Sermon Tone Analysis

Me

If you were here for Elyana’s Bat Mitzvah then you’ve already heard this story… But I’m going to share it from my perspective now.

A while back we were at synagogue on a Saturday and Elyana and some of the other kids were playing outside during Oneg.

It had been raining that week, everything on the property was wet, slick, and muddy.

She and one of the other kids were, for whatever reason, between the classroom buildings and the gym playing around and running around back there.

There really wasn’t a reason for them to be by the classroom buildings, but they were none-the-less.

And I’ve told Elyana and Natanel both countless times that running on wet and muddy surfaces is a bad ida.

Well, while Elyana was running around back there she slipped in some mud and went down hard and hit her leg pretty hard against the sidewalk.

Someone came running out to the main building to tell us that Elyana had hurt her leg and wasn’t able to walk on it.

So I go back to check on her, she’s back there still sitting in the mud, crying, and holding her leg.

I ask her what happened, and she explained to me what happened.

Well, my natural instinct is to say, “Well, you did something dumb and now you learned a lesson, get up and walk it off…” So I help her up and she tries to walk but says she can’t take the weight on her leg.

And, as has become infamous now, I just continue to tell her she’s fine and to walk it off.

Well, she hobbles around on it the rest of the day till we get home, then takes weight off the leg.

The next day she is literally crawling around the house on all fours because of it, and I tell her again to just walk it off.

Monday comes and she is still crawling around and saying she can’t put any weight on the leg.

So Danielle takes her to the ER to get her leg checked out, turns out she sprained her ankle really bad (the doc said she’s lucky she hadn’t broken it) and they tell her she needs crutches for at least the next week.

Now, keep in mind, for three days I’ve been telling my super-emotional daughter that it doesn’t hurt as bad as she says it does and to just walk that crap off… Then find out it did in fact hurt a lot more than she was letting on.

Needless to say, I had to eat my words and apologize profusely....

And I felt terrible about it, and I know without a doubt that I hurt her feelings by not believing her.

So, I had to work greatly to apologize and to reaffirm my love for her and to restore that relationship.

We

And though now this story is kind of funny, and it is a minor issue compared to some of the hurts we all may carry, it is a perfect example of how necessary reconciliation is.

Just like Elyana and her hurt ankle and my hurting her even more with my lack of sympathy… Each and every one of us have both wronged and hurt others and been wronged and hurt by others.

Each of us have relationships that are strained and damaged because of pride, because of anger, because of a slip of the tongue, because of a lack of concern or care for others, or any plethora of other scenarios.

The Body of Messiah is plagued with hurt feelings going unchecked causing tremendous division and disunity all because as fallen humans we do really stupid things to people sometimes.

And there isn’t a person listening to these words today who hasn’t been hurt by someone else who’s suppose to be a brother or sister in the Lord.

And, in the same sense, there isn’t a single one of us sitting here today who hasn’t been the one hurting another brother or sister in the Lord.

God

This week we read Parasha Vayikra, Leviticus 1:1-5:26 (6:7), which is the first parasha of Leviticus.

Parasha Vayikra in the Torah Scroll has a very unique scribal abnormality, and we see this in every Torah Scroll scribed.

The first word of the Parasha is וַיִקְרָא (Vayikra—which is where we get the Parasha name from) and the final letter of the word is the letter א (Aleph) which is written abnormally small here.

And, as I said, you will see this in every single Torah Scroll.

There are several traditional views on why the א is written smaller.

One common reason is that since the Aleph is small, at first glance one might read the word without it and pronounce it Vayikar instead of Vayikra.

Vayikar is a word we see used in other places in the Torah, such as in Numbers 23:4 when God met with Bilaam.

Although Vayikra and Vayikar have similar meanings, Midrash tells us that the word Vayikra (with the aleph) implies a loving, close relationship; whereas Vayikar (without the aleph) implies an accident and spiritual impurity.

Another traditional reasoning is that, being it says וַיִקְרָא אֶל–מֹשֶׁה (Vayikra el-Moshe) “Now Adonai called to Moses” the Torah is relating the humility of Moses even as Adonai is speaking personally and directly to him.

