SCRIPTURE: Leviticus 13
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. [John 15:1-3].
This chapter addresses very practical hygiene and health issues for that time.
The practice of quarantine was the best treatment for these otherwise community-devastating diseases.
Communicable diseases (like measles, smallpox, scarlet fever) are in mind here.
And mildew would be a health concern in damp climates and seasons.
No other ancient law code addressed these important concerns.
Changing the analogy, there is a connection between what Jesus says here, and Leviticus 13 – the ideas of “cutting off” and being declared “clean” by the priests’ word.
Both passages show the danger of sin and the need for cleansing, pruning, healing.
We tend to separate health and spiritual concerns, but they are interrelated.
Our physical condition is the result of our spiritual condition.
Sin has upset the physical, emotional, social and spiritual realms.
The viral affect of sin is devastating.
But the viral affect of goodness is also real.
We are called to infect society with goodness, and to prune away (quarantine until it dies) that which is unhealthy.
As I read these old testament laws about skin disease and mildew, I need to remind myself that they are surface conditions to a deeper spiritual heart condition.
It is not enough to wash the outside of the cup, I need to have the inside (my heart) washed as well [see Luke 11:39-41].
The quarantine did not have to be cruel.
But fear often led to total isolation and lack of compassion for the ‘unclean’.
And yet there are examples throughout history of Jesus-followers who have risked their own health to minister to those with infectious disease.
PRAYER:
Lord, there are ‘little sins’ in my life that I allow to continue. Prune me of them, and also of the attitude that does not take them seriously.