Leviticus 21:13-24: a reflection

13“‘He shall take a wife in her virginity. 14He shall not marry a widow, or one divorced, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute. He shall take a virgin of his own people as a wife. 15He shall not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.’” 16The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17“Say to Aaron, ‘None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18For whatever man he is that has a defect, he shall not draw near: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or any deformity, 19or a man who has an injured foot, or an injured hand, 20or hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye, or an itching disease, or scabs, or who has damaged testicles. 21No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire. Since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. 23He shall not come near to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a defect; that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’” 24So Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

This is a hard passage, and an honest reading has to say so. The law here says that a priest with a physical defect, blind, lame, injured, and the list goes on, may not go up to the altar to offer the sacrifices. To modern ears it sounds harsh, even cruel, and the discomfort is worth sitting with rather than rushing past.

Two things help hold it rightly. First, notice what the law does not say. The priest with a defect is not cast out or cut off; he still eats the holy bread, both the most holy and the holy food. He belongs, he is provided for, he is one of the priestly family, he simply does not serve at the altar. Even within this hard law, there is belonging and provision, not rejection. And second, the demand for an unblemished priest was pointing beyond itself, to the wholeness God's holiness required, a standard no human priest could finally meet, and to the one perfect High Priest who would.

And here is where the gospel turns the whole thing. Jesus, the flawless High Priest, is the one who then draws near precisely the people this law kept at a distance, the blind, the lame, the broken, touching them, healing them, calling them to his table. What the old law excluded from the altar, Christ deliberately welcomes and gathers in. So if you have ever felt unqualified, defective, kept at a distance by your brokenness, hear the whole of the story. The law shows the standard; Christ meets it for you, and then brings the very ones who could not qualify near to God. In him, you are welcome.

Lord, the law's demand for an unblemished priest shows a standard none of us can meet, and points to Christ, the one perfect High Priest. Thank you that he draws near exactly the broken and unqualified, and welcomes us to your table. When I feel defective and kept at a distance, bring me near in him.