Monthly Archives: March 2025

Chapter-a-Day

“Much is Required”

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“Much is Required” (CaD Lev 21) – Wayfarer

“‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes.’”
Leviticus 21:10 (NIV)

As a young man I spent five years in vocational pastoral ministry, a total of six years in professional ministry when you add one year of purgatory in a para-church men’s ministry.

Six years.

Six is the number of man, and it was yours truly’s determination back in the day that when God called me to proclaim His Word that it must have meant being in vocational, professional ministry. I have fond memories of those six years and, to this day, I continue to be blessed by the fruit of my labors within them. Nevertheless, those years will filled with many hard lessons as God made it clear to me that He had another plan. I was still going to proclaim His Word. It was just going to be nothing like I had been determined it should be. My ways are not His ways.

“To whom much is given, much is required,” Jesus said, and goodness gracious did I experience that during my six years of pastoral ministry. The question I learned to ask during that stretch of my life journey was, “Exactly who is requiring this of me?”

As a youth pastor and pastor I learned that many people required many different things from me. And, many of them made it clear that they were the ones doing the “giving” that paid my salary so I had better toe the line of their personal requirements. It didn’t take long before I realized that I was beginning to pretend to be someone I wasn’t in order to be the person others were requiring me to be. So, I fulfilled my contract and chose to walk away.

I then worked for one year for a ministry started and led by charismatic and popular celebrity in local Christian circles. In this professional ministry I learned that what was required of me was to be loyal, do what I was told, not to complain, and not to ask uncomfortable questions, especially about how the ministry’s finances were being handled. I actually got fired from that job. It put me and my young family in a tremendous financial pinch at the time, but it was among the best things that ever happened to me. God provided what we needed.

In the next two chapters of God’s priestly manual for the ancient Hebrews, God addresses the priests, and the High Priest, in particular. Jesus words are just as apt here. There was nothing that Aaron or his sons had done to deserve or earn being the priests. It was a calling given to them by God. And, it was a pretty sweet gig. They wouldn’t toil like all the other tribes to make a living and provide for their families. They got a portion of the offerings and sacrifices that were simply brought to God. As the tribe of priests grew, it also meant that they actually only did their priestly duties on occasional shifts. And, the priests had God-given authority over the people. They had the power to declare people clean or unclean, to banish people from the camp, and to declare a person’s offering acceptable or not. In other words, the priests had the power to keep people in fellowship with God, or to cut them off from God’s favor. What is clear from today’s chapter is that God is requiring from them an exceptional level of behavior from His preists as it relates to remaining ritually “clean” and being a “holy” example as they carry out the ritual offerings and sacrifices God prescribed earlier in the book. They are to live and lead by example. But, that’s ultimately not going to happen.

As Lord Acton observed back in the late 1800s, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

What eventually happened with the Hebrew priesthood is the same thing I observed in the large institutional churches and denominations I’ve served in and been a part of my entire life. They become just another kingdom of this world under the dominion of the Prince of this World. Spiritual authority is corrupted into personal and worldly power. Being an example is corrupted into being a pretender. Those at the top of the religious food chain become just like politicians, celebrities, or business moguls. They expect or demanding one thing from those under their authority or influence while doing pretty much whatever they want.

For example, I read in today’s chapter God’s very specific instruction to the High Priest that he was never to “tear his clothes.” The rending of one’s garments was a common practice among the ancients as a sign of grief or lament. God apparently wanted the High Priest to remain an example of spiritual objectivity and discipline, and not to do this. I suddenly remembered something and quickly flipped to Matthew.

When Jesus was arrested by the High Priest Caiaphas, He was arrested under the pretense of Jesus breaking all sorts of religious laws. He worked on the Sabbath, He claimed to be God, and He said He would destroy the Temple. However, the High Priest had Jesus arrested at night, which was also against the law. He presided over a trial of Jesus during that same night, which was also against the law. When Jesus proclaimed that He was exactly who He claimed to be, Matthew tells us: “Then the high priest tore his clothes….” In condemning the Son of God for breaking God’s laws, the High Priest breaks them himself.

Rules for thee, but not for me.

That’s the way it works in this fallen world.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself grateful that God led me down a path that gave me a much more expansive (and powerful) understanding of what “ministry” is and means. He blessed me with a vocation that perfectly fit my gifts and abilities which I have really enjoyed. He also blessed me with regular opportunities to continue using my gifts among every local gathering of Jesus followers while having another vocation. It has also afforded me the freedom and opportunity to find and embrace my authentic self and what God requires of me without the pressure to conform to what everyone else “requires.” Just like Paul who made tents wherever he went so that he wouldn’t need to ask anything from the local gatherings of believers he served, it’s allowed me to do very much the same, serving even in pastoral roles in ways that are a service and a calling but not necessary as my professional vocation.

