“Moses ordains Aaron, St. John’s College, Cambridge” Lower section of the eleventh window in St. John’s College chapel, Cambridge. It depicts Moses (with his horns of light) enrobing Aaron with his priestly garments. Photo by Steve Day; CCL flickr
Meditation
Monday, Easter Week Seven, drew the line in the sand for believers. Sunday will be Pentecost. Knowing who would have been on the side of God versus those against God became the issue.
In the Old Testament lesson in Leviticus, Moses and Aaron were front and center establishing the pattern of worship, especially the ordination of the leaders of Israel. Aaron, his sons, and elders of Israel had been chosen to be the priests, to offer sin offerings of bulls and rams. Aaron went first to purify himself and then he was able to receive the offerings of the people, place them on the altar and fire came from heaven, consuming the offerings. The Hebrews believed because they saw God accept the ordination of Aaron et al.
There would be some among the Hebrews, who were not true followers and their disobedience would have fatal results.
The Psalmist was clear on his allegiance to God. He proclaimed that believers were to worship God in holiness, because God was holy. God spoke to Aaron and Moses in the cloud and they obeyed. Obedience to what God wanted resulted in blessings.
The New Testament lesson in Peter continued his highlighting the fact that Christians would suffer. Get used to it. Christ suffered. Believers behaving like Christ would suffer. Expect it. Besides, there would be a huge distinction between the behavior before and after. People, who chose to be aligned with Christ were going to suffer because of the hatred for Christ-followers, would be so focused on preaching the Gospel and surviving, they would not be involved in the behaviors of excess—idolatry, sexual debauchery, drunkenness and shameful excesses. Instead, the goal was to strengthen the ‘spiritual muscle’ in order to be prepared for the onslaught from people that believers used to ‘hang with’ before changing their lives.
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