Of all the convictions that unite Common Grounds readers and writers, it is a hope to speak to the questions being asked by those outside the boundaries of Jesus’ followers that I appreciate the most. Different kinds of questions emerge as we seek to bring insight from Scripture to the skeptic, but are we being a “blessing to the Gentiles” if we refuse to entertain those questions.

 

Lately, I have noted a handful of persistent questions coming from those watching Christianity from the outside in. First, I keep hearing questions about the Bible’s blood and gore. “Why all the messy need for death and bloodshed in Christianity’s teaching about salvation? Why can’t God just wave his hand and forgive?” Second, I had my umpteenth conversation recently about conservative Christianity’s opposition to same sex relationships. Almost on cue, the comment was offered, “Really? Do you wear a poly-cotton blend in your shirt? Because the Bible forbids wearing a garment that mixes two different kinds of threads.” Finally, our own President during his campaign last summer worked to debunk simplistic understandings of how religion and politics work by saying, “Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? [Some] suggest slavery is okay, and that eating shellfish is an abomination?”

 

What do all these comments have in common? They all have their exegetical origins in the book of Leviticus. I’m starting to think that Leviticus’ mere presence in the Canon of Scripture is a major stumbling block to skeptics and an embarrassment to Christians. The book is almost like that drunken uncle in your family that only comes out at reunions and weddings to annoy people and be obnoxious. We have to tolerate him because, after all, he’s family, but mostly we’re just embarrassed by him and treat him like he isn’t there.

 

So in defense of this strange book, I would like to offer a few reasons why Leviticus needs to make a comeback among Bible teachers. First, Leviticus is the framework for the Gospel. Like the heavy steel beams of a towering skyscraper, Leviticus maps out the basic themes that emerge in the New Testament Gospel: God’s holiness, Man’s sinfulness, and God’s roadmap of forgiveness, just to name a few. Perhaps the instability we see rippling through our churches is due to the fact that we are like spiritual bodies without theological skeletal structures to help us to stand and flourish.

 

Second, Leviticus gives the geography of holiness. The book focuses on life surrounding the worship center in the midst of the Jewish camp called the Tabernacle. There, God’s people are invited to have fellowship with their God, but the prospect is a dangerous one. Here we find, as the writer of Hebrews says, that our God is a “consuming fire.” Dive into the deep end of the swimming pool, open your mouth and take a deep breath, you’ll soon find that the reality of being under water requires behaviors that are consistent with that reality. Enter into the Presence of an all-encompassing, all-conditioning, all-sustaining God, and you’ll be forced to admit that you might need some instruction on the appropriate behaviors that acknowledge that reality.

 

Finally, Leviticus shows us the realties in ritual. You can’t read this book without being struck by the mind-numbing minutiae that God finds important enough to include in his instructions to these people. The traditions of these ancient people look bizarre to us moderns, but I wonder what our wedding ceremonies would look like to them? Why the white dress, the expensive flowers, the tuxedos, the boxed wine? Truth is, we still ritualize the things we care the most about. Those who most loudly protest ritualism inevitably adopt their own set of patterned behavior. God wanted his people to perform certain rituals to help them live in the eternal, immaterial realities. “If you want to see the invisible realities that I want to bring into your life, you have to touch the tangible realities of daily holiness.”

 

Why would God choose to do it that way? Perhaps it was because, in Christ, he intended to become tangible so that we could see the invisible reality in HIM. When it all comes down to it, then, Leviticus is worth investigating because the writers of the New Testament are convinced that the whole thing is about Jesus.