Tuesday 13th May
Leviticus 22:1-8
“The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so that they will not profane my holy name. I am the Lord. 3 ‘Say to them: “For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, that person must be cut off from my presence. I am the Lord.
4 ‘“If a descendant of Aaron has a defiling skin disease or a bodily discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed. He will also be unclean if he touches something defiled by a corpse or by anyone who has an emission of semen, 5 or if he touches any crawling thing that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be. 6 The one who touches any such thing will be unclean till evening. He must not eat any of the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water. 7 When the sun goes down, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the sacred offerings, for they are his food. 8 He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, and so become unclean through it. I am the Lord.” (NIVUK)
Cleanness and uncleanness are contagious. To touch anything unclean, renders one ritually unclean for a period of time. In essence it disqualifies people from entering into God’s presence. To us, the rules seem arbitrary and obscure and we wonder why they are even necessary. Many explanations have been put forward, from hygiene and safety, to random requirements reflecting the need for obedience.
The best of these explanations argue that each of these rules requires us to reflect on our mortality. How can those who carry death within us come into the presence of a God who is the very source of life? We are all tainted, or touched, by death – we dwell in a world surrounded by it. We are constantly in the presence of decay rather than life.
Holiness is a separate category to cleanness. We read these lists of things we can merely touch and become unclean and we conflate it with holiness. Yet there is no stigma attached to being unclean – these events are unavoidable in this world. When we read of Jesus touching dead bodies and those with discharges He does not make them ‘holy’ – He makes them clean. He brings life where there was death. His touch brings wholeness, a wholeness that may ultimately lead to holiness.
