April 11: Leviticus 4-6; Psalm 32; Mark 6-7.

Leviticus 4-6
Look at 4:2, which reads: " … when anyone sins Unintentionally…"  I am not used to think of sin as something one can commit without intention.  Notice the contrast, too, between INDIVIDUAL sin and COMMUNAL sin (4:13).
In chapter 5, we start getting into what happens if one becomes (ritually) unclean, and how to un-do that uncleanness.  This is a whole category that we don't deal with in the Christian faith.  To get a helpful explanation in quite a bit more depth, of how this all works,  listen to a lecture by Prof. Christine Hayes of Yale University on the Holiness Code.  She's really an excellent speaker, and I am sure that you will have a far greater appreciation of what you're going to be reading in Leviticus and Numbers after you've had her give you an orientation.

Notice, too, how in Ch. 6, restoration, if it is within the sinner's ability, is a part of what is required to be absolved of sin.

Psalm 32  This was one of my father's favorite psalms.  I once had a high school student tell me that he liked to come to church because "I feel forgiven here."  He was often in a lot of trouble, sometimes with his family, sometimes with the school officials, sometimes even with the law.   This psalm is about the deep joy that comes from knowing that God forgives us.   

Mark 6-7
See how important it is not to assume that rejection by others means you are doing something wrong.  It was often a mystery to the early followers of Jesus, who experienced his love and forgiveness as liberating and life-changing, that not everybody had the same reaction.  It still is a mystery…

Then we have the sad story of John the Baptist's death.  I am struck, again, about how a secondary victim in all this was Herodias, Herod's (step?-) niece.  No children should be faced with such violence or be pushed into being complicit in it.

But ministry keeps coming at the disciples at a rate that can seem like drinking from a fire hose!  We have in the following verses: the feeding of the 5000, Jesus walking on the water to rescue the disciples in a storm, Jesus continuing to heal the crowds who came to him.

Then in Chapter 7, the challenging of the religious authorities begins again.
And in 7:24ff, what do you think of Jesus?  Did something change about his point of view as a result of his interaction with the Syro-Phoenician woman?

Finally, what is the word on the street about Jesus?  7:37: "..he has done everything well!"