Feb. 9

Exodus 40; Leviticus 1-3

I am now back from our Lakes Area Confirmation Retreat. I feel like I can finally take a breather and get caught up. Here are links to my last two sermons, including the one I wrote both for the confirmation retreat and for Mindy to preach at our church. For some reason, I told a lot of jokes in these sermons (perhaps I’ve preached a lot of serious sermons lately):

2009-2-1 Casting Spirits

2009-2-8 Servant King

I am finally getting caught up on the readings. Exodus 32 has the story of the golden calf. What struck me in the story is a) it doesn’t take the people long to clamor for an idol to worship (doesn’t that sound familiar in America!), and b) Moses’ entreaties to God change God’s mind about wiping out the people. In Ex. 34, Moses fasts in the Lord’s presence on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Remember Jesus’ wilderness temptation? At the end of the 40 days, Moses’ face shined with God’s reflected glory. It reminds me of the t-shirt saying: Be the moon; reflect the Son.

Long ago, Leviticus was called the Priest’s Manual, and that is what it is. While the book of Exodus tells of the construction of the tabernacle, Leviticus details what went on in that tabernacle. There is a strong emphasis in Leviticus on holiness – being holy, set apart, pure, before God. While we do not follow every verse in Leviticus, about how precisely one is to be holy before God, that does not mean that we abandon the concern for holiness. It’s just that the content of what makes one holy is different for followers of Christ than it was for ancient Israel. More on that as we go along.

Matthew 25:14-46

Two wonderful and terrifying parables from Matthew 25. The first tells of the importance of using the ‘talents’ God gives us, rather than burying them in the ground. The second lifts up God’s passion for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger (think of God’s concern for resident aliens in one’s nation), the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. When we meet them, we meet Jesus. Whatever we do for them we do for Jesus. If you want to know what the content of holiness is in the New Testament (as well as in much of the Old Testament prophets), here it is in a nutshell.