What is holiness?

“I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44, NIV)

To be holy as God is holy - seems like an impossible request does it not? So, what's going on here. Is God just messin' with us? Taunting us? Is God, as some would interpret this, saying that God wants us to try, fail, and realize our inadequacy for the task, thus making our need for a Savior from our wretchedness all the more apparent?

I'd like to invite you to just think about this particular verse, this particular idea, for a few moments today.

What does it mean for God to be holy? What does it mean for me to be holy? What then might it mean for me to be like God?

Many of us are familiar with the Hebrew meaning of 'holiness' as being 'set apart'. But, let's parse that further - what does it mean to be set apart? Does it just mean different? Does it mean "weird"?

I think this is where many, many, many of our contemporary interpretations of holiness in "Christian" circles utterly miss the mark. We tend to think of holiness in terms of our behavior, don't we? Holy people - don't break God's commandments; do tithe; do pray; do have morning quiet time; do go to worship on Sunday mornings. Holy people don't drink, don't cuss, don't gamble. Holy people....fill in the blank depending upon the particular theological tradition. In other words, Holy people don't sin because sin is Bad and God does not sin.

So then, how does one become holy? Well...by doing more holy stuff and avoiding unholy stuff, right?

Have you noticed a problem? We've defined holiness in our modern world in such a way that the Pharisees win.

And we cannot let the Pharisees win.

Far from just being competitive, Jesus is pretty clear: the Pharisees are not winning.

So, let's go back to Leviticus. Part of our problem, in my opinion, is that we start with our pre-conceived notions of 'holiness' and try to make God fit into that picture. But what if instead we start with God's character and let the process flow from there?

What if God is, fundamentally, Love? What if the Trinitarian Fellowship is the ultimate ground of reality itself? What if God's holiness is defined by his Love for the world? What then might that mean for us?

Here's my point: Jesus, the Apostles, and dare I say it, the Hebrew Bible more broadly, define 'Holiness' as becoming a person of genuine, sacrificial Love in this world.

There's your idea for the week: Holiness in the Kingdom of God is Love. It can't be more and it's certainly not less.