The Go-Between - Leviticus 8:1–13

Leviticus 8 is about the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests. The need’s rooted in Exodus 40:34-35 when Moses is unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud of the Lord had settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was the mediator between God and the people on Mount Sinai, but now couldn’t come near the Lord, so that meant no-one could. There’s no way for humanity to approach him safely.

Leading up to this ceremony that the Lord gives Moses to consecrate, or dedicate Aaron and his sons formally into the priesthood of Israel, the Lord gave Israel a series of sacrifices for the people to offer, each with its own meaning and focus. These sacrifices are all offered at the tabernacle, and later on in the temple by the priests on behalf of the people. These sacrifices are all meant to help the people to come closer to God and were a serious business. In the Old Testament sinful people could not approach a holy God on their own because purity consumes impurity, this is why the sacrifices. Later on, Jesus tells the people in Matthew that if you’re bringing your sacrifices to the temple and realize that a brother has something against you, to leave your offering and be reconciled with him before you offer your sacrifices. Pure hearts, cleansed of hatred and anger is important when you come before God.

First there’s the burnt offering, a voluntary sacrifice offered for unintentional sin in general, it’s an act of devotion. Then there’s the grain offering, also a voluntary offering that recognizes God’s goodness and provision and an act of devotion to God. Then there’s the fellowship offering, another voluntary act of worship offering thanksgiving and fellowship with God. This offering includes a communal meal with others. Then there’s the sin offering; this is a mandatory offering for the atonement of specific unintentional sin. This is a confession of sin, seeking forgiveness, and the offering brings cleansing from the defilement of sin. This offering involves a blood sacrifice: a young bull for the high priest and congregation, a male goat for a leader, a female goat or lamb for a common person, a dove or pigeon for the poor, or a tenth of an ephah of flour, a very small amount, for the very poor who can’t afford an animal sacrifice. Then there’s the guilt offering, another mandatory offering of a ram or lamb for atonement for unintentional sin that calls for restitution, cleansing from defilement, and to make restitution for the sin committed. This offering also included a 20% fine as part of the restitution.

Now here in Leviticus 8:12 Moses anoints Aaron, then in verse 13 he anoints Aaron’s sons, making sure that the people will always have a go-between between themselves and God. We’re so used to Aaron becoming high priest, we often forget that Aaron is the one responsible for building the idol calves while Moses was on the mountain with God. Then Aaron failed to take responsibility for what he did, blaming it on the people. Yet this is who God chooses to be the first high priest and to carry on the responsibility of priesthood through his family line, this is why we need a perfect high priest, why we need Jesus.

Aaron and his sons go through a very detailed ceremony in order to prepare to enter the presence of God, making sure they’re clean enough, pure enough to enter God’s presence to offer the sacrifices and bring the prayers of the people. This ceremony represents the washing away of sin and moral impurity to make Aaron and his sons spiritually prepared. The holy God gives Israel a way to maintain a relationship between him and his people through the consecration of a priesthood dedicated to him, ensuring that the people always have ways to come close to him, and in Leviticus 9:23-24 both Aaron and Moses enter the tent of meeting and the Lord accepts the offerings.

The problem is that even consecrated priests are human and prone to sin. Already in Leviticus 10, Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu get proud, “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” Ultimately, what we need is a perfectly holy high priest who’s freely able to be in the presence of our holy God. This finally happens with the coming of Jesus, Son of God, and perfect high priest. The book of Hebrews focuses on Jesus as our high priest, and as the perfect sacrifice for our sin and atonement.

Hebrews 4:14 points us to Jesus, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess;” and in Hebrews 7:25 “he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Then in Hebrews 9:12, the author marvels that “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” Jesus returns to heaven after his death and resurrection that washes away the stain of our sin; our high priest is now constantly in God’s presence on our behalf, mediating for us, praying for us even when we don’t know how to pray or what to pray for. Jesus stands between God and us for us. When God looks at us, he sees us through Jesus’ sacrifice and Jesus’ intercession for us.

Because we’re joined with Jesus through his death and resurrection, we also take on the role of priests. One Bible dictionary defines “The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers states that all believers in Christ share in his priestly status; therefore, there is no special class of people who mediate the knowledge, presence, and forgiveness of Christ to the rest of believers, and all believers have the right and authority to read, interpret, and apply the teachings of Scripture.” But there’s more to being priests; Leviticus is about coming closer to God and about growing together into the family of God, working through things that separate and divide, calling us to be humble when things do separate us from each other, that we work towards unity, to reconciliation, to being mediators. Satan loves to build walls between believers, to bring division; it takes faithful Christians, like mediating priests, to call us back to God and then enter into the messiness of brokenness towards building unity with each other. Because we’re called to be holy as God is holy, to be set apart for him, this means we’re called to live as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Relationships are at the core of our faith, beginning with our relationship with God, this is where the priests come in, but then it moves into our relationships with each other. It’s important that we also remember that we’re all priests in the kingdom, we all have the responsibility to take steps to reconciliation. Jesus prays in the garden for unity, that we might all be one. Paul echoes this in Ephesians 4:3, ^“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Building unity and reconciliation means we need to allow Jesus’ grief at our brokenness with God and each other sink deeply into our souls to inspire us to take humble gracious steps towards each other, to tear down walls rather than building walls, to be humble enough to come to God and examine our hearts and souls with him to find the strength and desire to be priests to each other through inviting the power and presence of the Holy Spirit into our relationships with God and each other. When there’s brokenness and conflict, the longer it goes the greater the polarization and difficulty in reconciliation and healing; hi-lighting the importance of not allowing bitterness, anger, or conflict to grow deeply in our hearts so that our hearts don’t become hard as stone towards others.

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Paul was often mistreated, both outside and inside the church, but in purity of heart and with understanding and kindness, he opens wide his heart to them and asks them to open their hearts to him. Paul takes the first step, not guaranteed that they’ll respond well.

This is where the fruit of the Spirit comes in, the virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control need to shape our hearts as we reach out to each other in the spirit of reconciliation, as we pray for each other, and stay grounded in God’s Word during Lent and always.