A sweet smelling fragrance...

A number of friends were concerned for the health and wellbeing of an overweight team mate - not because she had finally begun a weight-loss diet, but because she had also embarked on a seemingly radical programme of aerobic exercise. In defence of her chosen strategies, she announced, tongue in cheek, that she was "completely Biblical" - because Leviticus 3: 16 says that "all the fat belongs to the Lord" and she was simply aiming to burn up fat before God.

In Leviticus chapters 3 and 4, it is, in fact, repeatedly emphasised that the fat belongs to the Lord. The significance of this can escape us today. I thought back to our recent Christmas dinner and how my family members meticulously cut all the fat off our food, simply to throw it outside for the birds and squirrels. Fat has become somewhat undesirable in my culture, but in the Bible context it was a valuable and useful part of the animal, as it could be used for cooking and other things. (I wonder if they used it to make soap, as some cultures still do today.) As in the first chapters of Leviticus, I think the principle here is that of giving to God wholeheartedly and not holding back things that could be useful to ourselves.

If you don't come from a culture that practises the burning of incense, it may seem strange that it's mentioned so often in these early worship instructions, but it makes sense if you think of the stench that would otherwise come from the shed blood and burning fat. In fact, because of the sheer amount of fire needed to consume a bull, the rest of the animal was burned outside the camp - just as Jesus was crucified outside the city wall. The liberal use of incense also adds an extra layer of meaning to New Testament scriptures such as Ephesians 5: 2, which says that we are to live a life of love, just as Jesus loved us and gave Himself up for us as " a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Or Philippians 4: 18, where Paul says that the believers' generous financial gifts were "a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God."

What an incentive to live a godly life, when we understand that our acts of love and generosity are like a gift of perfume, "a sweet smell" to the Lord. Our holy lives are the only fragrance that God seeks today, because of the fact that the stench of sin and blood no longer needs to be masked by incense, thanks to the once-and-for-all sacrificial death of Jesus. So it's very symbolic (Hebrews13: 11 - 16) that Jesus sacrificed His life outside the city gate, just as these priests in Leviticus burned the animals' bodies outside the camp. Now our "sacrifices" (Hebrews 13: 15 - 16) are not of blood and fat, but are sacrifices of praise, kindness and godly living.

It's notable, in Leviticus chapter four, that there's a clear assumption that everyone sins - priests, leaders and ordinary members of the community. No one is so mature, or so religiously involved, that they are above sin. Everyone needed the forgiveness bought by the sacrifices and burnt offerings, just as today everyone needs the forgiveness that's only given when you come to Jesus.

So these ancient chapters of Leviticus appear to be about blood, fat and incense. In fact, they're a challenge to give wholeheartedly to God and to live "fragrant" lives that bring joy to His heart.