I’ve had people ask me if I would ever consider going back to a full-time pastoral gig. I always feel myself shrug. Who knows? A lot has changed all around in 35 years. As I see “retirement” out there on the horizon, who knows where God might yet lead me in future seasons of life. I know that I will continue to follow wherever He leads. I know that I can trust Him with the Story. And, I know that I am right where I’m supposed to be doing the things I’m supposed to do today.

And with that, I enter another day of the journey, just another Wayfaring Stranger making my way home.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Who Changed? The Parent or Child?

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Who Changed? The Parent or Child? (CaD Lev 20) – Wayfarer

“You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.”
Leviticus 20:23 (NIV)

Our granddaughter, Sylvie, is an absolute delight. She is also a willful child in excess measure. Once Sylvie sets her will to what she wants or doesn’t want, you are in for the challenge of your life..

Sylvie is currently potty training. She’s taken her own sweet time getting here. When she came to stay at Papa and Yaya’s house last week we quickly discovered this little game she was playing. When her body told her it was time to do the numero dos, she would tell us she had to go potty. We put her on the pot and she would quickly ask for a wipe, use it and then say she was all done without accomplishing the deed. She loves putting the toilet paper in the adult potty and flushing it. Back she went to playing until a few minutes later she said she has to go potty again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

I went along with it the first two or three times, but I was not playing that game all day. What Sylvie doesn’t know is that I successfully raised her Aunt Madison, who was a Grand Master when it came to being a willful child. Sylvie experienced a side of Papa last weekend that she’d never really experienced before. It didn’t change my love for her one iota. She just learned that there’s a serious side of Papa that will meet her toddler willfulness head-on.

When Sylvie is a teenager, and when she becomes a young adult out on her own, my relationship with her will be very different. It’s a natural life progression. Right now, she is a willful toddler who needs loving but very firm and sometimes serious authority from her parents and grandparents to guide her in doing the right and healthy thing.

In this chapter-a-day journey through the book of Leviticus, I have repeatedly used the metaphor of humanity being in its’ toddler stages back in 1500 B.C. One of the hardest things for modern readers of the Great Story to grapple with is that the God of Leviticus seems so different and hardcore than the teachings of Jesus. I think it’s easy to lose sight of who really changed between the two. If our adult daughters, who now have children of their own, behaved in a way I found improper today I wouldn’t shout “NO!” at them with my authoritarian voice, command them to cease, and threaten them with a time-out, being grounded, or inflicting some kind of uncomfortable punishment (not that some parents don’t foolishly still use variations of these tactics with their adult children). That would be silly. They are adults and my relationship with them has changed, though I’m still the same father I was when Grand Master Madison was Sylvie’s age exhibiting her willful shenanigans.

In today’s chapter, God goes back to the sex thing that He addressed with His toddler children two chapters ago. He repeats (you have to repeat things a lot to toddlers) the authoritarian prohibitions of practicing child sacrifice (like the people groups around them were doing) and committing various sexual acts, most all of it referring to incest, which the people groups around them were doing without restraint. The threat of punishment was blunt and severe, just like one threatens a willful toddler.

In the quiet this morning, I thought back to a conversation Wendy and I had with friends over brunch yesterday. The conversation was about children in young adulthood. Children at that stage of human development make some really, really foolish mistakes (the same way we did when we were their age) but a parent must use a far more subtle and nuanced approach in attempting to guide, instruct, and support them towards wise and healthy decisions. The authoritarian toddler stage is pretty easy by comparison. Parenting a young adult requires the surrender, faith, and patience of the Prodigal’s father.

This begs the question, of course, in what ways is God still having to have surrender, faith, and patience with me in my “adult” stages of life? In what aspects of my life am I still being the Prodigal?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Others

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Others (CaD Lev 19) – Wayfarer

“‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.’”
Leviticus 19:15 (NIV)

I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has noticed that the level of vitriol between both individuals and tribes of individuals has risen dramatically in the last 10 years. The political divide has a lot to do with this. In my observation, the mainstream media and cable news (on both sides) have helped spur the increased animosity. All I have to do is take about 30 seconds to scroll through the feed of X or BlueSky and my mind and soul will be coated with the residue of anger, rage, and savage written attacks against the “other” of whoever is spewing their personal prejudice and hatred.

So far in this chapter-a-day journey through the ancient Hebrew priestly manual known as Leviticus, God has prescribed offerings and ritual sacrifices for the Hebrews. He has appointed priests, given them instructions for their job, and instituted the sacrificial system. God then explained what made people ritually “clean” or “unclean,” and prescribed an annual Day of Atonement in which the High Priest made one sacrifice for the sin of all the people, and foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus would make on the cross. The final section of Leviticus (chapters 17-26) are instructions God gives to His people for “holy” living. Today’s chapter is like a potpourri of individual prescriptions, each one of them standing on their own.

