From the Taize Community and the Focolare Movement

Bible texts with commentary

These Bible meditations are meant as a way of seeking God in silence and prayer in the midst of our daily life. During the course of a day, take a moment to read the Bible passage with the short commentary and to reflect on the questions which follow. Afterwards, a small group of 3 to 10 people can meet to share what they have discovered and perhaps for a time of prayer.

October 2012

Leviticus 19: Becoming Holy Because God Is Holy

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?

‘If you say so, I will let down the nets’ (Lk. 5:5).

Jesus had finished teaching and was sitting in Simon’s boat. Jesus told him and his friends to cast their nets into the sea. Simon pointed out that they had been working all night in vain, but then he added, ‘If you say so, I will let down the nets.’

As soon as the nets were let down, they became so full of fish that they began to break. Some friends came to help him and they filled their boats, too, almost to sinking point. Simon was amazed, and so were his friends, James and John. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and begged him to go away from such a sinner as he. But Jesus told him not to be afraid: from that moment he would be fishing for people. From then on, Simon, James and John became his followers.

This is the account of the miraculous catch of fish, which symbolizes the future mission of the Apostles. Peter’s handling of the situation is a model not only for the other apostles and those who come after them, but also for every Christian.

‘If you say so, I will let down the nets.’

 After an unsuccessful night, Peter, who was an expert at fishing, could have just smiled and refused Jesus’ invitation to let down the nets during the day, which was the worst time to do it. Instead he went beyond his own reasoning and trusted Jesus.

This is a typical situation that every believer is called to go through today, too, precisely because of being a believer. Faith is put to the test in a thousand ways.

Following Christ means decision, commitment and perseverance, whereas everything in the world we live in seems to invite us to take things easy, to mediocrity, to just letting things be. The task seems too big, impossible to achieve, a failure before it’s started.

So we need the strength to keep going, to resist the world around us, social pressure, friends, the media.

It’s a hard trial to face day by day, or better still, hour by hour.

But if we face up to it and welcome it, it will serve to mature us as Christians, to bring us to experience that the extraordinary words of Jesus are true, that his promises are fulfilled, that life can be a divine adventure a thousand times more attractive than anything else we could imagine, where we can witness, for instance, that while life in the world is often tough, flat and fruitless, God fills those who follow him with every good thing: he gives the hundredfold in this life as well as eternal life. This is the miraculous catch of fish repeated.

‘If you say so, I will let down the nets.’

How can we put this Word of life into practice?

By making the same choice as Peter: ‘If you say so…’ By having faith in his Word; by not questioning what he asks. On the contrary: basing our behaviour, our way of acting, our life on his Word.

By doing this we will base our existence on something solid and secure, and to our amazement we’ll see that, precisely where all human resources are lacking, he intervenes, and that where humanly it is impossible, life is born.

Chiara Lubich

Read more on this topic:

- Chiara Lubich, God’s Word to Us: Short Reflections on Living the Word, New City Press, 2012.

- Tom and Mary Hartmann, Gifts from Heaven, New City Press, 2012.

- Leahy, Brendan, “Movements and Evangelization,”

Ecclesial Movements and Communities, New City Press, 2011, pp109–118.