“As becomes the people of God”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Leviticus 19:1-18 (Forward, p. 20) CEV p. 114

Someone once said that we humans become like the gods that we worship. While that can certainly be said of many ancient peoples, whose gods were like them only writ large, it can also be said about us today. In the ancient world, Zeus or Jupiter and many of the other gods were simply like an overly rambunctious, overly needy and demanding, overly lusty humans in their actions and desires. And so, is it any wonder that such behaviour spilled over to their human subjects? And with today’s world, with its prevalent desire for wealth or power and prestige, is it any wonder that those who seek such things are often corrupted by those very things?

We see this very phenomenon, albeit in the opposite direction, in the God of the Hebrews (and then, once again, in Jesus). Because God is holy, He expects His people to also be holy. And, interestingly—and revealingly—this holiness is to be expressed not just in their conduct towards Himself but also in their conduct towards each other.

Towards Himself, they are to honour the Sabbath, not make idols or graven images, and offer sacrifices in the proper and prescribed way. And, indeed, some of their prescribed duties towards God, also possibly spill over to their conduct towards each other. For instance, verse 12 says, “Do not misuse my name by making promises you don’t intend to keep. I am the Lord your God.” (These promises or oaths could well apply to both God and their fellow humans.)

But the bulk of the ‘holiness code’, as found in today’s passage, applies to how they treated other people:

-they were to make provision for the poor and the foreigners among them by not exacting every last cent out of their business (in this case, their fields). By letting some grain fall to the grain or remain standing at the edges of their field and letting some grapes remain on the vine, they were allowing the disadvantaged to gleam a kind of livelihood from these ‘leftovers’. Maximum profit at the expense of others was not to be the name of the game.

-they were to treat others with respect and dignity, not stealing or cheating or mistreating anyone, especially the poor or those who are handicapped in any way. They are especially commanded to pay their workers fairly and promptly, especially the day labourers, as this is all they have to live on.

-and even in their speech, they were to reflect the holiness of God, never gossiping or favouring either the rich or the poor when it comes to a judicial procedure. But then, they were especially to speak up if someone’s life was at stake or if someone was in the wrong and needed correcting.

-and even their thoughts and emotions were to be ‘under control.’ They were not to hold grudges or hang on to anger. And certainly, they were not to try to take revenge for wrongs done to them by others.

And what is the basis for all this? It stems from just one thing, one truth, which is repeated six times just in this passage (verses 2,4,10,12,14,18):

“I am the Lord your God.” In other words, God is God, He is Lord, and it is He who ‘calls the shots’. And what is His over-arching command? “It is to love others as much as you love yourself” (verse 18). As God loves and cares for and respects all of humankind, so should each of us. It is only fitting, only becoming, given the kind of God that we love and serve. Amen.

Forward notes: ”When you offer a sacrifice of well-being to the LORD, offer it in such a way that it is acceptable on your behalf” (verse 5).

Commemoration: Thurgood Marshall

“Mother was a skillful seamstress and sewed my older sister’s prom dress. The night before the prom, she was tired, and it was not going well. My dad asked, ‘Why don’t you finish it tomorrow?’ Knowing her full plate, she replied, ‘You don’t need a prom dress after the prom.’

“We know that if we sleep in on Sunday morning, we are going to miss the party.

“Today, we remember Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court. His life and decisions reflected the concern that if we are going to be righteous, we need to be so now, not later. If we are going to respect the worth and dignity of all God’s children, we need to do so now. If we are going to think carefully about how we arrange our lives for the betterment of some at the expense of others, we need to do so now. The way we live our lives is a sacrifice, and it needs to be acceptable.”

Moving Forward: “Stop putting off the thing God is calling you to. Take the first step today.”