Exodus 29:31-37: a reflection

31“You shall take the ram of consecration and boil its meat in a holy place. 32Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 33They shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to consecrate and sanctify them; but a stranger shall not eat of it, because they are holy. 34If anything of the meat of the consecration, or of the bread, remains to the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy. 35“You shall do so to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. You shall consecrate them seven days. 36Every day you shall offer the bull of sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it. You shall anoint it, to sanctify it. 37Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall be holy.

The instructions for consecrating Aaron and his sons end with a striking line about the altar: seven days you shall make atonement for it and sanctify it, and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall be holy. Holiness here is not static; it spreads. What comes into contact with the consecrated altar is itself made holy.

That is worth pausing on, because we usually think of holiness as a barrier, something that keeps the unclean out. And there is truth in that. But here holiness works the other way too: it is contagious, transforming. What touches the holy altar becomes holy. Contact with what God has consecrated does not defile the holy; it sanctifies the thing that touches it. And notice that the priests are consecrated by eating the very offering with which atonement was made, nourished by the sacrifice.

There is gospel in this pattern. In Christ, the truly holy One, what comes into contact with him is not repelled but transformed, made holy by the touch. When you draw near to God through Christ, his holiness does not merely keep its distance; it changes you, sanctifies you, spreads to you. You are made holy not by scrubbing yourself clean enough to approach, but by contact with the One who is holy, and fed by the sacrifice that made atonement. Draw near, and be made holy by the touch.

Lord, your holiness does not only keep the unclean at a distance; it transforms what draws near. In Christ, let your holiness touch me and make me holy, not by my own scrubbing but by contact with you. Feed me by the sacrifice that made atonement, and sanctify me.