The Book of Confusion?

"Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness."  1 Timothy 6:11

The Book of Confusion?
By Rev. William Dohle

It happens sometimes.  Confusion!  We open our Bible, thinking that God is going to magically speak to us from its pages, and we read something that throws us into more of a tizzy that we were before.

Take today's reading...from the book of Numbers.  Numbers 4 to be exact.  This reading talks about what to do should a husband suspect his wife has been cheating.  Let me share with you some of the verses behind this incident.

‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— then he is to take his wife to the priest...The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water...The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”
“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”
‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her.
If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.

So... do you understand it?  It's talking about what to do with a woman suspected in adultery and it talks about mixing up a magical potion, making her drink it under oath, and watching what the potion does to her.  Does it cause her stomach to explode?  Or is she alright?

What do you do with a text like this?  How would you write a blog about THAT?

I've been working at this all morning and this is what I've discovered...

• Some people who believe that the Bible is inerrant just ignore this passage... A conversation with a friend of mine confirmed this.  He said that in order to keep the Bible inerrant and infallible, such verses need to be dismissed as merely ritual descriptions rather than actual commands from God...of course that doesn't account for the fact that "the Lord told Moses" is written before this passage.  Nor does it really address who gives us the power to decide which commands we follow and which ones we don't.
• A look online didn't help much.  Nor did the notes at the bottom of The Lutheran Study Bible which said, "Some commentators point to this verse and the ordeal as examples of unfair of demeaning treatment of women in the Bible.  Such an interpretation fails to appreciate the seriousness of adultery and its consequences."  So much for a critical look at this text.
• A message to another friend, Rabbi Daniel Bogard, proved more helpful.  He pointed out that this text was probably never put into practice in the first place and that the idea of making a woman drink a magical potion to determine her guilt was actually written in favor of the woman and not the man.  Whose stomach would explode like this?  And what would it say about a man who would drag his wife up for public humiliation simply on a hunch?  If this were true, this passage was written as a hyperbole, something so exaggerated that it was meant to keep the peace in the home rather than be followed literally.

I appreciate these sources.  They help me understand.  They also help me see how hard it is just to read the Bible and to get anything out of it.  There's a reason why we have interpreters and sources, saints and sages throughout the ages to help us understand it.  There's a reason why Scripture is read in the community...because if left by ourselves we will surely misinterpret and misread what was written to help us all.

Imagine a man reading this passage, growing jealous and suspicious, and forcing his wife today to drink something like this!  How terribly abusive that would be!  How wrong that would become!  He may claim he was "following the Bible" and doing what it said to do, but he would be violating the spirit of the Law while following the letter of it.

Perhaps a chapter like this should call us back to our faith community.  There we can read Scripture together.  There we can study and know and search it for meaning.  There we can hear the sages and saints of old tell us their interpretation.  There we can seek God's guidance and God's voice which is still speaking even now.

There we can know what to do with the sinner in all of us!

Almighty God, you speak to us through your Word, alive and testified to in Scripture.  Lead us into community that together we might search out and know you more.  Amen.

For Everyone's Safety

Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.  Mark 7:15

For Everyone's Safety
By Rev. William Dohle

It's amazing what we'll do to keep "safe."

At the writing of this devotion, the Ebola crisis has hit.  All around the world, people are being quarantined and set apart, thrust outside the tent as it were, for the safety of others.  So far 4000 people have died of it in West Africa and many more than that have come down with the virus.

For the safety of others, those who come home from these areas are being set apart.  The separation begins right from the start.  When Ebola is suspected, suits are worn by others around them.  The individuals go into seclusion while the rest of the world watches and waits on their condition.  Many to most of those quarantined never contract the virus.  A few do.  And those that do are isolated away even more with doctors and nurses now in full haz suits to protect them as they work on the one being treated.  Those that survive all of this(and the virus) are released back into the public.

But the few that contract and die from the disease die a very lonely death, separated from their loved ones by fear and strong plastic.

As much as I feel this is necessary...I wonder.  I wonder if can see the similarity between what we do to others for public safety and what the ancient people did for the same reasons.  Do we fail to understand the reasons why people from the dawn of time through today were isolated from their communities?  Do we see that it was for the good of the many.

