A New Year

It's now year 5769; Rosh Hashanah has come and gone last week...and another year of reading the Torah draws quickly to a close. Yom Kippur and Sukkot are quickly coming. Do I spend a whole day in mourning for my sin? I should. But thanks to the atoning work of Christ, I'm covered. I still should be sorry for my sin. Here's how Paul says I should do things: 

"Romans 12

A Living Sacrifice

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Perhaps I should spend the day celebrating. That's probably a bit too disrespectful of me...And Sukkot is a time to celebrate the harvest and think about what's to come. I will try to post more after we talk about this tonight. 

Another year has come and gone. I can't say that my life is much different...but it has been a year of growth and study. Maybe I'll look back on this as a year of preparation. For what? I don't know. 

Good words to share

From my e-mail; a study by John Piper

“So I assume this psalm is in the Bible by God’s design and that if we listen carefully, if we watch this psalmist struggle, if we meditate on this instruction day and night, our thoughts about God and life, on the one hand, and our emotions, on the other hand, will be shaped by God. And we will become like a tree that bears fruit and whose leaves don’t wither when the drought of oppression and discouragement and turmoil comes.”

What an assumption!

The Bible's Karma

Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that
Changed the world


And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness
In everything

Grace
She's got the walk
Not on a wrapper on chalk
She's got the time to talk

She travels outside
Of karma, karma
She travels outside
Of karma

When she goes to work
You can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty
In everything
      ~~~U2, Grace from All That You Can’t Leave Behind

What a ridiculous title I have given this post...but it’s one of those irreconcilable intersections that the Bible teaches. We finished Leviticus last night in our study. It’s the second round in this study cycle...so it’s not as foreign or as distant. Of course, it was written for a particular community at a particular time. We will never really stop struggling with how that fits into our lives today.

The book ends with a promise of blessings...IF....you keep the commandments. Isn’t that karma?

Listen (From Lev 26):

3 " 'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.

  9 " 'I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.

14 " 'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.



This is the very end of the book...so it’s important. Is that okay that we can’t reconcile this? Maybe our lives are lived at the junction of karma and grace, fully knowing that God can do whatever He wants? Last night in Bible study, we were following our notes and found an allusion to this passage from Isaiah:

Isaiah 58
True Fasting
 1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
       Raise your voice like a trumpet.
       Declare to my people their rebellion
       and to the house of Jacob their sins.
 2 For day after day they seek me out;
       they seem eager to know my ways,
       as if they were a nation that does what is right
       and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
       They ask me for just decisions
       and seem eager for God to come near them.
 3 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
       'and you have not seen it?
       Why have we humbled ourselves,
       and you have not noticed?'
       "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
       and exploit all your workers.
 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
       and in striking each other with wicked fists.
       You cannot fast as you do today
       and expect your voice to be heard on high.
 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
       only a day for a man to humble himself?
       Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
       and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
       Is that what you call a fast,
       a day acceptable to the LORD ?
 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
       to loose the chains of injustice
       and untie the cords of the yoke,
       to set the oppressed free
       and break every yoke?
 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
       and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
       when you see the naked, to clothe him,
       and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
       and your healing will quickly appear;
       then your righteousness will go before you,
       and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
       you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
       "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
       with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
       and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
       then your light will rise in the darkness,
       and your night will become like the noonday.
 11 The LORD will guide you always;
       he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
       and will strengthen your frame.
       You will be like a well-watered garden,
       like a spring whose waters never fail.
 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
       and will raise up the age-old foundations;
       you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
       Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
 13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
       and from doing as you please on my holy day,
       if you call the Sabbath a delight
       and the LORD's holy day honorable,
       and if you honor it by not going your own way
       and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
 14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
       and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
       and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
       The mouth of the LORD has spoken.


So doesn’t this sound like we have to do things right to find blessings?

But  yet...but yet...

There is grace.

No one says it better than Bono:

[Grace] travels outside
Of karma

Here’s an interview he did:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2005/bono-0805.html

I so need to read this book.

“It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.”

I’m not sure what questions to even ask any more. But this tension is so strong in the Bible. There’s grace and there’s karma (for a lack of a better term). How does this work out?

The answer, which seems like a pat answer, is Jesus. He didn’t sin yet he was punished for EVERY sin. That’s not a pat answer. That is the answer.

And so is wisdom:

“Get wisdom, get understanding;
       do not forget my words or swerve from them.
 6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
       love her, and she will watch over you.
 7 Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
       Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
 8 Esteem her, and she will exalt you;
       embrace her, and she will honor you.
 9 She will set a garland of grace on your head
       and present you with a crown of splendor."

(Proverbs 4)

A Great High Priest Whose Name is Love

Parashat Hashavuah

Shemini - "Eighth"
Torah : Leviticus 9:1-11:47
Haftarah : 2 Samuel 6:1-7:17
Gospel : Luke 7-9

My efforts towards this blog, ahem, have been lacking as of late. I think it's because I've been reading at the park...away from my desk. Of course, my efforts today have been thwarted. I have been distracted and looking at other things and reading in fits and starts. That's the story of my life. :)

In this passage, we're considering the start of the priesthood. Aaron and his sons have spent seven days sequestered in preparation for the start of serving the people. Then God is made manifest to these people. Of course the connections to Jesus are manifold here (does that count as a pun? I meant it to). 

