2022-11-08 “Our Priestly Service in Christ Is a Ministry of Life, Not Death 我们在基都里祭司的服事，不是死亡而是生命的事工“（Ezekiel以西结书44:25-27）
A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person; however, if the dead person was his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then he may defile himself. After he is cleansed, he must wait seven days. On the day he goes into the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer a sin offering for himself, declares the Sovereign Lord.
他們不可接近死人，玷污自己，但如果死人是他們的父親、母親、兒子、女兒、兄弟或是未嫁的姊妹，他們就可以玷污自己。祭司潔淨以後，還要再等七天。他進入內院，到聖所去，在聖所供職的時候，他要獻上贖罪祭。這是主耶和華的宣告。
Since death is viewed in the Old Testament as Levitically defiling bringing to remembrance most forcefully the sin of Adam which introduced death into the human family, priests will have to be careful in their contact with the dead. They are to avoid dead bodies and carcasses. Their service will be a ministry of life, not death. If the priest must have contact with a dead body (as in the case of a close relative), then he will have to follow the prescribed sacrifice for cleansing upon resuming priestly service.
因着死亡在旧约圣经里，被视作利未记所记载的玷污，最有力地带来对亚当的原罪，把死亡引入人类家庭的回忆，祭司们在自己与死人的接触上必定要小心；他们要避忌尸体和殘骸；他们的服事必不是死亡而是生命的事工。如果祭司必定要与死人的遗体接触（如在一个近亲的事例里）时，他必定要跟从獻上指定的贖罪祭来洁净，才可回复他祭司的供職。
Prayer: Holy and Gracious God, we might have been deeming that those defiling issues of the Old Testament appeared to be irrelevant to us today. However, as we start taking seriously our call of the priesthood in Christ, we need to admit that our carelessness in dealing with anything that may lead to our spiritual defiling is often getting us into a state of profound shock. Forgive our weakness / sinfulness in taking it lightly. May the Holy Spirit guide us into your truth granting us wisdom and power to overcome it. Amen.
禱告: 聖潔而有恩惠的神啊，我們或許一直認為，舊約聖經那些玷污的問題，今天看來與我們毫不相干。然而，當我們開始嚴肅對待，自己在基督裡祭司供職的呼召時，我們需要承認自己在處理任何可以導致我們屬靈的玷污上的不小心，往往正在使我們落入一個深受震驚的狀況裡。求你寬恕我們掉以輕心的軟弱/罪性，願聖靈引導我們進入你的真理，賜給我們智慧和力量勝過它。阿們。
