“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
(Mark 1:45 ESV)
The Icky Part of Leviticus
It’s early Friday morning—time to finish reading through Leviticus. I opened the Bible. Mid-way through my reading, I decided to listen to Leviticus on the Dwell app instead, while I made breakfast.
I was particularly excited for this breakfast, as most days I am. But as I flipped a pancake, my heart sank.
The chapter from Leviticus on skin diseases began to play (Leviticus 13). The Old Testament laws about bodily ailments aligned exactly with my breakfast. Let’s just say I was thoroughly unexcited about my nice hot breakfast as I tried to keep listening.
I know that 2 Timothy 3:16 says every part of Scripture is profitable, so I kept listening, thinking, I know this icky stuff is in the Bible for some reason.
What I Learned About Jesus
I learned something about Jesus from these “yucky” chapters where God lays out laws about some unsavory things. What I learned is based on the truth we read in the New Testament, that Jesus is our great High Priest.
I had the idea that priests were squeaky clean. The Bible tells us the opposite. They played the role of butcher when it came to sacrifice. They were doctors for the Israelites too, examining medical issues and doing checkups (Leviticus 14). They encountered the most yucky stuff of anyone in Israel, daily.
When God appointed someone as a priest, he appointed them to be a servant. Priests lived to serve the people. Seeing this helped me understand Jesus’s ministry to me, and to you!
Jesus’ Ministry to Those Who Belong to Him
Jesus chose to identify himself a priest throughout the New Testament. He revealed this role of a priest in the Old Testament—a role that reflects his heart for sinners.
Our sin, suffering, and sorrow do not repel Jesus. As our High Priest, it’s Jesus’ mission to attend to these things for us. Jesus walked flint-faced to the cross and died a sacrificial death, unafraid of the blood, the pain, the shame it would cost him so that he might be the way for us to draw near to God (1 Peter 3:18). If you come to Jesus with your sin, turn from it, and ask for his forgiveness and cleansing, he will wash you clean forever, and give you his righteousness as a gift (1 John 1:9).
Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15). He stands between us and God, sanctifying us, cleansing us with his Word, dealing with the presence of sin in our lives until the day he presents us spotless before God (Ephesians 5:26).
When God says in Leviticus, “and the priest shall do this…. and this… and this…” I thought of Jesus. When Jesus describes himself as our priest, he knows all that “this”—his ministry—entails! When we think about all that priests had to do, we catch a glimpse of the loving heart of Christ.
Levitical priests were only a shadow of God’s Son Jesus who came to minister to our sickness, sin, and sorrow once and for all (Hebrews 10:10).
Although those of us who believe in Christ are washed clean of our sins—totally forgiven (John 13:10)—we still need our feet washed (John 13:8). In other words, we still need Jesus’ help to war with the ongoing presence of sin in our lives. We need his cleansing day by day, as we see the sin in our lives.
If priests dealt with the most icky stuff, and Jesus tells me he is my priest, then I concluded there must be no area of my life Jesus is unwilling to attend to.
Where do you need the help, healing, cleansing, and forgiveness of Jesus today? Will you ask him for it? If you want to know what it means for Jesus to be your High Priest, consider reading the book of Hebrews!