Remembering a Not So Clean Time

Unclean.

I wanted to skip over Leviticus this morning, and a do a reading from the New Testament, but then I remembered I am supposed to write about my impressions as I journey through the entire Bible.

So I plopped back into this biblical book of law and trudged through the requirements for a sin offering. “If any member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, when they realize their guilt and the sin they have committed becomes known, they must bring as their offering for the sin they committed a female goat without defect. They are to lay their hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering” (Leviticus 4:27-29).

And on the day after sharing a weekend of memories with old college friends, I felt unclean.

If I attended college during Levitical times, I shudder to think about the number of unblemished female goats that would have to be slaughtered for my sins. Because that’s what a member of the community did when he or she broke God’s laws “unintentionally.” What happened when they sinned “intentionally?” I don’t think I want to know, but I guess I might not be writing this blog right now.

There was one college friend at the retreat, who when I see her, brings back one of those “unclean” memories. It’s still vivid in both of our minds, even though it happened many years ago. She and I partied too hard one night at a popular dance place in another nearby college town. We met some frat boys, and ended up going back to their apartment. By the grace of God, I got sick, really sick, from over drinking, and those boys just wanted us out of their apartment. She and I recalled that night, and over three decades later, realized God saved us from possible rape, or worse. I’m not proud of my foolish behavior. It was worthy of a flock of unblemished goats. But my friend and I both understood that even in the thick of our rebellious behavior, God was with us.

When has God been with you during your own foolishness?

What has God saved you from?

These almost-yearly get-togethers remind us of the good ol’ college days, but it also reminds us of the mistakes we made, and the grace of God to allow us to live through those mistakes.

Thankfully, we don’t have to track down an unblemished goat anymore. We have a once-and-for-all perfect offering in Jesus. God placed all the sinful behavior, past and future on Jesus’ body, and he sacrificed his son’s life for us, so by grace we are forgiven.

And today, after spending a couple of days flashing back to the highlights, but also the lowlights, of the late teen years, I am eternally grateful that God loved me enough to clean me up.