As I read through the instructions in today’s chapter, there were some that make little or no sense in today’s world and even scholars will agree that the purpose and meaning has been lost over time, like not wearing clothing made woven of two kinds of material. There are cultural taboos that had to do with being “different” from the tribes around them and the connotations that came with them at that period of time, like having tattoos (fyi: Wendy just got her latest tattoo yesterday. It’s gorgeous). But most of the prescribed instructions in today’s chapter have to do with treating others, all others with respect, honesty, courtesy, and love. It is from today’s chapter that Jesus quotes the second of the two commands that He said sum up all of the Law and the Prophets: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (vs. 18)

Parents, employees, children, the disabled, immigrants, the elderly, customers, neighbors, slaves, rich, poor, and the tribe as a whole are called out as those one is to deferentially treat with love, generosity, honor, and dignity. I personally found it fascinating that one of the prescriptions instructed the Hebrews to not show partiality to either the great or the poor, but to treat each fairly and objectively. I found it particularly poignant as I see one side of the political spectrum demonizing the rich with a broad brush as greedy, heartless, law breaking charlatans. The other side, meanwhile, demonizes the poor with a broad brush as lazy, freeloading, drug addicted, and worthless drains on society.

In the quiet this morning as I pondered these prescriptions for treating others, I thought about a conversation Wendy and I had on vacation a few weeks ago. We were in New Orleans for the week before the Super Bowl (unintentional timing) and then spent a week on a cruise. We were surrounded by crowds and we interacted with a diverse swath of humanity both weeks and in our travel to and from New Orleans. What we witnessed was people treating one another with kindness and respect. We met people from all walks of life. We interacted with different races, ethnicities, geographic backgrounds, education levels, and socio-economic status. With it being Super Bowl week, believe me that the uber rich were there right along with NOLA’s regular homeless residents. We were encouraged by our experiences with everyone.

Which leads me to think that perhaps the best thing I can do for my mind and soul is to stay away from the mainstream media and just ignore the feeds on X and Bluesky. If I focus on doing as God prescribes with the people I interact with today in my circles of influence I will have a greater affect on this world than if I spend my day screaming my political opinions to the internet.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

The Sex Thing

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The Sex Thing (CaD Lev 18) – Wayfarer

“You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.”
Leviticus 18:3 (NIV)

Sex is always such a hot topic. It is one of our most basic human appetites, and it is naturally one of the strongest and most pleasurable as it drives the perpetuation of life. Like all human appetites, we sinful human beings love to indulge it to excess.

We indulge our appetite for food into gluttony.
We indulge our appetite for rest into sloth.
We indulge our appetite for pride into vanity.
We indulge our appetite for daily provision into greed.

All of these appetites are natural and God-given. We need them for life. One of the insidious effects of Alzheimer’s Disease that I watched slowly destroy my mother’s body is the loss of appetite for food. She forgot that she was hungry. For the last several years of her life her diet consisted of some blueberry yogurt and chocolate nutritional drink. My dad had to practically force her to eat that, or she wouldn’t have eaten a thing. At one point she weighed under 90 pounds.

Our appetites are good and meant for our physical health and life. This includes our appetite for sex. God even dedicates an entire piece of the Great Story, Song of Solomon (a.k.a Song of Songs), to an ancient poem about the sexual appetites of young lovers. When I attended a fundamentalist Baptist Bible college I remember observing the professors contort themselves to explain all of the human sexuality out of the text, turning it into nothing more than a spiritual allegory. One of the problems I’ve observed with the institutional church is that it picks the things on which it focuses, and the subject of sex (other than prohibiting a few aspects of it) is avoided more than any other.

Of course, what makes our appetite for sex different than the other God-given appetites is that all the other appetites and our indulgence in them affect the people around us. Sex involves direct participation with another person. This adds potent and intense dynamics of human relationship, power, intimacy, and abuse.

Today’s chapter is all about sexual prohibitions that God gave to the ancient Hebrew people. Along my life journey, I’ve observed that only one verse of this chapter (the prohibition of homosexual sex) gets quoted or discussed today. That’s a shame, because the context in which that verse was given is, I think, important.

A couple of observations:

First, the list of sexual prohibitions in today’s chapter is preceded with a preamble. God makes it clear that all of the behaviors he’s about to prohibit are things that the Egyptians and Canaanite people groups indulge in. Sex was indulged in without boundary or restraint, and the bulk of the list of prohibitions have to do with incestuous relationships. The Egyptian royals were infamous for their practice of incest to “keep the bloodline pure.” King Tut was a classic example of the consequences, his body genetically disfigured and his life shortened.

