| Over the next ten weeks or so, we’re going to do something that very few churches attempt: we’re going to journey through the book of Leviticus from beginning to end. In all my years as a Christian, I’ve never been part of a church that has used Leviticus as the foundation for a sermon series. That makes me both genuinely excited – and completely aware of why it’s so often avoided. Over the coming months, we’re going to immerse ourselves in what was, for Israel, the first text children were taught to read and memorise because Leviticus sits at the very heart of the five books of the Torah – the wisdom and instruction of God to his people. Everything flows into Leviticus, and everything flows out of it. It was Israel’s ‘boot camp of trust’. This book reveals so much: who God is, what we are like, what the problem is, what God is seeking to address, and how he goes about doing so. It is about relationship: between God and his people – and our relationships with each other. It is about how those relationships are established, sustained, and restored when they breaks down. It speaks of encounter, proximity, presence and transformation. And above all, it is about holiness – about being set apart – as God’s people because our God is like no other. I can’t deny it. Leviticus is one of the most challenging books in the Bible precisely because it is so clear, so direct, and so unflinching. It deals in categories that are stark and uncompromising: clean and unclean, holy and common, inside and outside. It is a world of boundaries, distinctions, and binaries. Edges are sharp. For that reason, it can feel particularly difficult for us to engage with in our own time. It also feels strange to us because it is full of rituals – especially sacrificial rituals – that we have largely lost any connection with. They can seem distant, confusing, weird, even unsettling. And yet, despite these reasons, and more, I want to suggest that if we can begin to understand Leviticus, the rest of the Bible will start to come into focus in a new way. Indeed, it may even come to life for the first time! The Bible tells a unified story that leads to Christ. Leviticus hasn’t been overwritten by a different kind of story in the New Testament; rather, it makes sense of everything Jesus came to do. It is like a sheet of paper or blueprint beneath layers of tracing paper that are built up across the Scriptures, all the way to Jesus. When we understand Leviticus, we begin to see how those layers repeat and develop the same themes again and again – until, finally, we see how Jesus brings them to their fulfilment. Leviticus may be a challenge for us – and it may stretch us – but I am genuinely excited to take the risk. High risk, high return. This Sunday we are starting out on the journey together. We will be introducing where we’ll be heading, setting out a framework to make sense of it all and offering a few hooks to hang everything on. It will be fun! Trust me : ) See you Sunday! (and why not bring your bible) Richard |
