I am not the center of the universe

The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is I am not the center of the universe. 

My primary takeaway from each of the passages was this:

• Leviticus 25, 26 & 27:  A review of all we have read in the book of Leviticus, plus the sabbatical year, and the institution of the tithe. 
• Luke 14: Jesus heals another person on the sabbath, and challenges the Pharisees and attendees of the synagogue with parables about being humble, refusing the invitation of God, and renouncing possessions and power.
• Psalms 58: A prayer for justice in the face of injustice; hope against hope in the promises of God, when evil seems to be winning.
• Proverbs 27: “Know your flock’s condition well, take good care of your herds; for riches do not last forever, crowns do not hand themselves on from age to age.”

Here at the end of Leviticus, we get a review of all that has been covered so far in this book, as well as the institution of the sabbatical year and the tithe.

On the surface of things, it can look like the institution of the tithe was a brilliant way to enrich the synagogue and then the church. However, God doesn’t live on the surface of things, and the Bible provides us with a rich background of reasons for all of our instituted traditions. The practical purpose of the tithe is twofold: to support the community church (synagogue) and to also provide those who run it (the priests) and the services that serve the community with a living wage. Paul talks about the practical aspects of supporting the church and pastors financially in I Corinthians 9:9 when he says, “For it is written in the Law of Moses: ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.’ Is it about oxen that God is concerned?”

When you look at the mega churches of our time, and the pastors who lead them, it’s easy to take the view that the institution of the tithe was a way to bilk the flock of all of its money to enrich a shyster. But contrast that with all the multitudes of priests who live lives of poverty, and only receive a small salary no matter how much their church brings in, or small independent churches where the pastors work full time jobs to support themselves while also caring for their congregations. Not everyone takes advantage of the tithe as an opportunity to enrich themselves.

The tithe is a reminder to us that everything we have is a gift from God to begin with. We are products of the Earth, as are all the raw materials we use to generate our livelihoods. Giving back 10% of the surplus is just a very small way of reminding ourselves that we should be grateful for all that we have, and understand that it is our responsibility to contribute to our community.

The passage in Luke seemed particularly apt for me today. I have been sick for two weeks. I had to cancel some work I had scheduled that was worth $500 in revenue over one weekend, and which I really needed. When I read about the nitpicking of the Pharisees over healing on the Sabbath, it really rubs me the wrong way. If I could have Jesus here right now, willing to heal me of this dreadful illness that has been knocking me down for two weeks (and which I am told will continue to linger for another three to four weeks), I would receive his healing with extreme gratitude, and ask for forgiveness later for violating the Sabbath. The Pharisees were seriously hardboiled legalists with little regard for the needs of the people and devoid of compassion or kindness.

Apparently, their behavior rubbed Jesus the wrong way, too. In response to their behavior, he tells them a parable designed to point out their focus on self-importance and lack of humility. He follows it up with another one designed to illustrate the consequences of being too important to accept God’s invitation. He completes the lesson with instruction about renouncing all the things that make us self-important in order to follow him. He finishes by pointing out that Israel, and these Pharisees in particular, had lost any usefulness God had in mind for them by focusing on the wrong things.

When I first started reading the Bible, I thought these were all separate parables with no relationship to each other. The more I read the Bible, however, the more obvious it becomes that Jesus chose these stories very carefully, and strung them together in this way for a purpose. They come right after the healing on the Sabbath because Jesus is pointing out that if the synagogue and the Pharisees only exist to uphold their status and importance, rather than serving as a way to come to God for those who really need him, then they have become absolutely useless. As he said in an earlier chapter, the Sabbath is for the people, not the people for the Sabbath.

Today’s Psalm, a prayer for justice in the face of injustice, provides me with the perfect prayer for my situation right now. After having worked hard for MONTHS to prepare for the activities I had planned that would have brought me $500 in much needed extra revenue, I suddenly contracted the mystery crud du jour that has been going around my school, and was struck down, too sick to teach art classes, and too sick to travel to where I needed to teach them. It seems so unfair. Later on, we’ll read Job (that’s a fun book–that statement is steeped in sarcasm), in which chapter 1 verse 21 tells us:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”

The book of Job is all about how life isn’t fair, and doesn’t have to be, because everything we have in life was given to us by God in the first place.

Having read the entire rest of the Bible, and knowing that Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” it is hard to reconcile that with the book of Job. But the book of Job is the best answer to the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” that we’ll ever have: God gave everything we have to us, and he can take it away if he wants to.

We simply have to trust that (as I mentioned in a previous post) anything that happens in life–good or bad–is all part of God’s plan, and (as it says in Romans 8:28), “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” It will all work out to our benefit, and everyone else’s, in the end. On the same weekend that I was too sick to teach that art class, there was also a winter storm on the route I had to travel to teach the class. Perhaps being stuck at home, sick, saved me from being in a car accident. Who knows? Only God. I’ll just have to trust that it will all work out for my benefit in the end and remember that God is not the cosmic killjoy.

It’s also important to remember, when things aren’t going my way, and my plans are ruined, that I am not the center of the universe and this, too, shall pass. That’s a lesson designed to remind me that when I feel like it is the end of the world because something I planned didn’t work out, I am just a little like the Pharisees in the self-importance department. There is nothing going on in my life that can’t be redeemed if it doesn’t go as planned. Putting too much emphasis on the failure says that my failures are too big for God to fix. That makes me awfully powerful and diminishes God’s power (as if).

Today’s Proverb is a reminder that it’s always good to stay on top of the details of my life. While I was too sick to go to work or to teach my extra art classes, I was able to hunker down and pay attention to my finances and take care of some paperwork.

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.