Second, these were all patriarchal, male dominated cultures. Guess who drove the indulgence of sexual appetites out of their sheer power, authority, and domination in family and culture? [cue: looking in the mirror]

Third, the sexual appetite was designed by our Creator God for the perpetuation of life through reproduction. It is a physical appetite and it is pleasurable and intimate, but the ultimate physical result is new life. New life (a.k.a being “born again,” resurrection, redemption) is an overarching core theme of the entire Great Story that can’t be ignored. In the last hundred or so years of human history we’ve developed countless ways to indulge in the pleasure of our sexual appetites and mostly eliminate the possibility of new life. The ancients did not have this luxury. Today’s chapter also addresses the way the ancients dealt with the unwanted consequences of their sexual indulgences. They sacrificed their babies to gods like Molek. An appetite that was intended to perpetuate new life becomes a catalyst for systemic infanticide.

Fourth, while today’s chapter does briefly mention a prohibition of homosexual sex, it also clearly mentions a prohibition of adultery. A fundamentalist standing in protest of homosexuality who has committed or is committing adultery is a hypocrite. As Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin…”

Fifth, as I went through the list of prohibitions today, I wrote in the margin the names of individuals within the Great Story who committed the prohibitions. David committed adultery. Solomon with his hundreds of wives and concubines took adultery to even greater indulgent excesses. David’s son Amnon and daughter Tamar had an incestuous romance going before Amnon raped her (see my second point above). Jacob married rival sisters as prohibited in verse 20. A powerful and natural sexual appetite will naturally lead to sexual indulgence like an appetite for food will lead to gluttony at the church potluck. Spiritually, they are equal in their negative effects, but we tend to focus on one and ignore the other.

Finally, in the quiet this morning, God reminds the Hebrews at the beginning and ending of the chapter that He wants them to be different than all the sexually indulgent people around them. He wants them to exemplify and enjoy pleasurable, loving, intimate, and yes productive fulfillment of sexual appetites, avoiding the negative consequences of indulgence for themselves and those around them.

Enjoy fulfilling the appetite without indulging in excess. That’s a worthwhile endeavor for me as it relates to both my sexual appetite and all the others.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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No Exemptions

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No Exemptions (CaD Lev 17) – Wayfarer

“Say to them: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice and does not bring it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to sacrifice it to the Lord must be cut off from the people of Israel.
Leviticus 17:19 (NIV)

A lot has changed in the last 40 years. I among the last of those who will remember growing up in a world without personal computers and smart phones. I have so many great memories of spending entire summers outside with friends, neighborhood kids playing games, and just making up stuff to do. I rode my bike everywhere, including places I wasn’t necessarily supposed to be, just to explore my world. Then there were entire days at the swimming pool. The only screen my family had was a giant console television in the living room. There were a total of four channels to choose from for most of my childhood. I was excited when it rose to five somewhere along the line.

The dawn of the Technology Age changed life drastically. As with all such revolutionary changes in history, the progress comes with fallout. Jonathan Haidt and his team at AfterBabel have been on the forefront of studying and calling out the negative effects that smartphones and screens have had on our children. AI has prompted legislation regarding the creation and publication of fake nude or pornographic photos/videos of individuals which can instantly destroy a person’s life and reputation once they are publicly available on the internet. Technology has also afforded governments the ability to electronically freeze a person out of their bank account with a click and without a court order. When the prophet Dylan sang The Times They are a Changin’ I’m not sure he had any idea how prophetic his lyrics would be beyond his own generation and within his own lifetime.

I have also seen the massive changes in institutional churches. The Technology Age and the cultural shifts in its wake have seen the fracturing and implosion of all the mainline denominations who held sway over lives, churches, colleges, and communities for centuries. Here in rural America, countless country churches have closed their doors. My own local congregation, once a mainline denominational stalwart, has found itself an independent gathering of believers from an incredibly diverse spectrum of denominational backgrounds and traditions. This is forcing our gathering to reconsider everything that many comfortably believed and traditionally experienced in their weekly worship their entire lives. Everything I’ve just described may sound doom and gloom, but I actually see the hand of God in it. The entire Great Story is about a cycle of life, death, and new life. Old things pass away, and new things come. Something is being spiritually born again on a corporate community level, and I’ve been watching it happen in real time. That excites me.

Everything we’ve been reading in our chapter-a-day journey through Leviticus is as equally revolutionary for the Hebrew people as the Technology Age has been for the entire world. For centuries the Hebrew tribes had been doing pretty much whatever they wanted to do, however they wanted to do it. There was no set sacrificial or religious system other than traditions that had been passed down, and that might have looked different from one family to another. Now, the God of their fathers is in their midst. He showed up, made Himself known, delivered them from slavery, and He is always present in His traveling tent temple at the center of their camp. Leviticus is His guide for life and sacrifice.

In today’s chapter, God prohibits old ways of sacrifice. In some cases, Hebrews were making sacrifices to God on their own, in their own way, however they’d chosen to do it. In other cases, people made sacrifices to other gods who they’d learned about in Egypt or other cultures.

