Devotional 4-22-11

As I write this devotion for Good Friday, it is a spring-like day in the middle of February after a length of weeks and months of cold, cold weather that seemed would never end. An obscure text from the 19^th chapter of Leviticus is the Old Testament lectionary reading for the week. The text is a reminder that God is God – we are not God. God is holy, and because of that, we also ought to be holy. And the text defines holiness, not with sanctimonious behavior and smug prudish glares at others but with a reinforcement of God’s holiness codes, including the 10 commandments.

Holiness is defined in Leviticus by not harvesting the entire field: leave some for the poor or the traveler. Holiness is not stealing or dealing falsely or telling lies. Holiness is not withholding the wages of others until the next day when they need the pay now to provide food for their families today. Holiness is caring for those who are disabled and certainly not providing hindrances for them or making fun of them. Holiness is loving the neighbor as you love yourself. Holiness is not showing partiality to anyone or deferring to those with high position. Holiness is remembering that God is God and that we belong to God – we are not God. Holiness simply means being ‘different’ from behaviors that are motivated by self-centeredness or by the ways of the world.

The teachings of Jesus and our heritage from John Wesley reinforce this. Jesus taught that we should be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Wesley said, “There is no holiness but social holiness.” Filling ourselves with self-centered pietism is, well, unholy.

On this holiest of days, when we recall the crucifixion of our Lord, we would be well served to remember the teachings of Jesus. Not that we can attain that level of perfection, Jesus was teaching the same lesson as the Levitical holiness code, making the same demand of his followers as taught in the early days of Judaism: we are to be holy as God is holy. We are to be different from worldly ways. We are to imitate God – the same God who demands social holiness. To be holy is to put on our work clothes and join in the labors of God in this troubled world.

Put another way, perhaps harshly sounding, to serve only ourselves and not to remember the expectations of God that we love and serve one another is to mock the gift of God’s son to the world and to join with those who stood at the foot of the cross jeering, taunting, making fun.

“Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; abide in him always, and feed on his word.  Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak; forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek.”

Prayer: Gracious and merciful God, forgive us when we fail you. Help us to seek holiness, not as we might define it but as you do. Empower us, with your Holy Spirit, to answer “yes” to your call for holiness at work, at school, at play – for holiness with friends and strangers, at home and at worship. Enable us to be different – holy – from the ways of the world. Strengthen our desires to be your faithful people. Give us the boldness we need to live our lives as though the crucifixion of your son means something to us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.

Rev. Jack Lipphardt