And still a third view is that the Aleph is written smaller because it hints at the still small voice of the One who calls.

And as such is relaying that each of us is called to draw near to God, starting with Moses setting such an example in Leviticus 1:1.

Parasha Vayikra begins the discussion on the specifications of Tabernacle service, particularly the sacrificial system.

Through these first five chapters of Leviticus we find five different types of korbanot to be brought to the Tabernacle—

• Olah: The “ascending offering” that is wholly raised to God by the fire atop the altar.

We read the specifications of the Olah offering in Leviticus 1.

• Minchah: Five varieties of “meal offering” prepared with fine flour, olive oil and frankincense.

We read the specifications of the Minchah offering in Leviticus 2.

• Shelamim: The “peace offering,” whose meat was eaten by the one bringing the offering, after parts are burned on the altar and parts are given to the kohanim (priests).

We read the specifications of the Shelamim offering in Leviticus 3.

• Chatat: The different types of “sin offering” brought to atone for transgressions committed erroneously by the high priest, the entire community, the king or the ordinary Jew.

We read of the specifications of the Chatat offering in Leviticus 4.

• Asham: The “guilt offering” brought by one who has misappropriated property of the Sanctuary, who is in doubt as to whether he transgressed a divine prohibition, or who has committed a “betrayal against G-d” by swearing falsely to defraud a fellow man.

And lastly, we read of the specifications of the Asham offering in the Leviticus 5.

But, as we open up our study of Sefer Vayikra this week I’d like to focus on a specific part of Parasha Vayikra.

This is an issue that is not only vital to our walk with the Lord today, but it is very clearly an issue that Yeshua made clear to be one of the biggest issues we should focus on regularly.

And it is key to our serving HaShem and others with a clean heart and a right mind.

With that said, let’s keep this principle in mind today as we look at our Parasha…

Reconciliation is a significant factor in being kedoshim, without it are hearts aren’t right and if our heart isn’t right our walk isn’t right.

(Repeat)

So let’s dig into the Word together…

Here we see the Torah discussing what should transpire should a person wrong another person through a faithless act by lying to his neighbor about any of various ways one might wrong another.

In particular, Leviticus mentions here dealing falsely with a deposit or pledge, robbery, extorting a neighbor, or finding something of theirs and lying about it.

In other words, if one deals wrongly with the property of another and misleads them about it then the one in the wrong has sinned and become guilty before the Lord.

The Torah then describes how restitution may be made in such a situation to make right was has been handled inappropriately.

To make restitution the person must restore what has been taken in full and add a fifth more to it.

Now, one of the things I find most interesting here is in the Hebrew… The first few words of Leviticus 5:21 (6:2) read this way in the TLV...

In Hebrew the first few words of this verse read like this:

נֶפֶשׁ כִּי תֶחֶטָא וּמָעַלָה מַעַל בַיהוה וְכֶחֵשׁ בַּעַמִיתוֹ

Nephesh ki techeta uma’alah maal baAdonai v’chichesh ba’amito

The first word we see here is the word נֶפֶשׁ (Nephesh) which is translated in most translations as the word “person” and means something a little more than just a person… But it is the word we often translate as soul… For instance, in Deuteronomy 6:5…

וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְיָ אֶלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבָכָל נַפְשְׁכָ וּבְכָל מְָֹדֶךָ

V’ahavta et Adonai Elohekha, b’khal l’vavkha, uv’khal naf’sh’kha, uv’khal m’odekha…

The word translated as “soul” in Deuteronomy 6:5 is from the root word נֶפֶשׁ (Nephesh), which is the same word we see in Leviticus 5:21 (6:2) translated as person.

But it is important to note that the Hebrew HaShem spoke to Moses here is the word נֶפֶשׁ (Nephesh) as opposed to the word אָדָם (Adam) or even the word פְנֵי (P’nei) which literally means face but is sometimes translated or interpreted as “person”.