The directive to isolate others with disease comes from God himself in the book of Numbers.

The Lord said to Moses, “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.” The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the Lord had instructed Moses.(Num. 5:1-4)

This seems rather harsh and cruel at the first read.  After all, if my wife is one with a defiling skin disease or a discharge(which often happens when a woman is hemorrhaging), she would be sent outside the camp?!  What's up with that?!

And yet I know too that if this were "modernized" and the defiling skin disease was, say, Ebola, I know that I would support isolating them outside the camp.  It's only logical to isolate those who can pollute(and possibly kill) the community!

But just because it's logical and practical doesn't mean it's right.  And Jesus himself shows this to be true.  Jesus, on multiple occasions, steps outside the norm and embraces the unclean.  In each and every case he does, not only does he make himself ritually unclean(and unfit to worship in the Temple of God), but he also takes on their uncleanliness as his own.  He does this...

To the woman afflicted with a bleeding disorder.
To the corpse of a young girl
To the lepers who cry for mercy.
To the demon possessed who live in the cemetery.

Each and every time, Jesus crosses over those boundaries.  He takes off his Haz-mat suit that protects him from the uncleanliness of others and he embraces them in love.  That love is so transformative that it can actually heal them of their ailment.  Their problems are not merely physical but also communal.  By welcoming them and embracing them in love, Jesus is bringing them back into the community who drove them away.  He is welcoming the outcast!

And Jesus calls us to do the same!

There is fear surrounding Ebola and every deadly disease.  People want to isolate themselves and their loved ones from possible infection.  Haz mat suits and other protections help doctors and nurses do their jobs without fear of infection.

But even as we isolate those who are sick, we must at the same time wrap them in love and remember them in our prayers.  We must consciously remind ourselves that they are not outside of our community.  No matter how sick they become.  No matter how infected.  They are still loved and cherished by Christ, and by us.

Christ crossed boundaries.  Christ dared to go against these verses in Numbers, to step outside the camp and welcome the others.  And Christ can empower us to do the same.

God you set boundaries around us for our own protection and the protection of others.  Give us strength the know the time to cross those boundaries and follow after your Son.  Be near all those who are infected with Ebola and those tending to their needs.  Keep our community open to them.  Amen.

Everyone has a job...even at church!

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." 1 Corinthians 12:7

Everyone Has A Job...Even at Church!
By Rev. William Dohle

It amazes me how many people it takes to put something good together.

At the movies...it takes thousands of people to create one flick.  From the producers and directors and the actors to the bus boys and the caterers to the ones working behind the scenes in special effects and design.  Costumers, sound technicians, makeup design.  The list goes on and on.  Try staying after the movie is over to count how many names you find in your average movie.  You will be amazed!

It truly takes a village to create such a masterpiece!

It takes that many people to do just about anything worth doing in this world.  From the ordinary work of building a house to the entertaining work of television and theater, more than one person is always behind everything you see!

Even worship!  It takes a tribe to make worship happen!

It takes a tribe of people literally in the book of Numbers to attend to God's tabernacle.  The tribe of people are called the Levites.  And they received this assignment because, lets face it...

No one can do it alone!

I think that's what happened to Aaron's sons.  The Bible won't say.  The Bible says that Aaron's son, Nadab and Abihu, fell dead before the Lord "when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the Desert of Sinai."(Num 3:4)

Now what that means we are never told.  But I think I know what "unauthorized fire" was.  Aaron's sons were acting alone, trying to worship God without the community behind them.

I have no proof of this... But following this tragedy, God gives a command.

Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him.  They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle.  They are to take care of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle.  Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him.(Num 3:5-9)

Following this command, for two chapters in the book of Numbers, we are told what each section of Levites does to prepare for the community's worship.

Reading this, images of the movie production come to mind.  Just as it takes a village to make a movie as great as Star Wars, it takes a village to worship God too!  No one can do it all by him or her self.  It takes people willing to step up and make it happen!

In ancient Israel those people were the Levites.  In the Christian church today, they are you and me!

We are those people tasked with making worship happen.  Each of us have been given different gifts to be used in the body of Christ.  Some of us are extraverts...and do well introducing one person to another.  Some of us are introverts...and can assist in more of the behind the scenes of worship.  Some of us are artistic.  Some not.

