ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Tokonaki ‘Epeleli 8, 2023

Melting Down Mirrors כיור 

Ngaahi Si‘ota na‘e tutu

EXODUS 30:17-19

THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, "YOU SHALL ALSO MAKE A BASIN OF BRONZE, WITH ITS STAND OF BRONZE, FOR WASHING. YOU SHALL PUT IT BETWEEN THE TENT OF MEETING AND THE ALTAR, AND YOU SHALL PUT WATER IN IT, WITH WHICH AARON AND HIS SONS SHALL WASH THEIR HANDS AND THEIR FEET."

‘EKISOTO 30:17-19

17 Pea folofola ‘a e ‘Eiki kia Mōsese, ‘o pehē, 18 Pea te ke ngaohi ha pālutu‘anga kapa, mo hono tu‘unga ko e kapa foki, ke fai ‘a e kaukau: pea te ke tuku ia ‘i he vaha‘a ‘o e Tēniti Fe‘iloaki‘anga mo e ‘ōlita, pea te ke ‘ai ha vai ki ai. 19 Pea ko ‘Ēlone mo hono ngaahi foha te nau fanofano ai honau nima mo honau va‘e:

For priests safely to handle holy things and walk on holy ground, they needed to wash. Washing required a basin, so the kiyyor was constructed. It was made by melting down "the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the entrance of the tent of meeting" (Exod. 38:8). Who these women were, and what they did, we are never told, but their erstwhile mirrors became an object that still reflected - reflected the need for cleansing when one entered God's presence. Unwashed hands and feet were hazardous (30:20-21). This relatively small kiyyor would become the huge Bronze Sea at the temple, complete with multiple smaller washbasins on wheels (1 Kings 7:23-39).

Baptism is not just plain water but water with a sacred history. Part of that history is the bronze kiyyor. As fellow priests of Jesus, we enter God's presence. Not just our hands and feet but "our bodies [have been] washed with pure water" (10:22), through the "washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5), that we may mirror the Messiah.

O heavenly High Priest, "wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!" (Ps. 51:2).