Radical Grace

I'm reading through the chronological daily Bible, and I've been stuck in the laws of Leviticus for awhile. Not very uplifting. So I was getting really frustrated this morning with God and all His elitism. All the defiled, unclean, lepers, deformed, etc. are unacceptable to God. Even the animal sacrifces have to be without blemish. And it seemed so counter-Christian to me. We are called to love the unlovely, the broken, the hurting, the sick. Why isn't God? Jesus hung out with those who needed a doctor, those who were repulsive, revolting, unwanted.

And it started to dawn on me; that's the juxtaposition God was going for. The Old Testament was all to prove how little of God's love we deserve. On our own merit we have chosen to sin, to become unholy, to separate ourselves from Him. He laid out the law because the Israelites wanted to try to earn His approval, He gave it to them knowing they could not.

The whole law reinforces how far we are from living up to His standards, His requirements. Then when He came in the flesh as Jesus, His forgiveness and grace were all the more radical. It doesn't matter that we're defiled and unworthy, nothing we can do can make Him love us less.