At the beginning of chapter 8 we see several things about the priesthood of Israel. First, the priest is subservient to the prophet. In the case of presenting to the masses, it is Moses, not Aaron who speaks. Second, the consecration and ordination are done in public. It is to be done for all to see, not secretly. Finally, the priests needed the same cleansing as everyone else. Religious leaders are not super human. They don’t have some magic touch that keeps them from needing salvation or being tempted. We see this again in the beginning of chapter 9. Aaron cannot be a mediator for other people until he had attoned for himself first. Spiritual leaders are not sinless. We need to recognize that and accept their faults just as we expect them to accept ours. We all need to do our best to present ourselves to God with repentence.
In chapter 9 we see Aaron give the first community sacrifices. He follows all the guildlines that God gave to them. Moses and Aaron bless the people and they see the glory of God. It was spectacular. If I saw the fire come out and consume the sacrifice like that I’d be in awe too. When God shows himself the only appropriate response is to worship him.
Now Chapter 10 is a little more depressing. After all of this, and everything they have seen God do, the position they are given, Nadab and Abihu can’t keep from focusing on their sin. They just wanted to do something so they made it up. Instead of listening and focusing on what God wanted from them, they did their own thing and it was an act of disobedience. God must be considered Holy. When we ignore him, do what he tells us not to, or try to take the authority from him, we are telling him that he is not holy. The two sons of Aaron were punished severely by God. Now, some people say that this was a little harsh. Yet, an example had to be set. They had been told all of this would happen and they did it anyways. We make our own choices and we have to live with the consequences of those choices and try to not repeat them.
We also see in Chapter 10, the only time in Leviticus that God speaks directly to Aaron. He gives instructions on proper conduct of priests. I would think after what happened to Nadab and Abihu, they would all be paying very close attention. Lol God again is setting apart his priests to show that they are different. At the time, intoxication was part of many worship services. His command that priests must not have had any alcohol before serving in the temple is the mark that God is different. He makes sure that Aaron knows his role. It is not just to give sacrifices but to teach God’s will to the people. At the very end of Chapter 10, we see something that might be considered disobedience. The remaining sons of Aaron fail to eat the sin offering portion that belongs to the priests. It seems that the stress of the day has made it where they are unable to eat. So instead of pretending to do what they are supposed to, they burned the entire thing. I am not really sure how exactly this is that much different to where they were not punished but maybe it is because God understands us. He knows how our emotions and stress affect us so he didn’t force the priests to eat when they were so distraught, especially since they were not allowed to mourn publically the deaths of their brothers.
Okay somehow I didn’t finish my reading yesterday. So I am starting today in verse 36 of Matthew 26. After the last supper, Jesus asks the disciples to Gethsemane and asks them to sit with him while he prays. It’s the middle of the night, they’ve been running around and had a stressful dinner, but Jesus asks them to pray with him. He knows what is truly coming and I don’t think the disciples get it even after all of the discussions. They fall asleep. Jesus is a little irritated that they couldn’t even just sit there with him on the night he’d be sacrificing himself for them. The disciples were not preparing themselves for what was to come as Jesus was. This would lead to them deserting him as he’d predicted and they had denied. Jesus ended his prayer with what we should all include in all of our prayers. That God’s will be done. God’s will is perfect, even when we don’t see it.
Now we see Jesus betrayed by Judas. I find it funny that Judas had to have a sign for who Jesus was. I know it was dark, but hadn’t everyone pretty much seen Jesus at this point? I can imagine the frustration, fear and anger that welled up in the disciples. One of their own betrayed them, delivered Jesus to their enemies and Jesus was being arrested. Matthew says one of them, but elsewhere we read that it was Peter, drew a sword and wounded a servant. Jesus calls him on his lack of faith in God’s plan. Jesus points out that he can call an army of angels to his rescue but this is supposed to happen. Then he shames the mob that came to seize him. Commenting on the manner in which he is being attacked. Calling them on the duplicity and secrecy of what they are doing. The whole situation scared the disciples so much that they ran away and left Jesus by himself to face his enemies.
Now the priests had a problem. They had Jesus, but they really didn’t have a lot to charge him with. They started looking for people who would lie about Jesus so that they could have him killed. These are the religious leaders! They wanted to get other people to break the law of God so that they could continue to live as they were. This is in complete contradiction to what we just read in Leviticus. The priests were supposed to uphold God’s law, encourage the people to follow it and most of all, obey God themselves. They were doing none of these things.
People came forward lying about Jesus over and over. Yet, he just stood there silently. I wish I could do that. I jump to defensive mode when I feel attacked. I need to learn to focus and not react when other’s lie or accuse me of things. Granted, Jesus had perfect knowledge and wisdom so he knew what to do, but I can still know that I am doing what God wants me to do and not become emotional in my response.
Finally, in verses 63 and 64 Jesus gives the priests what they had wanted all along. He admits that he is the son of God. Yet, he explains that he is a much more powerful Christ than the priests had expected. They didn’t seem to understand what he was saying at all. They began to beat him and mock him.
Now we come to poor Peter. He had run away in the garden but to his credit, he came back and followed Jesus. It is not clear if this was an attempt to figure out if he could help, or if he just wanted to see what would happen. I think that Peter still hadn’t come to grips with the fact that Jesus would be mocked, beaten, ridiculed and killed. I think he thought Jesus would begin to fight and when he did, Peter wanted to be there. He was unprepared for what he saw instead. People start to recognize Peter and accuse him of being with Jesus. Peter denies it the three times that Jesus prophesied and the rooster crows. God tells us clearly in the Bible that we will sin. Yet, I think often we tell ourselves that we’d never do any of that stuff. I took a class on evangelism that was taught by Ray Comfort. He opens up all of his conversations showing people that no matter how good they think they are, they are sinners. We are all lying, cheating, murderous thieving adulterers. When we realize that and understand that God was right and we were wrong, shame is often the emotion that comes out. So it was with Peter. He had called God a liar, yet he had done exactly what he said he wouldn’t. Peter left and it says in my version “wept bitterly”. This was Peter’s moment to come to grips with his own sinfulness. To start to realize that all along Jesus had loved him and taught him even though he knew what Peter was like. He could start to process that Jesus loved him unconditionally. We will see how that works out in a few chapters.
Tomorrow’s reading is Leviticus 11-12 and Matthew 27:1-31.
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