That was then. This is now. The Times They are a Changin’. God has told His people how He wants offerings and sacrifices done in His presence at His tent. He is creating a unified people who will be His representatives to the nations of the world. All sacrifices and offerings come to Him, and Him alone at the entrance to His tent. No exemptions.

In the quiet this morning, I see echoes of the same revolutionary recreation that Jesus prompted in His teaching, death, and resurrection. He radically changed the paradigm. The temple that replaced the tent was destroyed. He sent His Spirit to indwell every individual who believes and receives, making our very own bodies His temple. No longer do we go to a central location to be with God, we take God with us wherever we go. In addition, Jesus distilled all of God’s commands that we’re reading about in to two essential regulations. I am to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and I am to love others as I love myself. In the same spirit as today’s chapter, there are no exemptions. I am not exempt from loving others. I can’t go along with most of it and then have this little hatred, prejudice, or animosity on the side. Loving God means forgiving others as God has forgiven me. There are no exemptions because Jesus claimed no exemptions when His love compelled Him to willingly suffer and die for every human being.

In my spiritual journey I have had to embrace the truth that whenever I hate another person or refuse to forgive another person, I diminish and profane what Jesus did on the cross. What He did on the cross He did for me and the person I hate, judge, and condemn. My hatred, judgement, and condemnation is essentially me, in my pride, making myself god and pronouncing judgment instead of surrendering myself to Him.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Sacrifice and Scapegoats

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Sacrifice and Scapegoats (CaD Lev 16) – Wayfarer

[Aaron, the high pries] is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
Leviticus 16:21-22 (NIV)

They are playing baseball in Arizona and Florida. Spring Training is underway and the regular season is right around the corner. Wendy and I have already begun watching some of the Cubs’ spring training games. Hope springs eternal every March for baseball fans.

Several years ago, I was fascinated when ESPN made a documentary about one of the most infamous events in the history of the Cubs and all of sports. With one out in the top of the 8th inning and a 3-0 lead, the 2003 Cubs were just five outs away from punching their ticket to the World Series for the first time since 1945. A fly ball to left field fell right on the edge of the wall and a fan named Steve Bartman reached out to catch it as the Left Fielder, Moises Alou attempted to do the same. The ball was bobbled. Alou was furious. The Cubs fell apart, giving up eight runs. The crowd turned on Bartman. They taunted him, threw beer on him, threatened him, and the police were called to escort him from Wrigley Field. It was one of the most tragic events I’ve ever witnessed.

The ESPN documentary about the incident was entitled Catching Hell and in the documentary they explored the theme of scapegoating in sports. One life-long, loyal fan does what any human being at a baseball game naturally does. I’ve been going to baseball games my entire life and I’ve always dreamed of catching a foul ball. It’s never happened. Bartman does what I would have done, what anyone would have done. But suddenly, the pent up frustrations, anger, and even rage of an entire tribe of fans is channeled into blaming this one innocent member of their own tribe for the perpetual failures of their team. The documentary went into the history of scapegoating, which led them to today’s chapter.

In the sacrificial system that God set up for the ancient Hebrews there were regular offerings for sin that people brought to God’s traveling ten temple. These included “sin” offerings. Yet, once a year, God prescribed a “Day of Atonement.” It was the only time that the high priest (or anyone) entered the “Most Holy Place” in the traveling tent temple where the Ark of the Covenant was placed [cue: Indiana Jones theme]. This was the one major sacrificial offering for the sins of all the Hebrew people and priests. The high priest actually starts with two goats. One will be sacrificed. The other is the scapegoat. The high priest lays his hands on the scapegoat and the sins of the entire nation are transferred to it. That goat is led into the wilderness and released, metaphorically carrying away the sins of the people. (BTW: Have you ever noticed that the symbol of Satanism is the head of a goat?)

Today’s chapter is, once again, key in understanding who Jesus was and what He came to accomplish. Jesus was the ultimate atoning sacrifice bringing grace and forgiveness to all who would believe and receive it. All of sin was placed on Him, God’s own innocent Son. As Paul put it: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us.”

Nevertheless, we continue to scapegoat individuals in all sorts of situations rather than doing what Jesus called on me to do as His disciple and forgive, as I’ve been forgiven. Jesus even exemplified this while hanging on the cross when He said, “Father, forgive them. They have no idea what they are doing.” The institutional church failed to do this when, once they became the Holy Roman Empire and had all of the worldly power, they decided to make the Jewish people scapegoats for executing Jesus (despite the fact that Jesus made it clear this was the way it was meant to be, and chastised Peter and the boys for trying to stop it or use violence in His defense). The rise of antisemitism and the scapegoating of the Jewish people within the church evolved over time, but it began with the first Christian Emperor, Constantine in the 4th century. If you watch the news, you know it is still happening today.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded how relevant Leviticus is today for those who are willing to see it. As a disciple of Jesus, I’m reminded that I am called to follow Jesus’ example and graciously forgive, even when the rest of the crowd is scapegoating and every ounce of me feels like jumping on the toxic gravy-train. I’m also equally reminded that Jesus’ atoning sacrifice means that grace, mercy, and redemption are available to anyone, regardless of their sins – even scapegoats.

