Leviticus 1:1-9
The Burnt Offering
The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting. He said, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.
“‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect. He must present it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He is to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the burning wood that is on the altar. He is to wash the inner parts and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
Mark 14:3–9
While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.
“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
A Simple Act of Cleaning
I’d like you to imagine standing next to a washbasin with your own child, or with a grandchild, or just with any child. If they turn the tap on and then walk away, what would you say to them? It doesn’t count. That’s not washing your hands. Just dipping them under the water a bit and then walking away doesn’t make them clean.
You’d probably say to them that they have to use the soap, and make sure they use the soap in all the little cracks and corners of their hands. And that’s because soap does a special job of cleaning that water itself doesn’t do.
Now, I didn’t know why we use soap until I actually prepared this sermon and looked it up. Soap, as probably many of you know, actually tears apart the membranes of bacteria. It’s amazing. So they dissolve almost, or at least lose their grip on your hand. Soap disables the bacteria and effectively destroys them. And here we see a principle which will be a central theme as we think about Leviticus together, and that is this: cleaning is controlled destroying.
When it comes to bleach, antibiotics, or surgery, being cleansed from dirt and disease involves controlled destroying. If you washed your hands with soap every five minutes, that soap would start to break down your skin cells. No destroying means no cleansing — but controlled destroying avoids overkill.
From Physical Dirt to Moral Dirt
So the next question is this: if something like soap removes physical dirt, how does moral dirt get cleansed? You can’t break down the cell membranes of evil. But fairy tales and Hollywood have the answer. The bad guy always ends up being destroyed. Lucy and I watched Independence Day last night. What are they celebrating at the end? The alien ship is destroyed in flames. The moral tension between good and evil is resolved by the destruction of evil. That’s why there’s catharsis at the end of any good story.
There’s a reason I’m saying all this: we can’t understand Leviticus without the principle that cleaning is controlled destroying.
For the ancient Israelites, physical dirt, disease, and moral dirt were inseparable. They were all forms of uncleanness. Leviticus answers the question: how can a perfectly clean God live among an unclean people? They assumed something we often struggle with — that God is the ultimate cleansing agent. He is morally pure — holy. And like any powerful cleansing agent, when God comes into direct contact with impurity, destruction necessarily happens.
Leviticus as a Manual, Not a Manifesto
Another hurdle in reading Leviticus is that it’s a manual, not a manifesto. It tells us how cleansing happens, not always why it must happen. God is utterly clean. To approach him involves cleansing — and cleansing is controlled destroying. That brings us to the theme of our reading.
The first part of Leviticus focuses on sacrifice. Sacrifice is how cleansing happens before a holy God. When God’s moral purity meets human moral impurity, destruction results. But in animal sacrifice, God provides a way for that destruction to be redirected onto a substitute. That’s why verse 4 says the worshipper lays their hand on the animal’s head. This is the symbolic transfer of uncleanness. The animal undergoes the destruction that would otherwise fall on the person.
Verse 9 calls the sacrifice “an aroma pleasing to the Lord.” This isn’t because God enjoys the smell of roasted meat. The Hebrew word for anger is related to the word for nostril. Anger makes nostrils flare. The “pleasing aroma” means God’s nostrils are no longer filled with the stench of sin, but with the sign that cleansing destruction has already occurred.
We’re often squeamish about these sacrifices. But so were the Israelites. Animals were their wealth. The gore wasn’t there to shock for shock’s sake — it was a warning. Like graphic images on cigarette packets today, sacrifice forced people to take seriously what it means to approach a holy God. If Leviticus made you uncomfortable, that’s the point. Moral uncleanness is ugly, deadly, and serious.
When Israelites saw the animal destroyed, they were meant to think two things:
That should have been me.
This is how serious God’s presence is.
That’s why the offering had to be a male without defect — the most valuable animal. It showed how precious God was to them.
Jesus: The Final Sacrifice
So what does this mean for us? God hasn’t changed. But we no longer rely on animal sacrifice. We rely on Jesus — the unblemished Lamb. Hebrews 10 tells us that animal sacrifices were reminders of sin, not solutions. But Jesus’ sacrifice happened once for all. Only God could bear the destruction required to cleanse human sin — and he did so in Christ.
To come into God’s presence today, we must lay our hands spiritually on Jesus’ head and transfer our sin to him. We only need to do this once — but we must do it. The alternative is facing that cleansing destruction ourselves. Sacrifice also showed how precious God is. That’s why the woman in Mark poured out a year’s wages of perfume on Jesus.
Leviticus challenges us too. Do we give Jesus the leftovers — or the best of our time, energy, and wealth? That’s why prayer and Bible study matter. Not fitting God in after everything else, but giving him our best.
Why Bother Being in God’s Presence?
Why go to all this trouble? Because those who have been there will tell you: for this I was made. God is the source of peace, joy, love, and life. His presence is the original — not the photocopy. So this morning, hear the words of the first disciples who encountered Jesus: Come and see.