Category: Inspiration

The Mystery of Purity and the Rock of Our Redemption 

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

In Parsha Chukat/statute (Num. 19:1–22:1), we’re drawn into the enigma of the parah adumah, the red heifer, a command beyond logic, a “chok,” that purifies those defiled by death while rendering the purifier unclean (Numb. 19:1–10). This paradox reveals a profound spiritual principle: that cleansing and transformation often emerge through sacrificial loss.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, taught that the red heifer exemplifies the soul’s capacity to serve God beyond understanding. While some commandments align with human reason, chukim (חֻקִּים/statutes) invite us into supra-rational devotion, reflecting a relationship rooted not in comprehension, but in covenantal surrender.

This idea aligns with Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12:1, calling disciples to present themselves as “living sacrifices.” We are offered up in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus. In Him the mystery of the red heifer as both offering and purifier comes into focus. Of Messiah, Paul writes, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21). Like the red heifer, Yeshua bore the uncleanness of sin and death outside the camp on Golgotha (Heb. 13:11–12) to cleanse us by His own blood (1 Jn. 1:7; Eph. 1:7). 

Later in this portion, Moses is instructed to speak to the rock to supply water (Numb. 20:8), but instead he strikes it, disrupting a divine pattern. Paul reveals that the rock was Messiah (1 Cor. 10:4). Striking the rock in Exodus 17:6 prefigures the crucifixion. Numbers 20:8 was to mark a new mode of relationship to the Rock: provision through faith, reverence and obedience, not repeated suffering as a misguided sign of devotion. For Messiah was “offered once for all” (Heb. 10:10), and now we share in His provision by His promise of His presence.

The bronze serpent (Numb. 21:8–9) adds another layer. Yeshua applying the imagery to Himself said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14–15). Judgment becomes healing when seen through the lens of faith (Ro. 5:6-11). 

Chukat calls us beyond the reasonable and rational into redemption. Its commandments are not arbitrary, they are invitations. The red heifer, the rock, and the serpent all converge in Messiah: our purifier, our provider, and our healer. Rabbi Schneerson encouraged us to embrace the irrational commandments not with skepticism, but with faith and surrender. Yeshua shows us that the greatest mysteries of Torah are fulfilled not in the mind alone, but through lives laid down in love (Jn. 10:11; 15:13).

As leaders, shepherds, and faithful disciples we are called not only to understand these “mysteries” but to live them: to bear burdens, to speak life, and to lift up Messiah so others may live.

Maranatha. Shalom. 

Losing to Gain

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, Inspiration1 Comment

In Philippians 3:4–9, Paul unveils the heart of a disciple. Once proud of his pedigree, his many achievements, and religious fervor, he now counts them as loss, not because they were worthless in themselves, but because they could never measure up to the surpassing worth of knowing Messiah Yeshua/Jesus.

Paul writes, “For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Messiah.”

This is no small exchange. Paul relinquishes his identity, his status, and his self-righteousness, not in despair, but in joyful surrender to something greater. He stops striving to be found righteous by religious observance or human credentials, and instead rests in the righteousness that comes by faith.

The challenge for us today is to examine the things we hold as gain — our titles, traditions, successes — and ask whether they draw us closer to Messiah or distract us from Him.

When our worth is rooted in our achievements, we miss the liberating grace found in what Jesus has already done. But when we let go of what had defined us, when we lose to gain, we find the richness of a relationship not earned but freely given (Eph. 2:8-10).

May we, like Paul, be found in Yeshua, pressing on, not because we are perfect, but because we are loved by the One who is, as the Apostle John wrote, “We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19). 

Maranatha. Shalom. 

Holy Together

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

This week’s double portion of Acharei Mot/Kedoshim (Lev. 16:1 – 20:27) draws our attention to the balance between communal and personal responsibility. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, addresses both personal and communal sin, repentance, and atonement, publicly. 

What is the lesson? 

While there is great comfort in private confession, holiness is a communal endeavor, as in the verse, “you shall be holy,” “you” is plural, as it is spoken to community. This is the honing of personal ethics, based on the ethical norms found in the Torah (the instruction of God), by communal association. 

As James writes, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (Jas. 5:16).

In this we find personal responsibility, as well as, communal accountability. 

The beauty of the “heart of the Torah” (Lev. 19:1-20:27) is that we recognize personal and communal shortcoming and responsibility, while endeavoring to turn the page of renewal together, as we trust in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus, Who is the “the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). 

If we string together the names of the double-portion this week, Acharei Mot/Kedoshim we learn this: “after the death, holiness.” The apostle Paul teaches, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him” (Ro. 6:8; cf. 1 Pet. 1:15-17). 

Maranatha. Shalom.