Making sense of Leviticus

We've now almost finished our series on Leviticus, just a couple more Sundays to go - and I think most people have found it surprisingly interesting and relevant. I guess for a lot of Christians our only experience of Leviticus is the book we get to when our 'I'm going to read the Bible in a year - this year - yes, I really am, honest' intention comes unstuck. That will be a mix of initial enthusiasm wearing off combined with some accounts that seem to be neither inspiring or relevant.

I also guess that a lot of Christians approach the Bible with the attitude that it is the word of God, that it is inspired by God, and that it should be teaching me something - it should be making a difference. The trouble is: how do you make sense of a passage on what to do when you find mildew in your house - it doesn't seem to teach us very much at all. If you go and tell the local vicar that you have mildew she probably won't be that interested - and no one is going to knock your house down because of mildew. Also there are large sections that relate directly to the sacrificial system that is no longer a part of our lives as Christians in 2012.

So how do you make sense of Leviticus?

I guess the first thing to remember is that none of the Bible was specifically written with you in mind - and therefore we should never simply read something and think that it automatically applies to us. The trouble is that that is often how we treat large parts of it - and then we come unstuck when we come across a part that clearly doesn't apply.

We'll have a look at this over the next couple of weeks - but basically we read the Bible and ask what the text actually says; then we ask what the text meant - to it's first hearers or readers; and then we ask that if that's what it meant then - what does it mean for us today.