At our church, the obvious tasks we need help in are worship assistants, communion setup people,  acolytes, ushers, greeters, sound technicians.  But there are other jobs that need fulfilling like bulletin copiers, quilt makers, decorators, Bible study leaders, computer repair people, web site designers.  The list goes on and on.

And participants!  For, even when you just "show up" you are doing the work of God!  You are bringing the best gift of all...your presence!

At our church, we have been blessed with new  people working in worship.  New communion and worship assistants.  New ushers and greeters.  New people trying out their gifts and doing the work of God.  Together with those who've been doing it for years, these people demonstrate, in so many ways, that the work of the people is never just the work of the pastor.  The pastor alone offers "unauthroized fire" and could very well burn him or herself out by doing everything!

But the pastor with the congregation assisting in every way, can worship God and carry the people of God forward, just as the Levites did for the Israelites.

The people of Israel needed a tribe to worship God.  So do we.  May God use our talents for the betterment of our faith communities that, in the end, the love of God is proclaimed throughout the world in word and deed.

Uniting God, bring us together with all our differences that we might serve you and the world in love, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Number Matters

The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.  Psalm 90:10

Number Matters
By Rev. William Dohle

Numbers matter in our world...and they especially matter today.

Today is my 40th birthday.  To be honest, it's a really scary number to be at.  I remember when my dad turned 40.  I thought he was so old!  I thought, "Over the hill!?  You bet!"

Now I've reached that number too!

Numbers matter in our world today!  And they're everywhere!

The number of children you have(or don't have).  Your Social security number.  The figure that is your annual household income.  Your age.  Polling numbers to help politicians determine their stances.  Accounting numbers to make sure you're not going broke.  Tax numbers to determine how much of your income goes to the government.

All these numbers matter.

Even at church...numbers count!
This blog has seen 120,000 views in its five year life.  I have zero subscribers, but 250 "friends" on Facebook.  It's emailed out to a number of people throughout the country.
We look at the number of people giving at church to determine the number we will use in our budget to determine the number of programs we will have to cut to arrive at a certain number.
At pastor gatherings, collegues will ask each other, "So, how many people do you have in worship?"
(A number we always round up on!)
Each year ELCA Churchwide asks its congregations for numbers...how many people baptized, confirmed, died, or removed from the membership list.
People even say that the church is dying... based on the number of worshiping people in the pews.

Numbers matter in our world today.

Problem is, though, that numbers don't matter as much as we think they do.  In the end, it doesn't matter how many people attend if just one person changes their life because of it.  In the end, our numbers only aid the living.  They cannot help the dead.  Nobody writes on a tombstone, "He Kept His Numbers Up!" or "What great financial figures he had!"

Instead what is spoken of are things that can't be counted!  Things that can't be numbered.

Maybe that's why few people actually read, follow, or remember the first few chapters of Numbers because it is, honestly, all one big number came.

"Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.  You and Aaron are to number by their divisions all the men in Israel twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army."

Anyone who's worked "The Census" knows how incredibly difficult (and sometime tedeaous) it is counting people...but the Bible does just that.

The number form the tribe of Reuben was 46,500.
The number from the tribe of Simeon was 59,300.
The number from the tribe of Gad was 45,650.
(Feeling sleepy yet??)

And, if that wasn't enough, in the following chapter, the number of soldiers are explained.

The leader of the people of Judah is Nahshaon son of Amminadab.  His division numbers 74,600.
The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar.  His division numbers 54,400.

And so on... eleven divisions are counted all around the Tent of Meeting.  And at the end...

These are the Israelites, counted according to their families.  All those in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550.

Now that you know these numbers, is your life different?  Is it changed?  Do you have a new drive to love your neighbor and do good even to those who despise you?  Will you think about these numbers day and night, meditating on their meaning?

No... you probably won't.  (Or at least I hope you don't.)  Why?  Beacuse these numbers mean NOTHING!  That's right... NOTHING!   Oh sure, they meant something to the people at the time.  Moses and the Israelites benefited from knowing these numbers.  And I'm sure that people since Moses have looked at this first census of the people as a model of how to do their own census.

