outWORD by Matte Downey

For the past few weeks, I have been reading through the book of Leviticus. If you are not a detail person, you might find the text less than engaging. I have a great affection for details, but even so, this book presents some challenges for me. There are so many particulars regarding sacrifices, rituals, and legal and moral practices. In addition, some of the instructions sound brutal to my pacifist, non-violent ears. The text also has the feel of "way too much information," no doubt due to the desire of the priestly writer to compile somewhat of a textbook for those who served in a Levitical capacity. The main challenge I have in reading Leviticus is being able to recognize the God revealed in the person of Jesus, especially in the midst of all the boring and brutal minutiae of priesthood. However, considering that Jesus is identified as the ultimate high priest by the writer of Hebrews (Heb. 4:14-16), it stands to reason that the priestly documents contain more than a f...

Image from applyityourself.co.uk Recently, I was asked to speak at another church, and the passage of Scripture which was assigned to me was John 1:6-8. "There came a man commissioned and sent from God, whose name was John. This man came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe [in Christ, the Light] through him. John was not the Light, but came to testify about the Light." (John 1:6-8, Amplified Bible) The first question I usually ask when reading something in the Bible is this: What does this tell me about God? Two things are immediately obvious - God is a sending God and God wants to communicate - but there is a third which merits a bit more attention. Though God could communicate directly with humanity, sending truth and love to every individual via some divine mind-and-heart-meld, God chooses to send messengers. Not only that, instead of introducing Jesus directly to the world as the main event, an opening, warm-up act appears as a precur...