Compassion for Others and for Ourselves (Leviticus 6-7, Acts 6)

The first part of the assigned reading was Leviticus 6-7. When I read through this, all I could think of was “more boring rules.” It wasn’t until I watched the Fourth Church Youth video that I noticed what a big deal the first part is:

^“2 If you sin: 

by acting unfaithfully against the LORD ; 

by deceiving a fellow citizen concerning a deposit or pledged property;

by cheating a fellow citizen through robbery;

³ or, though you’ve found lost property, you lie about it;

or by swearing falsely about anything that someone might do and so sin,

⁴ at that point, once you have sinned and become guilty of sin, you must return the property you took by robbery or fraud, or the deposit that was left with you for safekeeping, or the lost property that you found, ⁵ or whatever it was that you swore falsely about. You must make amends for the principal amount and add one-fifth to it. You must give it to the owner on the day you become guilty. ⁶ You must bring to the priest as your compensation to the LORD a flawless ram from the flock at the standard value as a compensation offering. ⁷ The priest will make reconciliation for you before the LORD , and you will be forgiven for anything you may have done that made you guilty.” (Leviticus 6: 2-7)

So, basically, even though Leviticus is just a huge list of all the things you’re not supposed to do and the rituals you are supposed to do, even if you screw up, if you make amends, you will be forgiven. And that amends is generally directly related to the crime. None of this vindictive, punitive incarceration perpetuation industry discussed in a recent New Yorker article by Adam Gopnik that this all makes me think of.

And to continue the theme of compassion, the second half of the assigned reading was Acts 6. Again, I didn’t think a lot of the reading until after I read the daily devotion by John Boyle (Feb. 16) and then noticed the very first part:

“About that time, while the number of disciples continued to increase, a complaint arose. Greek-speaking disciples accused the Aramaic-speaking disciples because their widows were being overlooked in the daily food service.” (Acts 6: 1)

The gist of John Boyle’s point is that when we discriminate against people who are “other” or get caught up in petty, prejudiced squabbles (ahem… politicians…), the most vulnerable among us are the ones that suffer the most. We need to look past that and have compassion.