As I mentioned last week (i.e.: yesterday), this car has hit
the Old Testament mud: Leviticus. My personal history has me skidding out at
this book almost every time I have attempted this epic goal of biblical
scholarship (except for that one time I made it through and stalled out in
Numbers). I'm a story guy. My brain thrives on narrative and concept – not rules,
bullet points and lists. Therefore, I've decided (when necessary) to combine
the OT/Psalmverbs sections until we make it through the mud. It’s my blog and I’ll
write what I want to. Not this week, though. I also made a few references to
beards… this was unintentional, but on my mind as I had a nightmare last night
where I shaved.
Old Testament (Leviticus
4–14)
Earlier this weekend, I was talking with Steinface and
mentioned that I’d gotten to Leviticus and that this had always been a struggle
for me. Juice pointed out that the purpose of the Law was to show the
Israelites (and, subsequently, us) the pointlessness of trying to obtain
salvation on one’s own. It’d be like if some cynical genius wrote an intentionally cryptic song with no meaning whatsoever to see what intepretation folks would derive from it or if a drunk Irishman or smacked-out American decided to experiment
with the written word and ended up with two books heralded as classic works of
literature that are nothing more than incoherent ramblings and garbage. OK, ok,
I’m not gonna let my dislike of Joyce and Burroughs derail this train (coo-coo-cajoo) – all I’m
saying is that I get the concept, Lord. Is it necessary to spend a month
reading about boils and the inherent evils of crawfish?
There were a couple of story points in Leviticus, though, so
I pulled them out. The first is when the Israelites go through the motions the
very first time and make their first offering to God, resulting in a great big
explosion of acceptance. Everyone cheers and everyone’s happy and that’s
probably the last time that’s going to happen for a while. I’d be happy too,
though. I've written before about how stupid I think the Israelites are for
physically seeing the presence of God and doubting him. That said, if bearded
Moses started rolling out all these crazy rules and requirements that I need to
meet in order to worship God, I’d start questioning, “Is this the same guy that led us out of Egypt
or was that guy replaced with another magnificently-bearded hermit when we made
that pit-stop at the mountain?” To me, the fiery display God makes when
accepting the offering is a sign of validation, both of Moses and of His
people. In the same way that we all need a little bit of encouragement to
continue the race, I feel like this was God’s way of saying, “Finally, you got
something right. Keep up the good work.”
And, in typical Israelite (read: human) fashion, they screw
it up the next day. A couple of Aaron’s sons, those ever-loving priests, go
into the Tent of Meeting and offer “strange fire” to God, which displeases Him
and He strikes them down dead with “strange lightning”. My first thought when I
read this passage was that those priests decided to go smoke some of the holy sacrament in the Tent, which didn't make God too happy (because that’s reserved
for special occasions!). I kid, of course, but I do think it’s interesting that
following this story, Moses tells Aaron that he and his sons aren't allowed to imbibe when they enter the Tent. Call me an addictions counselor, but I can’t help
but see a correlation between people doing stupid things and drinking.
New Testament
(Mark 3–6)
Firstly, Mark is a fast read. Everything is very factual and
brief. Secondly, I've run into the problem I mentioned a couple of weeks ago,
where I’m now re-reading stories and concepts that I already wrote about. Oh
well.
I can’t remember if I already wrote about the following
story (probably not) and I don’t care to go back and look. But since it’s
currently the Lenten season, I feel it’s appropriate to address. Some folks ask
Jesus why John the Baptist’s disciples fast, but Christ’s do not. Jesus replies
saying that, essentially, there’s no point to fasting when you’re in the
presence of Jesus. This calls to mind the point of fasting and, to this New Orleans boy, the point of Lent. Now, forgive me if I mess this up because I’m a good Southern
Baptist, but from what I understand, the purpose of sacrificing something for
Lent is to deepen my relationship with God. If I've given up sweets, whenever I
start craving a Mounds bar, I’m supposed to remember the Lord and say a prayer
or something. It’s really an exercise to help me remember my dependence upon
Him… you know, like a less excruciating, more obvious version of Leviticus. So
the disciples, who are in the physical presence of Christ, have no reason to
fast because they’re not likely to forget about the bearded prophet healing
cripples and casting out yellow-eyed soul-suckers right in front of their
faces.
And then there’s that part where Jesus tells folks not to
hide their lamp under a bushel. While this may make you think of that song we
used to sing in children’s church, but it calls to my mind one of the hardest rocking Newsboys jams ever, one that sends chills up my spine whenever that
bridge kicks in. This song kicks off their only consistently awesome record
(says the man that hasn't listened to a Newsboys record in 10 years), so props
to Jesus for making this my jam of the day.
Psalms (36–40) and
Proverbs (10:1–12)
I’ll be straight with ya’ll – I don’t get much from the
Psalms except reminders of jams. So here’s the ones I pulled this week – with a
couple from DCT (of course).
Ps 36:1 - Your Love Oh Lord
Ps 37:14-15 - The Archers Bows Have Broken (I don’t think
this song actually has anything to do with this psalm – but David mentioned
broken bows and that’s where my head goes)
Ps 37:23-24 - What If I Stumble (This psalm actually answers
the question K-Max so earnestly asks in the chorus – “Will the love continue
when my walk becomes a crawl?” with the promise that God will uphold those
righteous folks with his mighty hand, even if they stumble)
