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!
Waite for it... 