Beauty of holiness...

I discovered something recently while reading Ezekiel.

I got to the bit where God is explaining what is holy (chapter 46). He goes through everything he's given Israel and says, 'This bit is mine, this is mine...' about land, people, etc. A bit like a bridal register I suppose, except that God owns already what he is saying is his.

The thing is though, God can't get through the chapter before he's already giving it away. It's not as everything he is claiming is just going to sit there unused while people go without. God takes some land, and then immediately gives it to his priests. He takes food, but gives that to his priests. And so on.

There are a whole raft of reasons why this is sociologically a good plan: priests less likely to become exploitative if they are provided for, priests less likely to depend on rich patrons and so become their mouthpiece, and so on and so forth. But this doesn't detract from God's generosity, even as it highlights his wisdom.

This has implications for us. We are supposed to be holy as he is holy (I Peter 1), and this means we belong to God and our first allegiance is to Jesus in all things. But becoming holy doesn't mean that we become distant from the people around us. In fact, as we become holy, we become better at and more willing to love others. So God imprints us with his brand, as his property, and that is then seen in our losing ourselves in the great task of loving others.

Ownership of things and people is an aspect of God's holiness. But it's not exactly capitalism, because God's way of owning things is to promptly shower gifts on any and everyone. God's way of 'doing holiness' isn't insufferable self-righteous smugness.

God makes holiness look beautiful.