Chapter 21
It was an early Saturday morning in June of 2000. I got up eagerly and put on my best suit. Then I jumped in the car and headed toward a large building where, in just a few short hours, I’d be receiving something I had worked for years to earn — my Ph.D. in Theology!
I was convinced that after that day, churches would be lining up, practically banging down my door, inviting me to join their staff and wooing me with opportunities. Surely, I thought, this degree would be the confirmation everyone needed — that my status as a priest of God would finally be affirmed by those around me, and the doors of the sanctuary would swing open wide to welcome my wise and well-earned teachings. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I even believed that this simple piece of paper would somehow change my status with God too — as if He’d look at me differently now, more impressed, more ready to use me.
Ahhh, the ignorance of youth.
I still have that degree, of course — framed nicely and hanging in the upstairs family room. It needs dusting regularly.
There’s something sobering about reading Leviticus 21. The level of holiness required from the Old Testament priests is… intense. No blemishes. No defilement. No compromise. It’s not casual — it’s sacred. And then I remember what Peter wrote: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood…” (1 Peter 2:9). Oh Wait — that’s us. You and me. In Jesus, we are now the priests.
That reality hits differently, doesn’t it? Not because we wear robes, burn incense, or follow temple rituals — but because Jesus, the ultimate High Priest, brought us into a new priesthood. One not based on law, but on love. Not maintained by rituals, but by relationship. And yet… the calling is no less weighty.
Sometimes I think we forget what it means to be “set apart.” Not isolated. Not superior. Not weird-for-weird’s-sake. Set apart means called out from darkness — not just so we can enjoy the light — but so we can shine it.
In Leviticus 21, the priests were forbidden from blending in with the broken systems around them. They couldn’t just go about life casually. Why? Because they were representing God to the people. Sound familiar? You, priest of Jesus, represent God in your home. In your office. In that awkward group chat. At school pickup. In every decision, every scroll, every conversation. We don’t really have the option to be priest only on Sunday or Wednesday night, or not while at work. We are now born into the role.
Let’s be honest — it’s hard. It’s easier to blend in than stand apart. Easier to retreat into spiritual activity than to actually live like Jesus did: humble, kind, holy, truthful, and near to the broken. Being a priest isn’t about being impressive. It’s not about titles, platforms, degrees, or checklists. It’s about walking closely with Jesus, so closely that His presence begins to shape how we respond when we’re tired, misunderstood, overlooked, or even mocked.
The priests in Leviticus had to be without blemish to even approach the altar. But here’s the grace: Jesus became the blemish for us. He bore our unholiness so that we could be made clean — and called His. Now, he invites us to walk as priests, not with heavy robes and rules, but with hearts lit on fire by His Spirit.
So, walk into your day like a priest. Not perfect. Not pressured. But purposeful. Set apart, not to hide — but to help. Not to rule — but to represent and point the Way.
Rules for Priests
1 The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die, 2 except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother, 3 or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband–for her he may make himself unclean. 4 He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself.
5 ” ‘Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies. 6 They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the food offerings to the LORD, the food of their God, they are to be holy.
7 ” ‘They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands, because priests are holy to their God. 8 Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God. Consider them holy, because I the LORD am holy–I who make you holy.
9 ” ‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.
10 ” ‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes. 11 He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother, 12 nor leave the sanctuary of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his God. I am the LORD.
13 ” ‘The woman he marries must be a virgin. 14 He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, 15 so that he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the LORD, who makes him holy.’ ”
16 The LORD said to Moses, 17 “Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. 18 No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; 19 no man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the LORD. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. 22 He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; 23 yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.’ ”
24 So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.