The reason I think this is such an important distinction is because it isn’t just a matter of a man or woman lying or wronging through misleading another man or woman… The wording is so much more severe… It doesn’t say, “when a person sins by a faithless act against another person...” Such as to say if I (a person) were to sin by lying to Lynn… No, it specifically says,

נֶפֶשׁ כִּי תֶחֶטָא וּמָעַלָה מַעַל בַיהוה

Nephesh ki techeta uma’alah maal baAdonai—Suppose a SOUL sins and commits a faithless act against Adonai…

Another way to look at this is that when we wrong another person, whether that is through the specific acts mentioned here in Leviticus 5:20-26 (6:1-7) or lying and acting faithless through emotional or mental harm, we are not just wronging that individual… We are, as our Torah Parasha words it, sinning and committing a faithless act against the Lord, not just against the individual.

Why?

Because as descendants of Adam and Chava carrying the נִשְׁמַת חַיִים (Nish’mat Chayim), the breath of life within us, we are created in the image and likeness of HaShem.

So, when we wrong other people we are not just wronging them, we are wronging the One in who’s image and likeness they are created in.

When we lie to our spouse, when we falsely accuse our friends or neighbors, when we take what is not ours, when we extort another person… Heck, even when we find a $20 bill on the ground at the gas station and simply pocket it rather than turning it in to see if the owner might come to collect it, we have wronged someone else (and yes, I am intentionally being extreme with that example).

But, what I want you to understand is when we act faithlessly against someone else it isn’t just that person we are wronging.

Our soul is also, and more importantly, acting faithlessly against Adonai by doing so.

And when the Torah commands that we make reconciliation, we must first do so by making restitution directly to the נֶפֶשׁ (Nephesh) we have wronged, then we are to present our trespass offering to the Lord.

This very idea of the need for reconciliation betwen us and those we have wronged is seen in Mishnah Yoma 8:9 which says:

Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya taught... from Leviticus 16:30, for transgressions between a person and God, Yom Kippur atones; however, for transgressions between a person and another, Yom Kippur does not atone until he appeases the other person.

Reconciliation is a significant factor in being kedoshim, without it are hearts aren’t right and if our heart isn’t right our walk isn’t right.

To reconcile means to restore relations, and when we act faithlessly against another and by that against the Lord, we must restore those relationships.

This is even more so vital and important in the Body of Messiah, as not only are we created in the image and likeness of the Lord, but through Messiah we are recreated in His image and likeness, and we now represent Him in a very real sense to the world around us.

Our relationships in the Body of Messiah are vital, and reconciliation is key part of our walk with the Lord and should be a key component of our discipleship.

It is in this same vein we read Yeshua’s words in Matthew 5…

If you are making an offering before the Lord and realize you have an issue with your brother or sister, Yeshua says to leave the offering at the altar, go and reconcile first, then come and present your offering.

If we have problems with our brother or sister in Messiah and we try to worship the Lord our hearts are going to be in the wrong place… Our focus is going to be on what happened between us and them, rather than what should be happening between us and the Lord.

Not to mention, letting those issues fester only gives the enemy ground in our life to stir up hatred, disunity, and division.

Yeshua makes it very clear how important reconciliation is, and especially so within the Body of Messiah.

And I believe Yeshua takes this reality one step further in this passage in Matthew 5, (and we may not like this reality) by making the priority of reconciliation not just on the one who does the wronging, but also on the one who has been wronged.

To this end of the priority of reconciliation being on the one wronged as much as the one who wronged, we also see Yeshua’s heart for reconciliation in the congregation in Matthew 18…

The goal should always be reconciliation.

If you have wronged someone you carry the responsibility to make reconciliation with them.

And it is so this reconciliation is so important because it isn’t just that individual that we have hurt, we have also Lord Himself in wronging our brother or sister, as Parasha Vaykra says.

But, and I know none of us ever want to really wrestle with this reality because it makes us all super-uncomfortable… But, just as much as Torah says we must fix the relationship with those that we’ve wronged, Yeshua takes it to that next step and says those of us who have been wronged must make reconciliation with those who have wronged us.

And Yeshua models this in the most literal sense for us in His own death, burial, and resurrection.

We sinned against the Lord and the Lord not only extended forgiveness for us, He came in human form and made the reconciliation possible by the Blood of the Lamb.