Yesterday's final chapter of Exodus was a nice little break before we launched Leviticus today. All that hard work, preparing the Tabernacle, and ahhhhh.... God's presence fills the dwelling!
Now Leviticus...and how do we read this stuff... Last year Elizabeth Parrotte shared with me that the bloodiness was a bit of a surprise, and wondered at the logic of how sacrificing an animal could be in any way salvific for us... Fair question!
A few things to keep in mind that may be helpful...
Ancient religion was bloody--from that of the Ancient Near East to the Celts and Norse in Northern Europe... I don't know of any exceptions--though am willing to learn what I don't yet know. And ancient religion was carnal in many ways, echoes of which we will hear every time the Israelites are told not to have sex with temple prostitutes like those nations surrounding them...
At the heart of ancient religions, including those of the Ancient Near East, is a concern for life... hence the Jewish call, "La Hayem!" To Life! So... a concern for life's creation and life's sustenance... Given that life was so precarious, this focus on life is not a surprise...
So the offerings of cattle, grain, oil can be understood as offerings of things that were once living or offerings of things that sustain life.
The offerings could be thank offerings (thanking God/gods for life), or payment for forgiveness (asking for life to be sustained despite sin)...
Worship in the Early Church comes fast on the heels of this rather bloody reality... and we hear echoes of it every time the priest stands at the altar, breaks the host, and says, "Alleluia, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us..." Or when we say or sing "O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world... have mercy upon us..." When we say Jesus died for our sins, we are drawing on a theology of salvation that echoes the traditions we will read in Leviticus. Theologians have interpreted the meaning of his death in other ways, (recall Father Joe's "Salvation Flow Chart" from the Lenten Series last year... may have to ask him to let me share that with you...) but one understanding of the meaning and import of the death of Jesus on the Cross draws heavily from this ancient religious culture.
It's also good to remember that this part of scripture is both written by and then redacted by faithful people who were concerned for the very survival of their nation, a nation they understood to have divine purpose. Again, from my Hebrew Bible professor, Kathe Darr...though it could have been said by my International Relations profs from undergrad: when nations are fighting with one another, setting themselves apart from one another, they typically criticize two things: what they eat and how they have sex. Think about how Germans were referred to as Krauts around the time of WWII... for a Rated G example...
So when you hear railings against temple prostitution, or what to eat and what not to eat, lest Israel be like other nations, recall that at the heart of this sacred story is a nation seeking its meaning, living its divine calling, setting itself apart as it understood God had set it apart, and struggling to survive on a wonderful strip of land that the larger nations around it found desirable both as land to possess,
and land to traverse when those larger nations wanted to go to war against one another...
Finally, remember that our good friends with The Bible Challenge gave us permission to skim over parts that seem ponderous, such as lists... I'd say the same here in Leviticus. Read for the context of what is being said, and the concerns-- what's being "fixed" by the various rituals, and the meaning implied by the same.... but if it starts to get to be too much, or you find your eyes just skimming over the page, it's ok... pray, skim, and move on to the Psalm and Gospel...
I'm grateful to be on this journey with you. I'm grateful most of all for our Savior, who, by his life, death and resurrection, has freed us from the burden of these rituals... whether they be sacrifices of cattle, sheep, or grain... (though I'd pick a grain offering any day... in a pan or otherwise :) )
Peace,
Paige+
