Bible in one year, day 59 Leviticus 4:1-5:13; Mark 10:13-31; Psalm 27:7-14 Leviticus 4:1-5:13… This really is all very gruesome, isn’t it, all this slaughtering and draining of blood. Especially if you’re an animal rights campaigner! But I want to highlight two of the sins mentioned in chapter 5 that are forbidden. The first one is a failure to ‘speak up when he hears a public charge to testify regarding something he has seen or learned about.’ In other words, don’t be responsible for justice not being done. It can be scary to speak up on public matters, to stand up for what is right and to make sure that the weak, the poor and the marginalised are treated fairly. But God values justice and calls us to speak up for it too. Secondly, don’t make promises lightly. ‘If a person thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything… even though he is unaware of it… he will be guilty.’ In other words, if you’re going to promise something, don’t do it thoughtlessly. Think it through: are you going to be able to keep this oath? Think about marriage, for example… When you get to the point when you promise to love someone ‘in sickness and in health,’ do you really mean it? It would be good to think that through before you arrive at the church! Think of what sickness could mean. It could be that your wife or husband gets a horrible degenerative disease (and I really hope and pray that they don’t, but they might). You might have to feed them, clean up after them, give up your own free time to be with them 24 hours a day and so the list goes on. When you made that promise on your wedding day, did you really think it through or did you make it carelessly? And I love the fact that God has made provision for the poor amongst the Israelites. Faith in God is not just for the elite and, actually, the Bible’s pretty clear that God is concerned with the poor (maybe more so than with the middle classes and upwards). For a sin offering, ‘if he cannot afford a lamb, he is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the Lord.’ And if ‘he cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, he is to bring as an offering for his sin a tenth of an ephah of fine flour.’ And, the great thing is, these offerings are no less ‘effective’ than if a rich man brings a sheep or a goat without defect. It just goes to show how eager God is to forgive our sins. Mark 10:13-31… The disciples are still such goofs – as if Jesus would turn anyone away, especially little children. Indeed, ‘the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’ The story of the rich young man I kind of think of as a Deal or No Deal scenario. This young guy’s done incredibly well, he comes to the table with his list of achievements – and they’re pretty impressive. He’s kept all the commandments, which is more than most of us can say. But he’s also got this big box full of money and possessions. So, Jesus offers him a deal. On top of all the commandments that you’ve kept, all you now need to do is let go of your box of wealth and come and follow me… deal or no deal. On the TV show, if the competitor wants to take the deal, they need to let go of their box. Then their hands are free and they’re able to take the money. Here, this rich young man had to let go of all that he was holding on to – his money and his stuff – and give it to the poor. Unless he let go of it, he wouldn’t be able to take the offer that Jesus was holding out to him. And, though the passage doesn’t tell us one way or the other, it looks like he said ‘no deal.’ ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ Deal or no deal? It’s not necessarily money or possessions for us but we need to think about what it is we’re holding on to that is stopping us taking hold of what Jesus offers us. What do we need to let go of to take the deal? And whatever we let go of, we’ll receive so much more back even if it also comes with persecutions (v.30). But it’ll be worth it for our eternity with Jesus. Psalm 27:7-14… As we saw with the children in Mark, God never turns anyone away. Even if ‘my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.’ And it’s so true. There’s nothing we can ever have done or no situation that we can be going through that would make us unacceptable to God. He will welcome us in, change us, care for us and nurse us back to full health. Knowing that fact, the psalmist is rightly ‘confident of this: ‘I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living’ – here and now!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:24:52 +0000
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