Holiness
Okay, without looking too deeply at the commentaries I can
say one thing about Exodus 30. We should
really take to heart this chapter and its emphasis to understanding what the
word “holy” means. So let’s do that
today – at least for a little bit. What
does holy mean?
If you’ve read this blog much in the last week you have
heard me indicate that the word “holy” means more along the terms “separate”
than “righteous.” As far as separate
goes, you can also think “consecrated” or “sacred” or even “apartness.” The point is that something holy to God is
something that is apart from the world.
When I was early in my career as a pastor I heard a veteran
pastor say something that at first I took to heart. They said, “I hate it when someone calls me a
‘holy man.’ I don’t need a reminder that
I’m ‘separate’ from everyone else.” And
for a while I really bought into that expression and took it to heart. I almost got offended when people would call
me a holy man, too.
Don’t get me wrong, it is still a jarring comment for me to
hear because it reminds me that I really am different. But I have come to a new place in the last
year and a few months. I am different
from the world. I am separate. I am indeed in this world, but I am indeed
not of this world! If that makes me
holy, then so be it!
Note my emphasis on the being made holy because of the fact
that God has made me not of this world rather than anything I have done by my
own human effort.
In Exodus 30 we hear a lot about holiness. The atonement upon the altar of incense is
holy to the Lord (Exodus 30:10). The
anointing oil is holy to the Lord – holy enough that to duplicate it elsewhere
is an act punishable by ostracizing the offender! (Exodus 30:32-33) The same can be said for the incense mixture.
(Exodus 30:37-38) There are indeed some
things here that God desires to be separate, consecrated, sacred, and apart.
Holiness in Life
So I am left wondering about life. How is it that we are to have elements of our
worship that are “holy” – separate, consecrated, sacred, apart – and yet
continually go into the world and risk impurity – or perhaps better said,
ritual uncleanliness? I think this is
the very struggle fought throughout the generations. It is precisely the struggle that brings
about the teaching of “neighbor” in the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke
10:25-37.
If we worry too much about ritual purity (or holiness, if
you will) then we make the mistake of the Priest and Levite in the
parable. Yet if we don’t pay any
attention to the idea of holiness and don’t worry about it then we risk
incurring God’s wrath. The fact that we
are told so many times in this chapter about something being holy implies that
there are some things God didn’t want to be made normal.
I’ll confess.
Obviously this is an area with which I still struggle. How am I – or are we – to be holy yet in the
world? How are we to be the priests of
God’s kingdom and yet live among the people?
Yes, I know. Jesus
did it, and Jesus did it well. Jesus
wasn’t afraid of the Samaritan women John 4.
Jesus wasn’t afraid of the demon possessed. Jesus wasn’t afraid of either the tax
collectors or the prostitutes. And I
know that we should not be afraid of them either. But yet, we should still hold onto this
aspect of holiness. Jesus was a master
at it – of course! But I find I struggle
because, well, it is obvious that I am not Jesus. In the end, I think there is more to this
holiness than we typically like to assert.
Okay, I rabbit-trailed another passage in Exodus. I left a lot on the table today. But I’m okay with that. God’s peace to you.
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