Reflection:

Leviticus is concerned for the holiness and ethical behaviour of God’s people. There are detailed instructions about ritual, legal and moral practices, particularly the performance of sacrifices in the tent sanctuary for an ancient people on the move with God from Egypt to the Promised Land.

We could easily get lost in all the descriptions of impurities, sin and guilt offerings, and overlook the verses about God having an eye out for the poor and the foreigners in our midst. The practices described in this passage name the kinds of everyday injustices that not only many of us have experienced, but also that some of us may have committed.

The Book of Ruth relates the story of Naomi (a Jewish woman) and her Gentile daughters –in-law (Ruth and Orpah), left destitute when drought and famine hit their land, and their husbands died. Naomi and Ruth return together from Moab to Judah in search of food and security. Because of the Levitical laws pertaining to foreigners and the poor, Ruth gleans in the fields of the landowner, Boaz, whom she later marries, thus securing a future for herself, and her mother-in-law that includes the line of King David, from whom Jesus descends.

Leviticus invites us to order our lives together in ways that bring us closer to God. We may not see the poor and the stranger in our society, but God does. How can we respond to them with love in our situations?

Prayer:  Holy God, Your words to Moses long ago continue to challenge us down through the ages. They command us to act justly in all our financial and business dealings; to make sure that we do not exploit the poor, the young, the disabled or refugees for the sake of personal or family wealth. Help me to always put people before profit; to share what I have with those who lack; to love my neighbours as I love myself. For Jesus’ sake.