Read chapter 19 of the Book of Leviticus

“You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” These words from the book of Leviticus are as powerful an invitation as we can find anywhere in the Bible. They are recorded here in order to echo far and wide. God asks Moses to tell them not to a select few but to the entire Israelite community.

But what is this holiness about? First, we note that verse 2 speaks of being holy not “as” God is holy, but “for” or “because” God is holy. The invitation to be holy is not about trying to be like God. We and God are indeed distinct, different.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, holiness has various shades of meaning. In some places the people of God are called or considered holy simply because God has chosen them. If God guides them and makes them his own, the people share in God’s being; they are holy. Holiness in this sense suggests also a change in direction or orientation. It consists in allowing oneself to be led, together with others, by God and to be taken by him on a new and as yet unknown way.

In Leviticus 19, we see as well how holiness can take on a very practical meaning. The chapter speaks of different tasks to be fulfilled, as if holiness is something to be worked out in and through our lives. This implies listening and doing, learning to allow God’s word to permeate the varied aspects of our existence. It is about letting God’s presence, his holiness, shine into the ordinariness of our life so as to transform this life from within.

The list of commands given in the chapter is long and varied. Some of them sound peculiar to our ears today, but there are those which suddenly speak straight to the heart of our lives. They take us from the sacred realm (idols and sacrifices) to the world of work (harvest and wages) and interpersonal relationships (the deaf and blind, the poor) to the inner world of thoughts and feelings (hatred and vengeance). At regular intervals, they are punctuated with the words, “I am the Lord.”

There is scarcely any talk of consequences, of what will happen if this or that command is heard or not. We are told only that God is present to us in the different situations evoked by the commands. As we read, a profound unity begins to emerge, as if holiness consists in great part of seeing our lives as a unified whole before God. God is as concerned with how we deal with him as with how we deal with others. “Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (v. 18). And in interpersonal matters, God is as concerned with the observable (acting deceitfully) as with the unobservable (hating your kinsman in your heart).
Holiness cannot be enforced. It is about living a life transformed by God’s presence in this world.

 Which verses of the chapter resonate most deeply within me?

 Which of them are particularly relevant in our world today? Which seem to belong to another time?

 What picture of God emerges from the passage as a whole?