A divine cleansing

 

A study led by an associate PhD professor, a research scientist at Indiana University, found that people with clean houses are healthier than people with messy houses. Participants who kept their homes clean were healthier and more active than those who didn’t. We may speculate on that, but it sounds like a no brainer. Clean house, healthy life! This theme of cleanliness or purification is prominent in the Bible and is also at the center of today’s sermon. The prophet Malachi is describing the day of the Lord’s coming, saying that He is like a refiner’s fire and like Fuller ’ soap. On the one hand, the coming of the Lord is described as one who purifies with fire, separating dross from real gold. In movies we sometimes see blacksmiths beating metal, pushing it into the fire until it's red hot, beating it some more, pushing it back into the fire, and so forth, to obtain the final well-rounded desired product. We are like that when our faith is being tested! On the other hand, the coming of the Lord is described as Fuller’s soap. I did a bit of research, and I found that a fuller was an individual who would remove wool from sheep and purify it using ancient techniques, with an extremely harsh soap that would ultimately make the wool clean and white. It was an undesirable job. It was dirty work. What a picture! The Lord is described as the cleansing one. The process of cleansing is not an easy one. Fire does an excellent job in purifying metal, but, don’t do it at home! This priest does not recommend it. It sounds like this harsh soap also does a great job in cleansing. Could it be that our Lord Jesus Christ is that agent that was sent to purify us/sanctify us so we can be presented to the Father free of any blemish, worthy to stand before God? I would argue yes and put out the question of how?

OK. We are no strangers to the complexities of life, we are, after all, sinners—all of us (Romans 3:23). Sometimes we have a mess! Our hope lies not in anything that we have done, but on God’s grace & mercy that we have not deserved but which Christ has made available to us. The truth is that sin and evil always find a way to cling to us like dirt, but the word of God or the message of the Gospel can clean us up just like water and soap cleans us from dirt. And this cleaning is no fun; our faith will be tested in the process. It may involve renouncing ourselves, our passions and desires, so we can be presented to God like refined gold or silver. The message of the Gospel transforms us, and cleans off those things we accumulated on us that don’t need to be there. This cleaning process is tough; it requires us to be committed to our faith, to be disciplined so we can let the message of Christ rule in us.

It’s not an easy process: There will be pain/ hard work on our part. Our cleaning might not seem like it’s hard, but the hard part is the courage to do away with certain things, the courage to let Jesus direct everything about us: apologizing, and letting go of non-important things. One commentator wrote: “Many times, we need this kind of purification: Fuller's soap could sting like needing to give an apology. Purification can be like pursuing healing from a physical or emotional affliction. It can be mending a broken relationship. It can mean paying whatever price needed to be paid to make something right.” Don’t be afraid of the harsh soap! Granted, its abrasiveness may be painful, horrible, tough, and gut-wrenching, but it leads to health. Likewise, doctors can be aggressive in treating a wound, but ultimately there is healing in the end.

So, this theme of purification in our Gospel lesson today, is linked with our own need for cleansing. The message of Jesus Christ is hope and salvation to us. It is that cleansing fire or soap. Jesus and his family went into the temple according to the law of Moses of purification. Simon and then Anna, all recognized the presented child Jesus as one who would be the author of Salvation, designated as “HOLY”; with the name: Jesus or Yehoshua, meaning Salvation. He brings salvation/purity. How does Jesus do that? By cleansing us and presenting us to His Father blameless. This baby, would ultimately be the one who would grow up and be put to death on the cross for the salvation of many. The one who came so that, the divine life can flow into each one of us. When you come to the Holy Communion today, ask God for divine healing and purification from all kinds of dross we have accumulated. 

I leave us with Paul‘s words to Ephesians: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind--- yes, so she may be holy and without blemish”