Freedom Findings from Leviticus 5 — Peyton Garland
There were different types of Old Testament offerings: burnt, tribute, sin, guilt, and peace. Each offering represented a different phase of heart, a different motivation for showing up, a different physical sacrifice.
Personally, I’d always thought you showed up with your best lamb or ram for any and all reasons, but Leviticus piles on the details, adding more rules to the gory ebb and flow of sacrifice: one type of sacrifice needs female animals, another male animals. Some sacrifices require animals without blemish, then others demand food rather than animals.
Leviticus 5 is dedicated to guilt offerings. You’d think this would be the big, bad, blood-slaughtering sacrifice, the one when you admit that you got caught and it’s time to pay up with the most expensive prize you possess. But as rules stack like skyscrapers, I manage to peek at a gentle God stepping into this chapter, gently reminding me that:
-
Social prestige isn’t His game.
In verses 6-12, God basically says, “If you don’t have a flawless, cotton ball lamb, no worries. Just bring a few pigeons. Can’t afford the pigeons? Don’t sweat it. Grab a handful of fine flour. That’ll be perfect.”
Amidst ALL of these rules (that honestly agitated me the more I read them), God puts a big ole sticky note over them that includes a list of rules commanding the priests to welcome any and all who come with the best they have. God trumps legality with a fresher set of rules inspired by grace and forgiveness.
-
Tidiness not required.
Leviticus 5:11 caught my eye. Immediately. God tells Aaron that he can’t add frankincense to the guilt sacrifices. Other sacrifices, those leaning more toward honor and celebration, can be doused in incense, but guilt offerings aren’t meant to be spiced up.
Guilt isn’t fun, but true conviction that leads to a healthy guilt and a real repentance brings freedom. Guilt that we try to tidy up with extra achievements and moral cover-ups hides shame, festers fear, then leaves our souls more caged than ever.
God doesn’t want a guilt sacrifice that’s pretty and patched up. He wants honesty, rawness, realness, who we are in that moment, and from there, He hands us forgiveness and freedom.
Without a doubt, there’s plenty more grace to glean from this chapter, from this book, but as a woman who actively steps away from legalistic rigidity within the church, it’s hard to navigate a book dedicated to rules. Full disclosure: it’s a trigger for my Mental Rituals & Taboo Thoughts (Religious) OCD. This is difficult, even spiritually draining. But, when I see God command that grace and love reign over rules, I find a reason to show up to a book like Leviticus.
In these pages, I see a gentle fight in my God who knows that selflessness and empathy win. I recognize a God who might be mourning, knowing that this type of sacrifice won’t always work, and instead, He’ll have to see His son slaughtered. When I see sacrifice through the eyes of what my God knew He was giving up, the rules make more sense. They hold more love than guilt.
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll see more of this goodness as I plow through the remainder of Leviticus.
Peyton Garland
Peyton Garland is an author who uses her OCD, disdain for legalism, and obsession with Jesus rap to showcase just how good God's goodness is. She's a wife and puppy momma who's on a constant journey to accept God's grace and her trial-and-error heart.
