THOSE verses

"Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them, I am the Lord."

THOSE verses...
By Rev. William Dohle

I like the book of Leviticus, but, honestly, until a few years ago, I never really read it.

Leviticus was always the book of the Bible that derailed my "Read through the Bible" New Year's Resolution that I made every year.  Every year I would sit down and start to read through the Bible.  I'd love Genesis(read that one like ten times all the way through).  I'd love Exodus(the stories of Moses).  I'd even "get through" the rest of the book of Exodus with its descriptions of the tabernacle.

But then I'd get to Leviticus and the steam would go out of my resolution.  After a few chapters of law, I just couldn't read through the rest. (Maybe that's why I'm a pastor and not a lawyer).  I'd put off reading a few weeks and then a month and then...I'd just stop.

I'd read through the rest of Scripture, but my journey front to back would end there.

That was until a few years ago when the book of Leviticus suddenly jumped into discussion.  My denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was wrestling with sexuality and the book of Leviticus was front and center in the discussion.

So... I cracked open the Book and read the verses they were talking about...

"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable"(Leviticus 18:22)

At the time, I really didn't know what I thought of them.  Having always been derailed in my "Read through the Bible" journey by this annoying book of Scripture.

But then I started reading the book of Leviticus, as we've done in this blog, and I started to notice a few things.

There's a lot in this book that I really don't follow...and have no desire following...but which God has commanded me to follow.  Like...

• Eating pork...and shrimp...two of my favorite foods!  Leviticus 11:3 says "You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud."  Well... pigs don't chew their cud...so they are forbidden to eat by God.
• Eating shrimp... Leviticus 11:10 says, "...all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales--whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living things in the water--you are to detest."  Eating shrimp is forbidden by God too.
• Leviticus 7:26 says, "...and wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal." But there's blood in the hamburgers I ate last night.  I know because I saw it as I put it in the pan.

And that's just the eating laws.  There's other laws that come after the Leviticus text quoted to me.  Like...

• Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of materials. (Leviticus 19:19) ... Polyester and cotton are out then!
• Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. (Leviticus 19:27)... Ooops!  Did that yesterday morning!
• Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tatoo marks on yourselves.  I am the Lord.  (Leviticus 19:28)... Okay, I have no tatoos so I've followed that one, right?
• When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.  The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born.  Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.  (Leviticus 19:33-34)... Ooops, guess our government should read this verse when dealing with poor refugee children from Central America.

The point is that the more that I read through Leviticus, the more I saw how few of the commandments we Gentiles really follow!  And yet, we pull this obscure passage out of Leviticus to validate the heterosexual and condemn the homosexual?  That's absurd!

St. James says that those who've broken one commandment have broken them all.  If we, pork-and-shrimp eaters, continue to chow down on our forbidden meals, do we have the right to condemn the homosexual or anyone for that matter based on the same laws that we ourselves are breaking?!  Absolutely not!

We have nowhere to stand in our judgement!  Nowhere at all.  We are like the crowd who brought a woman to Jesus to stone her for adultery!  Jesus turns to them and says... "Let him who has not sinned cast the first stone!"

Perhaps we should require the same from those who wish to condemn our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.  Have they sinned against the Book of Leviticus?  Do they follow perfect kosher laws?  Are they clean in every way according to its guidelines?  Do they eat forbidden foods?  Do they enjoy it?  Have they shaved their faces?  Or cut their hair?  Do they wear clothing of two different cloths?

What do they think of these laws?  Do they "apply to them"?  Do they repent when they eat their ham sandwich or shrimp cocktail?  Or have they reinterpreted them to mean something different?

And if they are permitted to reinterpret the law to protect their diet, aren't we permitted to do the same to protect our gay brothers and sisters?

God, we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed.  Forgive us!  Help us not to judge others but to love them instead.  Amen.