Tag: Aaron

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

What a mess

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Image by starline on Freepik

A “through the bible” devotion from Leviticus 8.

Shortly after beginning my first job after college, I found a church that was very welcoming and encouraging. It wasn’t long before someone asked this twenty-something if I’d be interested in teaching the high school Sunday School class. I had no experience. But I was closer to their age, so they figured I could relate to to the teenagers. I I asked, “When would I start?”

“This Sunday.”

I had no experience, training, or curriculum. But now I had my first church ministry experience. It’s not the best way to fill a teaching slot. But how many church volunteer positions have been filled by someone who said, “If no one else will do it, I will”?

My prayer was simple. “God, don’t let me mess this up.”

The consecration or ordination of Aaron and his sons to be priests is complicated. It involves specially crafted clothing, ritual washings, and animals for slaughter. It’s messy. By the time it’s over, everything is covered in oil and blood. It takes a long time. The whole ceremony was done in public and lasted seven days.

By the time it was over, Jesus was covered in blood, too. The bloody sweat of his prayers stains the ground in Gethsemane. Streaks of red drip down his face a crown of thorn. Blood spattered everywhere as he is beaten and then nailed to a cross. Blood and water spurt from his chest as a spear pierces his heart. It’s messy, as it should be, for he is a priest, too.

Want to see people get upset? Just make a mess at church. Well-meaning members go ballistic when there are crumbs in a pew, a coffee stain on the floor, fingerprints on a window, and unflushed toilets. Just imagine if Aaron or Jesus showed up!

Posted in Advent devotions

The Cast of Advent: December 5 – Aaron

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

“In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth” (Luke 1:5). 

How about that? Elizabeth was a PK – a “pastor’s kid.” At least that’s what we call them now. She was a descendant of Aaron, Moses’ brother, the first priest of Israel serving in the tabernacle. Depending on your experience, you might consider that a privilege or you might bear it as a burden. I sure hope my kids experienced the former. 

I think it’s interesting that Luke records this detail. Life can be so different when it is intimately tied to the life of a church or the spiritual life of a nation. People expect a lot of you. People treat you differently. They don’t tell you the good jokes and they often apologize for their language. As if you never said anything like that. They’re always a little intimidated by you, since you’ve got an “in” with God. 

Being childless, I don’t think Elizabeth believed she had an “in” with God. Instead she wondered why God had left her and her husband high and dry when it came to children and a future. What good did it do to grow up in a family of priests and marry a priest if you couldn’t have what you most desired, a family?

Because she was from the “daughters of Aaron,” her son would be in line to be a priest, too. I’m sure many envied her for that. Until John grew up and became a radical preacher on the banks of the Jordan, far from the temple. No one ever said it was easy to be a part of the arrival or “advent” of Christ. 

Thank you Lord that I have an “in” with you by grace. Amen.