Thoughts on Leviticus 22 & Mark 3

Today’s reading: Leviticus 22; Mark 3

Both of these passages this morning strike me with the incredible privilege and incredible weight of representing God.

Representing God in Leviticus 22

The commandment to “not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” is much better translated, “Do not bear the name of the Lord your God in vain.” This commandment is not about how you speak and whether you say, “Oh my God,” or not, but is about bearing His name in your person; being His representative in this world. Israel was His chosen people, and they were supposed to bear that privilege well, representing Him properly before the nations (i.e. “not in vain”).

The priests, as we have seen in Exodus and Leviticus, and really as we discussed in yesterday’s post on Leviticus 21, bore the Lord’s name in the most practical sense. Israel was to be God’s representatives to the nations, but the priests were to be His representatives to Israel. But that incredible privilege of the priesthood did not come free…

Pay attention as you read Leviticus 22 to all the nuances of daily life that a priest had to pay attention to and keep track of, and how much of an impact that would have had. Ritual uncleanness simply happens as a part of life, and for most Israelites, it wouldn’t have been all that impactful. Touching a dead body, certain types of illness, a woman on her period, even having sex would make you unclean. For the average Israelite, they are unclean, they bathe, and they are clean at sundown, and it doesn’t really impact anything unless they were planning on taking an offering to the tabernacle that day. But think about this for a priest! Their entire line of work is temple service, which they can’t do while unclean. Their primary supply of food comes from offerings to the Lord, which they cannot partake of while they are unclean. While the average Israelite only really has to concern themselves with cleanliness regulations when coming up on an offering, the priests made mundane decisions daily which carried great weight because they could exclude them from work in the tabernacle the next day, or from lunch that afternoon. Even a question as simple as whether or not to have sex with their wife suddenly has to be made with real thought.

There was a weight to every aspect of a priest’s life expressly because they bore the name of Yahweh. They had incredible access to sacred space, but that access to the presence of God came at the cost of having to take immense care in how they represented Him.

Representing God in Mark 3

When we get into Mark 3 we see Jesus’ anger at those who have put themselves in a position of leadership over God’s people, and yet are failing to represent Him well.

The Pharisees were not priests, prophets, part of the monarchy, or any other authority expressly given by God to Israel. They were a group in power operating out of fear of Israel being exiled again. As the Pharisees saw it, the twelve tribes were exiled for failing to follow God’s law, and at the point of Jesus’ ministry, Israel still had not come back out of exile. Two of the twelve tribes were back in the land, so ten tribes had not returned, and even those that were back were not in charge, but were under Roman occupation. So the Pharisees were focused on doggedly keeping the law, and requiring the same of the people, in order to stave off another exile on the one hand, and to hopefully see the promised full return of Israel from exile on the other hand.

But in their zeal to keep the law, the Pharisees failed to faithfully represent the lawgiver. They put themselves in a position of authority in Israel, which was not necessarily wrong, but which did require that they not bear the name of Yahweh in vain, and according to Jesus, they were bearing the name poorly… This is part of the reason Jesus gets so angry with the scribes and the Pharisees, but then has a completely different reaction toward the much more overtly sinful tax collectors and prostitutes. The tax collectors and prostitutes might be committing greater sin, but they are not putting themselves forth as God’s representatives, and so their sin does not impugn God’s character. The Pharisees though had put themselves in exactly that position, and therefore their unloving, unmerciful, and unjust attitude toward those most in need of love, mercy, and justice was a direct indictment on the character of God, and Jesus would not stand for that.

As we keep reading in Mark 3 though, we don’t just see Jesus’ attitude toward those who are failing to represent God well, we also see Him do something about it and set apart 12 men who will bear the name faithfully. These 12 apostles would bear Jesus’ name during His earthly ministry, representing Him (and thus the Lord) to the cities of Israel where they would preach and cast out demons. And these same 12 (minus Judas plus Matthias) would bear Jesus’ name in an even greater way after Jesus’ death, once the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost.

Representing God Today

And that brings us to today.

Proximity to God is an unspeakably great privilege, but greater access to His presence comes with the increasing weight of bearing His name well before a watching world that is seeking to understand what God is like. Israel was God’s chosen people, and they were to bear His name before the nations; the Pharisees were in a position of authority over Israel, and they were to bear His name well before the people; the priests could enter into the holy place, with the high priest entering in behind the curtain into the most holy place, and they were to represent the character and nature of God to Israel; but what about us?

Christians have an absolutely unprecedented level of access to God. In Christ we are adopted into His family as sons and daughters; we are heirs in the kingdom of heaven. In Christ we have God’s Holy Spirit, His very presence Himself living in us; we are the tabernacle where the world comes to encounter God. In Christ we have bold and confident access to the throne of grace; no yearly entrance behind the curtain after a lot of ceremony and ritual, but full and direct access to the throne of God 24/7!

In Christ we are closer to God than any Aaronic priest could ever come, and this comes with a great responsibility to bear His name well and properly represent Him before the world. This is part of the reason why sin is such an issue to the New Testament authors, because we are to be holy as He is holy. As much as the mundane decisions of every day life had to be made by Aaron and his sons with an eye to temple service, how much more so us! Yes, it is different for us, in that we are not excluded from temple service by our choices, but the scope of how we represent God is so much greater for us than it was for them.

Every word we speak, carefully or carelessly, reflects back on God.

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak.” - Matthew 12

“And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” - James 3

”Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.” - James 4

Every sin we commit or good work we fail to do reflects back on God.

“For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.” - 1 Peter 4

“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” - James 4

The way we love one another reflects back on God.

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” - Romans 13

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” - 1 John 4

”Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” - John 15

And literally the only reason I’m stopping is because I’m running out of time to write this and I know if I ramble on too long in these posts people will stop reading them… But the reality is that a good chunk of the content of the New Testament, the instructions for living a Godly life in Christ, are not primarily about you enjoying life and having a comfortable go of it this side of heaven. The reason that the New Testament is laced with instructions on how to live a Godly life, both as individuals and as a community, is that we are a kingdom and priests to God (Revelation 1:6), and so have a weighty responsibility to represent Him well in every aspect of our lives.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” - 1 Corinthians 6

We have been bought by the blood of Christ, and that heavy price He paid, His very life, has granted us the privilege of representing Him.

So the question for each of us today is, “What does my life teach the watching world about God?”

What does the way I act, the way I speak, the things I speak about, the way I spend my time, what I am willing to do, what I am not willing to do, etc., say about the God who redeemed me?