Love supersedes all else

The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is love supersedes all else.

My primary takeaway from each of the passages was this:

• Leviticus 11 & 12:  Rules governing what is clean and unclean, and the purification of women after childbirth. 
• Luke 7: Jesus offers healing and salvation to all who are open to receiving it, regardless of race, creed, or social status.
• Psalms 51: Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit and a contrite heart.
• Proverbs 20: “Who can say, ‘I have cleansed my heart, I am purified of sin?”

Now we are getting into the parts of Leviticus that remove all doubt that it is not a book that should be followed as a guide for daily living. These chapters are about exclusion. In the time they were written, before medical science was common knowledge and when superstitious beliefs were attached to any ailment or infirmity, and people didn’t really understand the cause and effect of certain illnesses, or properly prepare their food, or understand the existence of microscopic organisms or germs…all of what they are saying here made sense. The primary purpose of the chapters on what is clean or unclean was to keep people healthy and safe and prevent the spread of disease. Without the benefits of modern medicine, their only working strategy was to avoid certain foods and keep people with illnesses isolated from the camp.

The same was true for the isolation of women during their menstrual periods and after having given birth. Those practices were designed for the health and safety of the women, who at that time were considered property and had no rights. There was no “me too” movement–women could not say “no.” So, they were given their own tent to stay in with other women in the same situation, until the bleeding had subsided. This gave them time alone with their babies, and also time with other women who could help each other during this time. Today, women just get on with things while they are menstruating or not long after having a baby, and many would find being relegated to a week of downtime, alone, every month, and being required to take maternity leave, to be limiting. However, in a country that has the shortest maternity leave in the developed world, I know there are many women who might welcome the way Leviticus prescribes the time after childbirth. It was primarily a time of rest and recuperation, although a forced one.

In Luke we read of the centurion who had such great faith he believed Jesus could heal his servant with a word, without even being present. We also read about Jesus healing a widow’s son.

We also read that John the Baptist, whose sole mission in life was to proclaim the coming of Jesus, sends messengers to ask Jesus if he is the one that they’ve been waiting for. The way he asks the question suggests that perhaps John is discouraged and doubting. He, and everyone else, thought the coming of the messiah meant that the Roman empire would be overthrown and the Hebrew people would be free again. Jesus does not answer directly by saying, “Yes, I am he.” Rather, he tells John’s messengers to tell him what they have seen: Jesus has restored sight to the blind, healed the sick and afflicted, and driven out evil spirits. He was reminding John that what he had done was fulfillment of all the prophecies about the messiah.

Jesus also rebukes those who, despite having seen many “signs and wonders” performed by him (healing the sick and afflicted, driving out evil spirits) continue to ask for proof of who he is. He quotes a psalm that essentially means that no matter what he does for them they will never recognize him as who he is.

In the final scene of this chapter of Luke, Jesus is presented with an opportunity to illustrate acceptance and forgiveness for the Pharisee with whom he is having dinner. Again, we see class and societal divisions that Jesus ignores. A woman of ill repute washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, and anoints his feet with oil. Jesus allows her to do this for him and forgives her of her sins and sends her on her way in peace, saying her faith has saved her. But he rebukes the Pharisee who invited him to dinner, because he judged the woman, and also didn’t offer Jesus the most basic customary hospitality. Jesus once again demonstrates the ways in which the first shall be last and the last shall be first. The Pharisee felt secure in his status and did not offer hospitality nor acknowledge or ask for the forgiveness of his sins, so he did not receive it.

Today’s Psalm seems (coincidentally) to be all about the woman who washed Jesus’ feet, but it’s really about all of us. It’s also about what the Pharisee in today’s reading in Luke did not do. It’s also about what we read a few chapters back in Leviticus about sacrifice and offerings. All of the rituals of the sanctuary, the burnt offerings, the sacrifice of first fruits, were merely symbolic. The sacrifice God really wants from us is the one that the woman who washed Jesus’ feet performed. “Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, burnt offerings you do not desire, Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn.” (verses 16-17)

In today’s Proverb we read, “Who can say, ‘I have cleansed my heart, I am purified of sin?’,” and “The human spirit is the lamp of Yahweh–searching the deepest self.” In today’s reading in Luke, the Pharisee did not speak out loud against the woman washing Jesus’ feet, but Jesus knew his thoughts, anyway. We should always remember that there is no fooling God. When we pretend we are righteous when we are not, we are just fooling ourselves. God knows what is in our hearts. Jesus knew what was in the hearts of both the woman washing his feet and the Pharisee. She asked for forgiveness, but the Pharisee didn’t. She received it but the Pharisee didn’t; partly because he didn’t ask, but also partly because he judged the woman, and in a previous chapter Jesus reminded us that we will be judged by the same measure we use to judge others. Our only hope is to be honest with ourselves, offer God our contrite and broken spirit, ask for forgiveness, and offer others the grace and mercy that was given to us.

Finally, Leviticus and Luke both deal with the second-class citizenship of women during that time. Leviticus outlines the law regarding the segregation of women, and Jesus elevates a woman above a Pharisee. Once again we see the love of Jesus demonstrating the way in which the one commandment that he says is higher than all the others–to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself–supersedes any of the old laws. Jesus illustrates in Luke what Ziggy Marley sang about: “Love is my religion.”

God was winking at us frequently and hard today, with the juxtaposition of these passages.

That’s what I got out of it. What did you get out of the readings today?

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This post is part of the series, “Read the Bible in a Year.”

To see other posts in this series, go to the Chronological Index of Read the Bible in a Year Posts.