But... the numbers themselves don't mean anything to us today.

And neither will our numbers!

As much as we fight and argue about how many people are in worship or what our financial figures are.  As much as we debate how to draw more people in and get our numbers looking better.  As much as we concentrate our efforts on the numbers, truth be told, they don't really matter.

As much as I stress over being 40 years old, truth be told, it's just another year.  Another number to add to all the other numbers.  As one woman told me after worship, "Just think!  If you live as old as my dad did, you'll have another 63 birthdays just like this one!"

Numbers don't mean anything.  Life does.  Life is what happens in between the numbers.  The dash between our birth date and our death date that marks everything that we've ever done in our lives.

How will our dash be?  How will others be helped by what they saw in our dash?  How will our days be lived so that others might see us and know the love of God within us?

How will we live between the numbers?

The people of Israel were more than a number that was counted and recorded and kept for us to read.  They were a people with individual names and different lives.  They were distinct and unique and original.

And so are we!

Let's live our lives counting the days in wisdom but letting that number help us live life outside of our numbers!

Teach us to count our days, we pray O Lord, that we might live life to the fullest, taking advantage of every day you have set out for us.  Amen.

p.s.  Speaking of numbers...this is the second devotion written this week to catch up for the last weeks I haven't had one!  :)

The Price of Redemption

My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you--I, whom you have redeemed.  Psalm 71:23

The Price of Redemption
By Rev. William Dohle

We have a certain cycle in my family.  A way things usually go...

It's starts like every day begins... with my children, content with playing with their toys and video games, enjoying their leisure time.
Then comes the interruption... we ask them to do their chores.
Then the response... my children decide to disobey and ignore what we ask them to do.
Then...the consequence!  Their toys are taken away.

After this, there is usually a time of reaction by my children.
Followed by their promises... "Please, daddy!  I won't do that again!  Please!!"

At this point in time, their toys are up for ransom.  They have not done what they were suppose to.  They are paying for it with the time they could have spent with their toys and gadgets.

How do they get them back?  How do they redeem them from their father??

There is a price to pay.  A price for redemption.

I usually am pretty gracious.  I set the price at a day's worth of chores with NO complaints!  Sometimes the price is higher, depending upon the cost of their disobedience, but usually the price is paid when everything that we ask them to do is done to our satisfaction.

Then...and only then... are their toys redeemed.  Then they can have back what was theirs.

This is the pattern, not only for the redemption of toys in the Dohle household, but also the redemption of people, property, animals, homes, and the like in ancient Israel.

In this final chapter of Leviticus the rules for redemption are described.  And the price is set.

If it is a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels and of a female at ten shekels. (27:5)
If the owner wishes to redeem the animal, he must add a fifth of its value. (27:13)
If the man dedicates his house as something holy to the Lord, the priest will judge its quality good or bad.(27:14)
If the man who dedicates a field wishes to redeem it, he must add a fifth to its value and the field will again become his. (27:19)

These things are redeemed from the Lord, not because they belong primarily to God(God claims the firstborn and the tithe as his in Leviticus, not everything in this case), but rather because they were vowed to be given to God.  From this vow, a price is paid to "get back" what was vowed before.  These are those prices.

And though we do not work that way in our world today, we find it a window into ourselves and into our ancestors.

We find that life was marked with inequality back in that day.  Men were worth more than women, hands down.  The young more than the old.  The genders and the age groups are divided out based on their worth.  And though we might disagree with the Bible on this account and want to make all genders and ages equal in worth, it just worked that way back then.

We discover this inequality...but we also discover something that draws us into our own faith.  This idea of redemption, as payment for something, to take back from another.  In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus applies this to us too.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

The theology of redemption, first established in Leviticus, is brought forward in the New Testament in a new way.  Here Jesus redeems us from "sin, death, and the devil" rescuing us to become children and heirs of God.  God redeems through Jesus his precious possession, namely us, so that, through Jesus redemption, we can truly live for God!

We are God's treasured possession.  And God stopped at nothing to take us back from even death itself!

Thanks be to God!

Blessed are you, Lord God, king of the Universe, for you do not abandon us to the grave but rescue us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  Amen!