Jesus entered the priestly office after his sacrifice and his own spilled blood. Some in the early church called the day of the resurrection the eighth day (it was the day after the sabbath...the seventh day). It was Jesus' prep time for being a priest. Of course, his work is better and more full than the Aaronic priesthood. 

When Aaron raised his hands to bless the people, he was connecting God and the people. Jesus raises scarred hands to bless us. Thank you. How else can I respond to that other than to give my life to thanking Him for this. 

This passage gets us to the center of the Torah. We have this verse: "But Moses searched carefully for the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned up." (Lev. 10:16). And the two center words are carefully searched (darosh, darash). Those are from the root of rosh-dalitet-sin from which midrash is drawn. The center of the scriptures invites us to carefully seek. What a wonderful picture for Torah study!!!!

I'm looking forward to talking about keeping Kosher. The notes suggest that Jesus and his disciples kept Kosher. I don't doubt that...but I still want to know why God demands Kosher eating and how that applies to us today. 

This passage

Here's the Sidra we discussed:

Parashat Hashavuah


Ki Tisa "When you take"
Torah : Exodus 30:11-34:35
Haftarah : 1 Kings 18:1-39
Gospel : Mark 13-14

It seems to me this is a higher point in the narrative than even the 10 commandments ceremony. It comes after the highest high and the lowest low. God is tenderly dealing with Moses here ...and reveals more of who he is.

God's 13 attributes

Last night at Bible study, we made it through three lessons; two previous weeks of bad weather had kept us apart. It was wonderful to get back together to share our lives and what we’re learning from God’s very words in the Torah. We discussed Exodus 25-31. This is post the 10 commandments and the high point of Israel pledging to be God’s people. Right after that, a dark episode happens. They turn their energy and devotion not to their creator, but to an idol they constructed. God is not pleased, to say the least. As punishment, Moses grinds up the golden calf and makes them drink it. Not everyone survives.

It’s at this point God reveals who he really is to Moses.

Moses and God are in dialogue here in Exodus 33:

“12 Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
 15 Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"
 17 And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."
 18 Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."
 19 And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."

And God puts Moses in the cleft of the rock and reveals his nature.

Listen to who God is (Exodus 33):

“6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."”

God is loving and forgiving even though he is just.

And we have Jesus, our high priest, who took the punishment for us ... And connects us to God.

My favorite passage from Hebrews 10:

“18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. 19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

God is a just and holy God, but he also loves his people. Jesus serves as the intermediary between us and God’s justice that we can’t meet. What encouraging words. Lord, help us to draw near to you and hold to this hope.

Christ and the tabernacle

It's about time that I return to posting. We've had trouble assembling the group. Jackie is in Florida and Joyce is in Arizona. Plus, the weather's been horrible and Aaron is moving. But still...we solider on. The Torah cycle continues!

Last week was an off week for us, so now we're reading:

Terumah : "Heave offering"
Torah : Exodus 25-27:19
Haftarah : 1 Kings 5:2-6:13
Gospel : Mark 10-11

Tetzaveh - "You shall command"
Torah : Exodus 27:20-30:10
Haftarah : Ezekiel 43:10-27
Gospel : Mark 12

These two sidra delve deeply into the tabernacle and the priesthood. Of course the illusions to Christ are manifold.

Tabernacle:
John 1:14...and the Word became flesh and tabernacled with us...

God instructs Moses to build a tabernacle ... a copy of what is in heaven. Why does heaven have a tabernacle? I have no idea what the answer is to that. But it's really clear that Jesus dwells with us...and he is anointed with the Spirit of God.

And God dwells in us too. The Israelites had to go to a building to worship God...and we God dwelling within us. We are the temple. Does that change how we live? It should!!

The Ark:
God also tells Moses to build the ark, the earthly throne of God. Just as God spoke to Moses from atop the ark (the mercy seat), Jesus speaks God's word to us. The angels look at the ark ... as the angels look at the throne of God in heaven.

The Menorah:
This one is clear; Jesus is the light of the world.

The veil:
When Jesus was crucified, the veil in the temple was rent; access was granted to God like never before.

In Tetzaveh, we see how Jesus is the Messiah Priest, Priest in the Order of Melchizedek, and the Intercessor.

There are many types of priests, and many types are listed in the Bible. We learn about the Egyptian priests, Melchizedek and Jethro, and the Aaronic priests. Jesus is the priest...but not in the same way that Aaron and the other cohenim are. Did you know that Aaron's turbin had the name of God engraved in God on it? It's God's authority of the priesthood. And the common people are told to bind the words of God on their hands and foreheads.

"There will no longer be any curse: and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His fame, and His name will be on their foreheads." Rev. 22:3-4

Jesus is a priest...he is a Messiah Priest, priest over the heavenly temple. And he "ever lives and pleads for me."

Again, I return to the song Before the Throne of God Above

"Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart."

An we have another thread in the tapestry of God being our God and we being His people. The Tabernacle reminds us that God dwells with us...and we're they're with him.

Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus!