Leviticus 24, 25
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. 3 Outside the veil in the tabernacle of testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it burning from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be an ordinance forever in your generations. 4 Upon the pure lampstand, you shall burn the lamps before the Lord until morning.
Preparing the Bread
5 “You shall also take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. 6 You shall set them as two deposits, six loaves in each deposit, on the pure table before the Lord. 7 Then you shall put pure frankincense and salt on each deposit, that it may be on the bread for a memorial offering to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath day it shall be placed before the Lord continually, in the presence of the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9 It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat these things in a holy place; for this is most holy to him from the things sacrificed to the Lord, as a perpetual ordinance.”
Punishment for Sin
10 Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. 11 Then the Israelite woman’s son, by pronouncing the Name, cursed; and so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 Then they placed him in custody, to make a decision regarding him through an ordinance of the Lord. 13 Thus the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Take the one who cursed outside the camp; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever curses God shall bear his guilt. 16 Let him who pronounces the Lord’s name be surely put to death. Let all the congregation of Israel stone him with stones, the resident alien as well as the native. Let him die when he pronounces the Lord’s name. 17 Whoever strikes a man and he dies, let him surely be put to death. 18 Whoever strikes an animal and it dies, let him compensate life for life. 19 If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him— 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him. 21 Whoever strikes a man and he dies, let him surely be put to death. 22 You shall have the same judgment for what is right both for the resident alien and the native; for I am the Lord your God.’ ” 23 Then Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they took outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him with stones. So the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.
The Seventh Year
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruit; 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 What grows by itself in your field you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of the vines you dedicated, for it is a year of rest for the land. 6 So the products of the land during the Sabbath year shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the alien who dwells with you, 7 and for your cattle and the wild animals in your land—all its produce shall be for food.
The Year of Remission (Jubilee)
8 ‘You shall also count seven years of rest for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven weeks of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the trumpet throughout your land on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. 10 Then you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim remission throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall signal the Year of Remission for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his homeland. 11 That fiftieth year shall be the Signal of Remission for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows by itself, nor gather its sanctified things. 12 For it is the Signal of Remission; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.
13 ‘In this Year of Remission, each shall return to his possession. 14 Also, if you should make a sale of land to your neighbor or buy it from him, let a man not oppress his neighbor. 15 According to the number of years after the Signal, you shall buy land tenure from your neighbor, and he shall sell tenure to you according to the number of years of crops. 16 According to the increase in years, his acquisition price for tenure should be increased, and according to the fewer number of years his price should be diminished; for he sells to you according to the number of the crops. 17 Therefore, let not a man oppress his neighbor, but you shall fear the Lord your God; for I am the Lord your God.
Food for the Seventh Year
18 ‘So you shall do all My ordinances and keep My judgments, and do them; then you will dwell in the land in confidence. 19 Then the land will yield its produce, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in confidence. 20 But if you should say, “What shall we eat in this seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” 21 Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. 22 And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat from the old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.
Redemption of Property
23 ‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is Mine; for in my sight you are resident aliens and sojourners. 24 According to all the land of your possession, you shall grant a ransom of the land. 25 If your brother with you becomes poor and has sold some of his possession, and his closest relative comes, then he may redeem what his brother sold. 26 Or if the poor man has no close relative to redeem it, but he himself becomes prosperous enough to redeem it, 27 then let him compute the years since its sale and return the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. 28 But if he does not become prosperous enough to return to it himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Remission; and in the Remission it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
29 ‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. 30 But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong legally to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Remission. 31 However, the houses of unwalled villages shall be counted as belonging to the open country. They may be redeemed and released at any time during the Remission. 32 Nevertheless, the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33 Even whoever purchases a house from the Levites, the house that was sold in the city of their possession shall be released in the Remission; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But the fields set apart for their cities may not be sold, for this is their perpetual possession.
Lending to the Poor
35 ‘If your brother becomes poor and weak in strength among you, then you shall help him, like a resident alien or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 36 Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God—I am the Lord—that your brother may live with you. 37 You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brings you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, so as to be your God.
Relating to Slaves
39 ‘Now if your brother with you becomes poor and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. 40 But as a hired servant or a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall work for you until the Year of Remission. 41 Then in the Remission he shall depart from you—he and his children with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are My personal servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold with the sale of a household servant. 43 You shall not overwork him with labor, but you shall fear the Lord your God. 44 As for the male and female servants you may have from the Gentiles around you, from them you may buy male and female servants. 45 Moreover you may buy some of the children of sojourners dwelling among you, and some of their families with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your possession. 46 You may also distribute them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a permanent possession. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not overwork him with labor.
47 ‘Now if a resident alien or sojourner with you prospers, and your brother becomes poor and sells himself to the resident alien or sojourner with you, or to a member of the resident alien’s family, 48 after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; 49 or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. 50 Thus he shall compute the years with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Remission; it shall be according to the time he was a hired servant for him. 51 If there are still more years remaining to someone, he shall pay his ransom from the money of his sale. 52 Now if there remain but a few years until the Year of Remission, then he shall compute with him, and according to his years, he shall repay his ransom. 53 He shall be with him as a hired servant year by year, and you shall not allow someone to overwork him with labor in your sight. 54 But if he is not redeemed in these years he shall be released in the Year of Remission—he and his children with him. 55 For the children of Israel are personal servants to Me; they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Psalm 37:12–23
12 My friends and neighbors draw near and stand against me,
And my near of kin stand far off;
13 And those who seek my soul use violence,
And those who seek evil for me speak folly;
And they meditate on deceit all the day long.
14 But I like a deaf man do not hear,
And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
15 I am like a man who does not hear,
And who has no reproofs in his mouth.
16 For in You, O Lord, I hope;
You will hear, O Lord my God.
17 For I said, “Let not my enemies rejoice over me,
For when my foot was shaken, they boasted against me.”
18 For I am ready for wounds,
And my pain is continually with me.
19 For I will declare my transgression,
And I will be anxious about my sin.
20 But my enemies live, and are become stronger than I;
And those who hate me unjustly are multiplied;
21 Those who repaid me evil for good
Slandered me, because I pursue righteousness;
And they threw away my love as though it were a stinking corpse.
22 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, do not depart from me;
23 Give heed to help me,
O Lord of my salvation.
Proverbs 8:6–10
6 Obey me, for I speak sacred things,
And from my lips I will bring forth things that are true.
7 For my mouth shall speak the truth,
But false lips are an abomination before me.
8 All the words of my mouth are with righteousness;
There is nothing in them crooked or twisted.
9 All things are evident to those who understand
And true to those who find knowledge.
10 Lay hold of instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than tested gold,
And choose perception rather than pure gold.
Matthew 26:1–25
1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples,
2 “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
4 and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.
5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
The Anointing at Bethany
6 And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper,
7 a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.
8 But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste?
9 “For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”
10 But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me.
11 “For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.
12 “For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.
13 “Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.
16 So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
Jesus Celebrates Passover with His Disciples
17 Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.” ’ ”
19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.
20 When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.
21 Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”
22 And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, “Lord, is it I?”
23 He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.
24 “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”25 Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?” He said to him, “You have said it.”
Thank you so much Father Alexis for the daily bible study…and also for the readings from Elder Thaddeus. They mean everything to me. Is so awesome!! And I am grateful.
Yvonne
It is a blessing for me too!
Father Alexis, I was so blessed by your explanation about the reading from Leviticus today. For myself and also many other people I know that struggle with the bloody nature of much of the Old Testament, your comments were so informative. Is there someway I could get your comments in a written format?
Thank you and God bless you.
Kathy,
Pretty much, this is what I said:
27Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28“For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
This is very important, especially in light of our recent readings from Leviticus. Leviticus 17:11For the life of all flesh is in its blood, and I give it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for its blood makes atonement for the soul.’
And now Jesus says that it is no longer the blood of a sacrificed animal but his own very blood, which will be shed as he is sacrificed on the the cross; it is this blood that will be for the remission of sins.
And here we are seeing the Old Covenant move into the New Covenant, and that is exactly what Jesus said, “This is the blood of the new covenant.” We belong to the New Covenant and when we partake of this blood, His mystical Body and Blood in communion, we not only accept the new covenant intellectually, but we participate in it physically. We affirm that we have accepted and entered into this new covenant with Christ every time we receive communion.
Think about this new covenant that we have entered when you receive communion. Think of how it binds us all together. And how it strengthens us to serve the Lord and our neighbor. The new covenant means that there is a new order, a new relationship between God and human beings. The old covenant has been outgrown. It is obsolete. The new brings us remission of sins and an eternal relationship with our Lord and each other.