Daily Reading Passages

Click below for access to the passages. Biblegateway.com is an excellent site with many versions of the Bible. The link below opens in NIV.  Youversion.com is a new site that allows you to annotate your own Bible, make notes, and comments once you create an account. That link opens in the TNIV version. Other versions are available at both sites.

Coaching Comments

The Old Testament reading, Leviticus 15:1 - 16:34, comes in two sections. The first section is another list of standards and practices relating to being unclean. In this case it's about dealing with bodily discharges. The second section deals with God establishing the day of atonement.

We've already talked about how all the rules about clean and unclean things have both a practical, hygienic foundation as well as a spiritual one. In this case what causes a person to become unclean is having some kind of bodily discharge. The discharges would include normal discharges like semen and the menstrual flow, as well as abnormal ones like any kind of oozing or weeping sore, pus, or any kind of infection that creates a discharge. This chapter goes into detail about how somebody who has one of these situations becomes unclean and what they do to become clean again. Reading through these verses, it's very easy to see the hygienic side of the issue. With everything we know about bodily fluids and blood-borne pathogens today, standards like these make a lot of sense for public health. Seeing the spiritual side of this is a lot more difficult. Partly it has to do with the setting apart of blood as sacred.

One thing you can be sure of: In the life of these Hebrews, managing the daily details of staying clean, and becoming clean again after being unclean, took a lot of their time and energy.

The second chapter in our reading focuses on God establishing the day of atonement. He's already given specific instructions for different kinds of sacrifices necessary for the forgiveness of sin. But here He establishes one special day every year for the purpose of giving the whole community the opportunity to bring every aspect of their lives under His scrutiny and find forgiveness for every sin, even the sins of omission and the things they've forgotten. This gives them a new chance, sort of a "new year" so they can begin once again with open communion with God. As we've seen so far in Leviticus, the instructions are fairly detailed and specific. The big point that these verses cover in detail is that the high priest had to offer sacrifices for his own sins and the sin of his family, so that nothing would get in the way when he entered into God's presence in order to offer sacrifices for the rest of the community.

A fascinating part of this passage is the Azazel, the scapegoat. In the course of the sacrifices on the day of atonement the priests selected two goats. One goat was dedicated to God and later became a sacrifice to God. The other goat was held aside until after the ceremony at which point the high priest came out, placed his hands on the head of the goat, and symbolically laid all of the sins of the entire community on this creature. Everything that had been atoned for the entire year, every sin they knew about, every sin they had forgotten about, every action of uncleanliness, everything. And then this goat was led far out into the wilderness, so far that he couldn't wander back by himself.

This scapegoat was a powerful symbol in number of ways. First, it was a visible symbol to the people every year that God sent their forgiven sins far away into a place of forgetfulness. God wasn't storing them up, He wasn't keeping a big long list. When they came to Him on the day of atonement, He forgave their sins, and sent those sins far away, out of his sight. Second, this was a visible symbol of the fact that sin cannot remain in God's presence. With all the different sacrifices that God had given the people, there was a chance that they might begin to think that sin didn't really matter. After all, they could just then offer the correct sacrifice, and everything would be OK. But each year, the scapegoat was a reminder that sin is a significant thing and it cannot remain in the presence of God. Finally, the scapegoat adds another facet of meaning to what is to come with the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus. When He comes, he will not be just the sacrifice to atone for sin. He will also be the scapegoat who carries the weight of our sin into a dark and terrible place, so that having been forgiven, we ourselves don't have to go there.

Today's New Testament reading is Mark 7:1-23. This is the perfect counterpoint to the recent chapters we've been reading in Leviticus about clean and unclean things. The Jews have been living with the clean and unclean laws for hundreds and hundreds of years at this point. And, as is often the case, the original purpose had gotten lost in the trivial details. By the time of Jesus, the practices of keeping clean ("keeping kosher" as it is called by modern Jews) had changed. More and more detailed rules had been added to the mix, all while less and less focus was given to the original purpose: to point out the great distinction between life in the presence of God and life outside it. The Pharisees had become the self-appointed arbiters of good practice, and as such, they were questioning Jesus on He and His disciples practices.

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. They acted like they kept all these standards because it is what holy people do, but in fact they were not above using those standards to their advantage. The example Jesus used is about "corban." This Hebrew word meant that a thing was dedicated to God's use alone. In the very Old Testament when something was "corban" it was destroyed by fire, burnt as an offering. So, the sacrificial animals were "corban." Later on, when Israel entered the promised land, the city of Jericho was declared "corban" and the Israelite warriors were not to loot from it. But by the time Jesus came around, the word had come to simple mean something that was set aside for God's use, but was not physically destroyed. Some people, eager to get out from under their legal obligation to provide for their aging parents would declare their assets "corban." Technically that meant the money no longer belonged to them, but to God. So, now they had no assets of their own from which to fund the care of their parents. But of course, they still used that money to meet their own needs. It was hypocrisy like this that had completely corrupted the religious practice of the day.

At this point, Jesus leads into an important teaching on the difference between the external things and internal things, and what, in fact, makes a person unclean in the sight of God.

Today we get part 2 of the 40th Psalm (Psalms 40:11-17) in our Psalms reading. David's cry for help is from the deep places of his heart. He is overwhelmed, and cries out to God for restoration.

In our Proverbs reading, Proverbs 10:13-14, we see more contrasts between the wise person and the foolish person. A wise person is also discerning. That is, they can judge carefully and thoughtfully, the circumstances of their lives. Someone without this judgment is going to face harsh consequences. Wise people also gather wisdom. They are always learning. A fool, by comparison, is always talking instead of learning. Through their own mouth, they bring about destructive consequences for themselves.

2007 Cohort Comments