Title Leviticus 14:1-57
Contents
<Text> Leviticus 14:1-57
Chan 290 “We always betray the Lord”
If Leviticus 13 that we looked at last Saturday was about leprosy and leprosy on clothing, today's text is related to that. The summary can be divided into three parts.
Regarding the ritual of purification of a leper, verses 1 to 9 are about the procedure for confirming the purity of a person suffering from leprosy when he is cleansed. This is verse 2 of the text. “This is the ordinance for the leper on the day he is to be cleansed, so that he will be brought to the priest.”
The same content is expressed like this in the new standard translation. “When people bring a patient with a malignant skin disease to the priest” At that time, leprosy was a heavenly punishment, the result of sin against God. So the unclean leper had to live alone outside the camp. However, in today's text, God is telling Moses, "The leper himself should not go to the priest, but the people of the community should bring him to the priest." Conversely, even if he is a sinner who is being punished and punished, the community of faith should not turn away from him, but always take care of him with interest.
There are Christians all around us who have committed felonies and are imprisoned and isolated. Of course, you can accuse him, saying, 'How can a Christian do such a thing!' Because in his life, the names of all of us Christians, including the Lord, are at stake. Therefore, whenever we hear such news, we are more indignant than in the case of the criminal.
However, through today's text, God is saying, "Even if it is a great sinner who has been punished by heaven, the community must not turn away from him." We must take care of him and take care of him until he recovers.” This is because God's original intention is that "Hate sin, but do not hate people, and embrace it to the end."
We were all sinners who had no choice but to die before God. But Jesus Christ our Lord did not turn away from us. He took interest in us who were sinners and came to this lowly and lowly earth. And he did not hesitate to tear his own body to pieces on the cross to care for our souls. Because of the Lord's love, we who were sinners have gained the status of children of God.
Because we are such a person, even if we are Christians who have committed a great sin in our eyes, we must never turn away from him. You must not condemn him and completely push him out of your heart. Because God is the ‘God of restoration’. It is because He is the ‘God of love and mercy’ who surely restores him from sin.
Aren't we ourselves witnesses to it? Therefore, we should not separate the Christian who has fallen into sin by continuing to condemn him, but rather approach him with constant concern and love in anticipation of the day the Lord will restore him.
Verses 10 to 20 record the four sacrifices offered by the healer of leprosy - the guilt offering, the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the grain offering. A trespass offering is a sacrifice required when a person has acted inappropriately or refused an obligation to God or to another person. The trespass offering is the sacrifice offered in order to be forgiven for the sins committed against him. In addition, the sin offering was included in the rite of purification for the leper. Because leprosy was the result of God's wrath, it needed God's forgiveness to be cleansed. Therefore, a sin offering had to be offered. In this regard, if the trespass offering and the sin offering are procedures for clearing the sins committed in the past, the burnt offering and the grain offering now signify a new commitment to God and a commitment to service.
The sacrifice in the text is the prototype of the worship we offer to God today. Are we also not spiritual lepers in a sense? This is because, despite the need to lead a holy life as a child of a holy God, they are still committing sins that God hates so much over and over again. Therefore, we should remember Sunday not only as a festival to rejoice in the eternal life we have in the risen Lord, but as a day of trespass offerings and atonement offerings to repent of our sins and ask God for forgiveness. Furthermore, we should use it as a day of determination to go beyond contrition for sin and resolve to live a new week with the holiness of a child of God. Because through him, we can restore humility and holiness again.
Verses 21 to 32 introduce the sacrifice offered after the poor leper was healed. With regard to sacrifices in particular, we can see from the text that he was able to offer sacrifices with relatively low cost. However, even though the sacrifices were different from those of ordinary people, God required sacrifices from him. He did not exempt you because you were poor. It was God's deep consideration for the poor.
Sacrifice is today's worship, and offerings can be compared to offerings. Through giving, we are reminded again that everything comes from the Lord, and it is engraved in our hearts. This will serve as a pivot point for us to gather our hearts, which were taken away by material things, back to the Lord. If you are poor, you become more obsessed with money, and you are likely to be drawn to the magic of money. That is why God asked for sacrifices even from the poor, even if they were relatively inexpensive. It was a special consideration not to lead the poor to a poorer place, but to fill his heart with the kingdom of God through donations so that he would not fall into the magic of money.
The second paragraph, verses 33-53, provides guidelines for cleansing from leprosy spots in your home. This is the rule for dealing with leprosy in the house where the Israelites entered the Promised Land. Even houses built in the Promised Land are prone to leprosy.
This is similar to the church, our Christian gathering today. The church, a community of faith, is a gathering of people who have been saved. In other words, it is a group of people who have entered the Promised Land. However, you never know when sin will invade that community. Therefore, each of us as members of the church community must first be awake about sin. In addition, the church, the house, must not lose the ability to purify the community from exposed sins.
By remembering the words we shared with you today, I hope that you will become our beloved church members who live a life of generosity, humility, devotion and purity in the Lord.
<Prayer>
Lord! Today, let us embrace and take care of the fragile members around us with interest and love. Lord! Through today's prayer, let us have the strength to repent of our sins and live a life of holiness! Lord! Help me to experience the grace of being filled with the Lord by freeing myself from the magic of money through heartfelt preparation. Lord! May each of us who are awake about sin and our 100th anniversary church be armed with the spirit of chastity! I pray in Jesus name Amen!