A Free Bird

In Old Testament times there was a rite for cleansing lepers which is highly symbolic. There was a priest, two birds, three sacrificial lambs, some flour, and oil involved in this ritual. As a recovering alcoholic and addict, I can relate most to the free bird involved in this ancient ordinance. The entire cleansing process is found within Leviticus 14, and I am still having Leviticus withdrawals. It is one of my favorite books of the Bible, which you may think strange, and I know I am weird.

"The priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper" (Leviticus 14:3). The priest has two roles. He will eventually "pronounce him clean" (v. 7), and it's the priest's responsibility, as his judge in Israel, to determine if the person is ceremonially clean enough to enter sacred space. The priest will also serve as a mediator as he will "present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation" (v. 11). The candidate is "presented before the Lord" at the door of the tabernacle, at the threshold of sacred space. The tabernacle, of course, was a portable temple. He serves as a type of Christ here as an "advocate with the Father" (D&C 45:3). Today, bishops act in a similar office as administrators of the Aaronic Priesthood.

The next steps of the ceremony are highly symbolic.

"Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop" (v. 4).

Cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop are all elements of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The cedar wood represents the wooden cross. Before the crucifixion they placed a scarlet robe on the Savior (see Matthew 27:28). And during the crucifixion they put vinegar on a sponge and put it upon hyssop and put it to His mouth (John 19:29). Hyssop was also used at Passover to put the blood from the paschal lambs upon the lintels and doorposts (Exodus 12:22).

 "And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water" (v. 5).

Jesus announces Himself as "living water" to the woman at Jacob's well (John 4:10-14). After the crucifixion His body was placed in an earthen vessel, or tomb.

"As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:"

"And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field" (vv. 6-7).

This is beautiful imagery. The living bird is saved by the blood of the bird killed in an earthen vessel over running (or "living") water, and the living bird is released into a open field. The imagery of a bird flying freely over an open field is a perfect symbol of freedom. It is also interesting that the vision of the bird would be greatly enhanced as it looks down from the heavens.

Verse 9 describes the process of spiritual rebirth:

"But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean."

When the cleansed man shaves off his head, beard, and eyebrows, he has the appearance of a newborn baby. He is symbolically born again.

After I was sober for about two years I once went for a long walk on a Saturday afternoon. I passed an open field on a hot summer day and was listening to great music on my headphones, when I spotted a hawk circling over a freshly plowed field. It was circling the field and could see something I could not. I asked myself who was more free--the hawk or me! Each of us can become a free bird through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our Advocate with the Father, who has the ability to wash us clean from all transgression.