First, if there is a sense in which we are "aliens and strangers" in this world, the last thing we need to do is create mistrust. This defames the reputation of God in our culture. Half-truths are deceptions nonetheless. Secondly, we've got to know God well enough to fear him more than men and entrust ourselves to his care. Incredibly, Jacob pursues the same course of self-protection in Gerar a generation later by offering Rebekah as his sister. "The sins of one generation visted upon the next."

Genesis: A good not so good place to start.

Genesis is the wild west. Its the new frontier. It reads like the narration of an epic tale liking to Lord of the Rings or Conan the Barbarian. Lawrence of Arabia with out the guns (or planes). Primitive, new, undiscovered worlds colliding and growing daily with the interaction of its Creator. Stories of travel, adventure, war, destruction, incest, moments that bring wonder.

All of this a story of Gods interaction with man. It's quiet amazing to think about, almost like it is in a distant land long ago.

But it is our story.

At times I read and think, "Ok so I'm not the guy who God's angels are trying to rescue from the destruction of my city, btw I'll offer my virgin daughters to the angry mob, because that will make thinkgs all better guy." But I'm a guy, and I don't do things right, and because of Jesus who I read about in the parallel chapters, I too can have interactions with God. The thought provoked by Genesis for me, is: How? How is God intersecting and interacting in my life? How is He intersecting in the lives of others? What prejudices are blinding me from seeing God interact in the lives of the imperfect?

It's amazing you read the stories, and almost in passing a fact like "at that time men began to call on the name of the Lord." [Gen. 4.26]" is brought into the drama. Amazing. Hundreds of years in four chapters and men begin calling on God. The things I take for granted. What an amazing book this is!

The Covenants

There are several (seven) major covenants God has given his creation. This is the first of seven. Some are conditional and some are unconditional. Gen 9:8-17 "Noahic Coventant" is an unconditional covenant with every living thing on earth. Every covenant has a sign or seal "like the signature on a contract" the sign for this one was "rainbow" the sign for the covenant with Abraham was the circumcision and so on.There are 3 main colors in the rainbow (a trinity) and from them 7 other colors derive. (7 the perfect number) for more food for thought visit: http://crystal-cure.com/color-emotions2.html

posted by Ricardo.