A Matter Of Priority

Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. [Leviticus 23.14] 

"That day" is the day the people were to "bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest" (Leviticus 23.10).

In addition to the regular Sabbaths, Israel was instructed to celebrate certain festivals at prescribed times. The Celebration of First Harvest was one of those festivals and is the context of the subject passage above.

What the subject passage above establishes is that God does indeed instruct His people to have priorities. Look at verses 9-13:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the LORD so it may be accepted on your behalf. On that same day you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the LORD. With it you must present a grain offering consisting of four quarts of choice flour moistened with olive oil. It will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. You must also offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering. [Leviticus 23.9-13]

The Celebration of First Harvest was, in comparison to other festivals, no different in that the people had a prescribed set of requirements to fulfill in their performance of it. However, God made it clear that it was a priority to carry out this celebration before eating any bread, roasted grain, or fresh kernels.

Not ironically the priority established in the Celebration of First Harvest deals with the first harvest! "First" indicates priority all by itself. So the ritual was to be performed first before eating any harvested food (bread - made from grain, roasted grain, or fresh kernels).

The lesson for New Testament followers of Jesus should be to understand that Jesus is the bread of life.

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. [John 6.35]

From this understanding that Jesus is the "bread of life;" a harvest to be enjoyed, would-be followers of Him should learn from Leviticus 23.14 that there is a necessary offering to be given before enjoying the "bread of life." Jesus was not unclear about this priority:

A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. [Luke 14.25-33] (bold and underline mine)

For the people God was addressing in Leviticus 23.14, their first harvest was a big deal. It would have represented a significant factor in their survival; the critical necessity of food for their lives and well-being. To take from that harvest the first portion and offer it to God before consuming it themselves demonstrated the priority of God in their lives.

As Jesus indicated above, there is a priority to be met before enjoying Him as the "bread of life;" before becoming His disciple:

...if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

The cost to be counted; the first bundle of our harvest, is our own life (to be bundled and offered on our own cross). Until we have given up the bread of our own life, we cannot enjoy the Bread of Life, Jesus. It's a matter of priority He was crystal clear about.

Father, as I consider my priorities today, may I be found first dying to myself so that Jesus might live through me. So be it.