Exodus 29:15-25: a reflection

15“You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 16You shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood, and sprinkle it around on the altar. 17You shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its innards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head. 18You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. 19“You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot; and sprinkle the blood around on the altar. 21You shall take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be made holy, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him. 22Also you shall take some of the ram’s fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), 23and one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD. 24You shall put all of this in Aaron’s hands, and in his sons’ hands, and shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. 25You shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar on the burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire to the LORD.

These are instructions for the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests, and one detail stands out. The blood of the ram of consecration is placed on the tip of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot. Ear, hand, and foot are marked, a sign that the whole person, all that he hears, all that he does, all where he goes, is now consecrated, set apart wholly for God's service. Nothing is left unclaimed.

Notice what the marking of ear, hand, and foot signified: a total consecration. The priest was not set apart in part, but wholly; his hearing, his doing, his going, every part of him was claimed for God. The blood on ear and hand and foot declared that no part of his life remained his own to use as he pleased; all of it was consecrated to God. It was a whole-person dedication.

That whole-person consecration is what God still seeks from those who belong to him. We can be tempted to consecrate only part of ourselves to God, to give him our religious activities while keeping other areas, our hearing, our hands, our steps, for ourselves. But God claims the whole of us, all we hear, all we do, everywhere we go, to be set apart for him. Offer God not a part of yourself but the whole: your ears, to hear what pleases him; your hands, to do his work; your feet, to walk in his ways. Let there be no part of your life left unconsecrated, held back for yourself. As the priest was marked on ear and hand and foot, so give God the whole of yourself, wholly consecrated to him, holding nothing back.

Lord, in the ordination of Aaron and his sons, the blood of consecration was placed on the ear, the thumb, and the toe, marking the whole person, all he heard, all he did, all where he went, as set apart wholly for your service, nothing left unclaimed. Seek that whole-person consecration from me. I can be tempted to consecrate only part of myself to you, to give you my religious activities while keeping other areas, my hearing, my hands, my steps, for myself. But you claim the whole of me, all I hear, all I do, everywhere I go, to be set apart for you. Help me offer you not a part of myself but the whole: my ears, to hear what pleases you; my hands, to do your work; my feet, to walk in your ways. Let there be no part of my life left unconsecrated, held back for myself. As the priest was marked on ear and hand and foot, help me give you the whole of myself, wholly consecrated to you, holding nothing back. Take all of me, Lord.