In 2016, after winning their first World Series since 1908, the Chicago Cubs owners and organization quietly delivered one of the team’s World Series rings to Steve Bartman.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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“Acky”

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“Acky” (CaD Lev 15) – Wayfarer

“‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.’”
Leviticus 15:31 (NIV)

Wee ones are hilarious as they are developing their vocabularies. A few I remember from our girls was that an umbrella was a “rainbrella” (made sense). When grandma was having a heat flash and suddenly her face was covered with sweat, she was “raining.” When something was dirty or nasty or something you shouldn’t touch, it was “acky.” This, as I recall, became a euphemism for when they did the number two in their diapers. They would tell me they were “acky.”

Today is the last of several chapters regarding the distinctions of “clean” and “unclean” that God gave the ancient Hebrews. These distinctions were part of system of rituals and offerings given to newly appointed priests. God was preparing the ancient Hebrews to live in community with God dwelling in the center of their camp in a traveling tent temple. A Holy God, Creator of the heavens and the earth who created human beings. When they were deceived and disobeyed God’s one prohibitive command, they became “unholy.” A series of judgments followed and they were sent from God’s presence.

A Holy God desires only holy things to be in His presence.

A good parent teaches a their young child that we can’t abide with “acky” in any of its forms in our home community. Mom and Dad won’t put up with it. It could be a poopy diaper, it could be dirty hands and clothes after playing outside, or it could be that gross moldy leftover in the fridge. If it’s “acky” then we need to avoid it and clean it up. We want a clean and healthy house.

God is teaching His toddler children the same spiritual lesson through daily life rituals. And, as I pondered these things in the quiet this morning I was reminded that the ritual cleansing for most of these forms of “acky” were as simple as washing up. The ritual “uncleanness” lasted no more than the end of the day. Being unclean wasn’t a condemnation. The cleansing wasn’t punitive. The entire was system was about what was good for the community and God not being able to abide “acky” in His people and His presence at the tent temple

Today’s final chapter of “unclean” distinctions is all about human “discharges” that made a person ritually unclean. It included both male sexual discharge and female bleeding that happens with her monthly menstrual cycle. As I read the part about men being unclean for the rest of the day after having sex, I couldn’t help but laugh. I am quite sure that his was a “thing” between Hebrew dudes in the day.

“Hey Josh? Want to grab some grilled goat poppers and wine in the market with me and the bros?”

“Nah! I’m ‘unclean ’til evening,’ if you know what I mean.”

“Ha! Good for you, dude!”

Joking aside, the downside of the ritual distinctions came when the realities of living in a fallen world of sickness and death made being ritually clean impossible. Such as a woman who because of a medical issues has been vaginally bleeding continuously for twelve years. There was no easy ceremony. Being ritually clean was impossible. This was a tragic circumstance.

When Jesus arrives on the scene a thousand years later, He makes it clear that it was exactly these kinds of tragic situations that He came to “clean up” once, and for all. His sacrifice would provide a way for anyone, now matter how perpetually unclean, to be washed in Living Water, to be made holy, and to have God’s Spirit take up residence inside them.

This larger spiritual truth is beautifully embodied in the story of the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. Perpetually unclean, she was an outcast. Her family kicked her out. She had no friends, no life, and no hope. Her perpetual, “ritual” uncleanness made her every day existence unbearable. In desperation, she throws a Hail Mary. She thinks to herself that if she could just touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak, perhaps she would be healed like all the others she’d seen Him heal.

Driven by her faith, she pushed her way to Him through the crowd that was pressed in like a can of sardines. In doing so, she was making everyone she touched ritually unclean, and if they found out the consequences could be socially (and perhaps physically) lethal. Jesus doesn’t even know that she is there until her fingers touch his cloak and He feels the holy flow of divine power. She knew better than anyone else that she was “unclean.” Her faith in what Jesus could do for her forever healed her.

The beauty of her story is that it points to the larger spiritual lesson that God has forever been telling from the beginning of the Great Story. Our sin is “acky” and can’t be abided in God’s House. We can no more clean up our own sin than our two-year old granddaughter could change her own diaper. No, someone has to do that for her. That’s what Jesus came to do through His sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection.

Jesus cleaned up my perpetual, spiritual “acky” condition, and then He came to abide in me.

