Consecrate them so they’ll be soaked in holiness, so that anyone who so much as touches them will become holy. Exodus 30:29 (The Message)
In this week’s daily lectionary readings a passage from Exodus giving instructions on the construction and preparation from the tabernacle popped up. I honestly still don’t know exactly why it was included. It seems out of place. However, it started working on my heart.
The passage describes the preparation of the anointing oil and incense for the temple. And the way Eugene Peterson translates v. 29, above, captured my imagination. Everything in the tabernacle was to be anointed with the fragrant oil. They were to be “soaked in holiness, so that anyone who so much as touches them will become holy.” All I could think of is that is what I want to be, soaked in holiness.
In Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, he reminds them “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) The “you” in the verse is plural and scholars surmise that Paul is speaking to the church. What if we, the temple of God, were consecrated, anointed like that ancient tabernacle. What if we were so soaked in holiness, that anyone who so much as touches us, came in contact with us, would become holy. What if the smell of anointing was so heavy upon us that even those who came near would smell the holiness, the presence of the Divine? That is the church I want to be a part of. That is the church that could change the world.