Year 4, Day 102: Leviticus 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

Leviticus 13 is a neat chapter through which we can view the concept of In.  On one level, In is all about verification and discernment.  This chapter is all about discerning leprous skin conditions.  Being branded a leper was serious business.  You needed to have trust in the diagnostician when dealing with something like a leprous skin disease.  The communal isolation that would occur required having an In that you knew was looking out for your best interest and would be there for you regardless of the verdict.

However, there is another level of In through which we can look.  In is a means of protection.  In can help protect us from our own bad ideas.  It even protects us from our own good ideas that prevent us from following great ideas.  But In also protects the community from our bad ideas as well.  What we see happening in Leviticus 13 is that the priests are serving to protect the community as well as the individual.  Without a proper In, both the community and the individual suffers.

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