If you’ve never seen it, may I highly recommend that you watch this compilation of scenes from The Chosen that tells the story of the woman who was bleeding for twelve years? It’s well done, and captures the heart of what I’ve been trying say better than I could ever write it. Have a good weekend, my friend.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Of Doctors and Priests

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Of Doctors and Priests (CaD Lev 14) – Wayfarer

The priest who pronounces them clean shall present both the one to be cleansed and their offerings before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
Leviticus 14:11 (NIV)

In the past few weeks, Wendy and I have had a smattering of medical appointments and procedures of various kinds. There is more to come in the near future. As much as I hate to admit it, our bodies are showing the signs of our ages (Wendy is way younger than me! 😉). As I mentioned in yesterday’s post/podcast, no matter how good medical science gets, there is ultimately no antidote for the eventuality of our bodies aging and dying. Of course, there have been and always will be those who continue to seek that holy grail.

Which had me thinking as I read today’s chapter. Yesterday described the process by which the newly appointed Hebrew priests would examine, diagnose, and quarantine those individuals who showed signs of a skin disease that could be contagious. In today’s chapter, the priests are instructed how to examine and then prescribe a healthy person’s return to the Community. This included a ceremonial ritual for cleansing outside the camp followed by a regimen of washing both body and clothes, and shaving off all hair. The individual was then allowed into the camp, but there was a seven-day period in which the individual did not go into their family’s tent/house. If after seven days there was no sign of relapse, on the eighth day they went to the same priest who declared them clean and he would make an offering to the Lord to atone for the cleansed person. Then they could return to their family tent.

What struck me as I read these instructions was the role of the priest, who is acting very much as a doctor. Have you ever noticed the universal symbol we still use today for medicine and healthcare? It originates right out of the story of Moses and these Hebrew tribes escaping from slavery and beginning this new way of living in the wilderness. In Numbers 21, the people are being plagued by poisonous snakes. Moses makes a bronze snake, places it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten by a snake looks at it and lives.

So the first doctors in this tradition were priests, and there was a connection between God, health, and healing. Two thoughts, make that three, are churning in mind.

First, in all of my years of involvement with churches of every shape, size, and tradition, I’ve never experienced one that truly addresses, emphasizes, and attempts to help people make the spiritual connection between their spiritual life and their physical health. As Paul put it to the believers in Corinth:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)

Second, as I’ve observed my aging grandparents and parents in these final seasons of earthly life, I can’t help but observe the healthcare system. The system appears to me to be largely designed to profit by helping a human beings stay alive as long as possible. There is a lot of money to be made in doing so. As the body ages there a multiple things that begin to breakdown. For every single one of them there are examinations, tests, scans, procedures, drugs, and regular follow-up visits. And for every thing on that list there is a price tag.

As I think about this from a spiritual perspective, it strikes me that the what the healthcare system really wants to do is to help humans avoid death as long as possible. On one hand, this is a natural human instinct. The pursuit of longer, more productive lives is worthy. I’ve observed along my journey, however, that worthy human pursuits almost always have the propensity to be twisted in spiritually dark ways. Voldemort was pursuing the eternal avoidance of death. Dr. Frankenstein, too.

Have we made the medical establishment modern day priests who will extend our lives in a form of Godless religion?

At what point does the avoidance of death at all costs become empty of any kind of Life?

At what point does an industry designed to profit from helping people avoid death become just a modern tower of Babel built with DNA strands, stem cells, technology, and pharmaceuticals?

And this brings me to the third thought rummaging around in my mind and soul this morning. At the very core of everything God is doing in Leviticus, at the core of everything Jesus taught, is an unescapable spiritual paradox: If I want to experience Life, I am required to face death and embrace it. Jesus was very clear that He came to this earth to die as the ultimate sacrifice for my sin. It was a willful and servant-hearted act of love, surrender, and sacrifice. He calls me to follow in his footsteps every day. If I really want to Live, I must daily pursue the death of my pride and selfish desires to pursue love, surrender, and sacrifice

And wouldn’t you know it? I have observed that even this spiritual truth appears to have been twisted by some into a pursuit of death in a selfish desire to avoid life. It seems the healthcare industry and some governments are more than willing to profit from this, as well.

Lord, help me to die to myself that I might live for You and others.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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“Unclean!”

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“Unclean!” (CaD Lev 13) – Wayfarer

“Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.”
Leviticus 13:45-46 (NIV)

We live in the most ridiculously healthy era of human history. Never has have so many human beings on the face of the earth had access to medical care. Never has humanity, on the whole, been as healthy and wealthy. I encourage you to take four minutes and watch Dr. Hans Rosling show you the animated data from the past 200 years. When I saw how poor and unhealthy the people of the world were in 1800, it gave me some perspective to imagine how much worse it must have been around 1500 B.C. when the Hebrew tribes were wandering in the desert becoming a nation.

