Leviticus 10.1-20, Luke 9.37-62 - Lectionary for 4/27/10 - Tuesday, Easter 4

Today's readings are Leviticus 10.1-20 and Luke 9.37-62.

Very quickly after the anointing of the Aaronic priesthood we see their downfall.  Nadab and Abihu are killed by the fire of God when they make an offering according to their own plan and purpose.  They chose to express their delight or earn their favor or some such object.  Whatever they were trying to accomplish, whether something good or bad, they were doing it in a manner which the Lord had not appointed.  Our God, who is a consuming fire, has created access to himself, on his own terms, through the means he has spelled out.  Nobody should have known those terms better than the priests themselves.  Yet they insisted on trying to do things their own way.

I had a conversation with someone not too many months ago, talking about the traditional liturgy.  He said he loved that traditional type of service but would be uncomfortable having it in the church where he is a pastor.  His reason?  He'd like to have more of himself invested in the service.  I know this man meant that he wants to create a Sunday service that ministers to the congregation in the ways he specifically knows they need  to be served.  He genuinely wants to pick what is most appropriate to the actual needs of his congregation.  Yet in seeking to do this with his own pattern he finds he cannot do something which is historically tried and true, which works out the important themes of Scripture Sunday after Sunday.  I'm not saying my brother here is like Nadab and Abihu.  But I would consider this incident to be cautionary to us.  Do we think we need to make sure things work according to our own preferences, according to our own plan?  Why do we think that?  Is not the God of all creation able to make access to him according to his own plan?

In these last days our Lord has revealed himself in the person and work of God the Son.  We have access to the throne of God through Jesus' blood and righteousness, not our own.  We can stand confidently.  The presence of God is a consuming fire, destroying all sin.  And this judgment of God has been poured out on Jesus Christ, who became sin on our behalf.  Nadab and Abihu died for themselves.  Jesus died for us.  There's the plan.  That's what we want to see invested in the service.  That's access to God according to his plan and purpose.