Rev. Colin Bagby
Leviticus 23:9-14
9 The Lord spoke to Moses: 10 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall raise the sheaf before the Lord, that you may find acceptance; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall raise it. 12 On the day when you raise the sheaf, you shall offer a lamb a year old, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 And the grain offering with it shall be two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. 14 You shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.
Reflection:
We can’t unhear the good news about Jesus. We can’t unlearn the picture of God that Jesus shows us. We can ignore it. We can disagree with it. We can push back on it, but Jesus’ embodiment of God looms large over everything – including Leviticus. I have to say, I’m not often running to Levitical law for devotional reading or spiritual comfort; but, Jesus’ shadow is there. In this festival description – the Festival of the First Fruits – we’re reminded of a central quality of God’s character. God is a God of abundance, not a God of scarcity. Creation is teeming with potential. Every corner of what God has made is for his creation and it continually glorifies God. God’s people, following their deliverance from slavery, are commanded through Moses to wave the sheaves of grain before God, present a burnt offering, and to pour one out for Yahweh. A previously enslaved people – people familiar with scarcity and deprivation – are now a people of more. In celebration of their deliverance and harvest, they give that more to God. It’s not as if God needs grain, wine, and barbecued livestock. God lacks nothing; but, God desires connection and intimacy with God’s people. When we publicly acknowledge what God has given us we say, “this is from God.” We foster spiritual intimacy with God.
The good news of Jesus, hiding behind the often-impenetrable words of Leviticus, points us to a more that’s not only material, but spiritually saving. We see a foretaste of the life God offers in Jesus. A life of joyful celebration of what God has accomplished in and among us. In God’s desire for creation to be for us and for creation to glorify God, He enters it in Jesus. In this Easter season, we wave our arms, we share meals, and we may even share a beverage together saying, “look what God has done! God fills us! God is for us! God is the God of more! This is from God! Thanks be to God!
Prayer:
Dear God,
Look at what all you have done, for me and for so many others! You fill me. You are for me. You are the God of more, the God of abundance. All that is good is from you. Thanks be to God! Amen.