“Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary is to be put to death.”
Numbers 3:10 (NIV)
Just a few weeks ago, Wendy and I had the rare joy of having our entire family with all our grandkids together in our house for a couple of days. Having all three grandchildren on my lap was deep, unspeakable joy. As they grow and begin to ask all of the simple-yet-profound questions that children ask, I have found myself reminded of both the wonder and perplexity with which wee ones engage this world.
Whenever this chapter-a-day trek wanders into the ancient texts, I am struck once again by how foreign and strange some of the stories, events, and commands. It is not unlike a child encountering strange stories for the first time. At least, I have always endeavored to approach them with the curiosity and wonder of a child. Too often, I find that the texts quickly dismissed, discarded, and ignored as only the closed, educated mind of adults do. After all, Jesus said that unless I change and become like little children I’ll never see the Kingdom of Heaven.
As always, I am also reminded that these stories and events happened when human civilization was in the toddler stage of development. The Hebrews were recently freed slaves, uneducated, ignorant, and without any knowledge of how to do life on their own as a people and a nation. Despite it being a people and a time that is strange to me, I see echoes of my own stories and experiences on this life journey. That is where I typically find the applicable lessons.
In today’s chapter, there continues to be a whole lotta countin’ going on, thus the title of the book Numbers. Today’s counting was of the Hebrew tribe of Levi who are appointed by God for being priests and caring for God’s traveling tent temple called the Tabernacle. Two echoes from my own human experience.
I was in my teens when the tragic reality of human abduction and trafficking came into the spotlight. Sadly, it started with a boy delivering papers in my hometown of Des Moines. It happened just a year or two after I had been a paperboy in the same city. Suddenly milk producers began putting ads for missing children on milk cartons trying to bring awareness to the cause. Of course, parents used this daily reminder children were given as they poured milk on their Fruit Loops. Parents warnings to be safe, walk with friends, and get home on time were immediately followed with, “You don’t want to end up on a milk carton.”
First, right up front in the chapter God reminds the people of the tragic story of Nadab and Abihu. They were sons of Aaron who, right after God’s instructions for worship were given in the book of Leviticus almost immediately refused to follow the instructions and died. God then goes on to repeat, not once but twice, that if anyone other than Moses, Aaron, or the Levites approach the holy Tabernacle where God’s presence resided, they would end up like Nadab and Abihu. Father God is warning His toddlers, “You don’t want to end up like Nadab and Abihu!”
Which leads to my second observation. The mystery, pageantry, and spectacle of the ancient worship served for helping this fledgling humanity to understand the chasm between human and the divine. It provided metaphors for understanding spiritual concepts deeper than could be fathomed at the time. Surprisingly, there is no real record of Jesus giving detailed instructions for worship. Even the sacraments of Communion and Baptism come with nothing more than a command to do them and very little detail. Jesus never instructed that church buildings be erected, He gave no order for worship, did not say one word about choirs, music, pews, altars, robes, head coverings, or the like. Yet, over time Jesus’ followers adapted and adopted a vast range of worship traditions. As a child, I was told that the altar of our Methodist church was “holy” like the Tabernacle in today’s chapter and only our Reverend could approach and stand there. They stopped short of the Nadab and Abihu warning of sure death for doing so, but the sentiment was definitely there.
Of course, Jesus said nothing about those things. In fact, the only thing He really said about a “sacred” building was when He told His followers that the Temple would be reduced to rubble. This leaves me to observe and wonder why over the centuries, Jesus’ followers have adopted ancient religious traditions that Jesus Himself did not command nor instruct. Personally, I have come to the conclusion to embrace the reality of different traditions in all of their forms. I learn things from all of them, both positive and negative, and in the end I must follow God’s Spirit within me to inform my own personal choices.
Nevertheless, in the quiet this morning I see echoes of the same humanity wrestling with the same relationship with the divine today that the Hebrews were wrestling with in today’s chapter. It echoes the reality that I continue to work out the mysteries of father-son relationship with my own dad the same way I was doing so when I was a toddler. It just looks different today than it did fifty years ago as I and our relationship have developed with time.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
