The story of the Bible, God is on a mission to draw near to humanity, to dwell among us.

And this is the gift God gives Israel when he fills the tabernacle with his presence.

And what Israel discovers is that God's holiness is both good and dangerous.

Now that God has come to live among his people, that causes a crisis because there's a collision

between God's holiness and the impurity and death among Israel.

God provides an answer in the day of atonement where Israel's sins are cast out into the wilderness.

And this radical gift, it begs the question.

If the holy one, the source of all life and goodness and beauty lives in the middle of our camp,

how should we live? How should we treat each other?

What we find is that God gives many rules and rituals.

And at the heart of all of them is God's desire to transform Israel.

And at the center of it all is a practice we call the Sabbath.

The weekly Sabbath and then the monthly annual rhythms teach the Israelites that their lives and their time are not their own.

That their whole existence as a people is dedicated to the purpose of becoming holy.

Become holy as I am holy.

Sabbath is about resting, but it's more than that. It's an opportunity to stop providing for yourself and to trust that God will meet your needs.

And so perhaps it won't be a surprise to find out that while God gives many practices to transform Israel, Sabbath is right at the center.

The practice of justice for the vulnerable, the practice of mercy and generosity and of personal moral integrity,

they're all bound together as one way of life with one story underneath them.

And so Sabbath and holiness are really inextricable.

I'm John Collins, today Tim McEy and I begin the third movement of Leviticus.

We talk about holiness, love for God and neighbor, a surrendered life, a life of mercy and justice.

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