Today’s chapter is strange, repetitive, and more than a bit boring for modern readers. It is all about skin diseases and mold. To get at the heart of what’s going on in today’s chapter I have to put my feet in the sandals of the Hebrews. There is no healthcare. There are no doctors. There’s no pharmacy. And yet, there is an understanding that disease can quickly wipe out an entire population. God through Moses is setting up a triage system as it relates to skin diseases, infection, and substances that can create health problems for their community as a whole. There’s even a system of quarantine for those who might have something that could be contagious. This is a giant leap forward for these people who will be protected from untold health and medical issues going forward through the priests examining, diagnosing, and prescribing quarantine when needed.

But there’s a spiritual element to this as well. According to the Creation story in Genesis the consequence of sin was that our bodies became subject to death and illness. Despite the fact that I will live 50-60 years longer than the average American in 1800 and have access to the greatest healthcare in human history, I can’t escape the eventual physical decline that aging will bring. I am doing to die. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Paul writes to the believers in Rome. He goes on to remind them, “The wages of sin is death.”

I am spiritually “unclean.”

How tragic for the person with incurable leprosy. Forever banished to live outside the camp, to wear torn clothes, look like a beggar, and cry out “Unclean!” whenever a “healthy” person was near to warn them off. It was necessary for the health and safety of the community, but what must it have done to the soul of the person? Never to be hugged or touched by your loved ones ever again. To have people shun you, children fear you, and still be condemned to proclaiming “Unclean!” knowing that it will forever perpetuate the bitter isolation and public scorn.

Which reminds me of an often overlooked episode of Jesus’ story. I picture what I have just described, a man condemned to this life as a leper. His clothes are torn. His hair is unkempt. He has a mask covering his face. His is a life of bitter isolation and public scorn. People literally “avoid him like the plague.” Day and night he shouts “Unclean!” if anyone draws near. Lord only knows how long it had been since he’d experienced a human touch, a kind word, or an ounce of kindness. He approaches Jesus on his knees and asks, “If you want to, you can make me clean.”

Mark is careful to describe that Jesus reached out and touched the man.

“I want to,” Jesus replied.

The man’s leprosy was healed.

Suddenly, this episode takes on a whole new beauty and meaning for me. I may not have leprosy, but I am a sinner stuck in this body subject to sin, sickness, and death. I am unclean. Who will save me from this state?

“Jesus? If you want to…”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Bringing it Together

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Bringing it All Together (CaD Lev 12) – Wayfarer

“‘On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised.’”
Leviticus 12:3 (NIV)

As we’ve been making our way through this ancient instruction manual for the newly appointed priests of the ancient Hebrew people, I’ve alluded to the fact that God is doing something new with His people. He heard their cries from slavery. He approached Moses and then the people. He delivered them from slavery. And now He is establishing a formal way of daily living in community with them.

But, it didn’t start here.

The relationship between God and the Hebrew people began with Abraham back in the book of Genesis. God called Abraham and made a covenant with him. At the time, God prescribed a physical sign of that covenant which would make Abraham different as I addressed in yesterday’s post/podcast. That physical sign was circumcision, the removal of the foreskin of his penis. This sign was passed on through Abraham’s descendants Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s sons who became the patriarchs of the twelve Hebrew tribes that God delivered from Egypt, the very people who are now going to live in daily community with the God of their ancestors.

The ritual of circumcision prescribed on the eighth day (remember that the eighth day symbolizes “new things come”) was performed with a knife made of flint rock. What God had done through His covenant with Abraham, He is now codifying as part of what He is doing through the ritual system for the Hebrew people. What “was” is being brought together with what “is.”

Yet, with the Great Story, God is always about “was, and is, and is to come.” (Rev 1:8, 4:8). As humanity matures, the Son of God, Jesus, comes to sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world and rise from the dead. Once again, “new things come.” What had been a physical sign for the ancient Hebrew people is transformed into a spiritual sign for all who are in Christ. Paul explained this to the largely non-Hebrew gathering of Jesus’ followers in Rome:

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.
Romans 2:28-29 (NIV)

It began as a physical sign that would make them different from all other peoples, that all other peoples would see and know there is something different about these people and their God. Jesus transformed into a spiritual sign for all who would believe and receive. A priest with a rock knife cutting off the foreskin of a boy’s penis became Jesus the Great High Priest and the Rock of My Salvation doing spiritual heart surgery, taking away my heart of stone, and giving me a heart of flesh (Ex 36:26).

It’s also interesting to note that many Christian traditions transformed the eighth day ritual of circumcision into the ritual baptism of infants. This was largely built on a connection between the ancient covenant and the new. This is fascinating, as the only ancient covenant spoken of in connection to baptism in the Great Story is a covenant even older than the covenant of Abraham, the covenant of Noah (1 Peter 3:20).

So in the quiet this morning, I am once more blown away at how God perpetually connects all things together even as He perpetually recreates, with old things passing away and new things coming. Along my spiritual journey, this has developed within me a continuous spiritual posture:

Appreciation for what was.
Discernment for what is.
Expectation for what will be.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!