What
does it mean to become as white as snow? This concept seems simple at first,
but there is so much more to it. Not only do we need to look at what causes us
to become dirty, but also what we need to do to become clean, and then to fully grasp what it means to be as white as snow. Our scripture today mentions this one line so briefly that it is almost unseen, but
in truth, the entire passage revolves around this idea of being made ‘white as snow’. Isaiah is telling the people of the day that they have become unclean and that they aren’t living
their lives correctly, but that there is hope; God provides a way to be made as clean as the snow.
God, through
Isaiah, is comparing the people to those who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah where
the ethical and moral way of life was not followed and accepted. God is telling
them that they, too, are living in the same destructive path that brought on the ruin of these cities. God has had enough. Not only are the people living immorally,
they are also insulting God by offering sacrifices that mean nothing. I have
to pause in my tracks when I hear those words, that the sacrifices the people are offering aren’t enough. I think that is a powerful thought and needs some attention.
What are the
people doing that they need to offer sacrifices? Why is what they are offering
not good enough? What is God asking of these people? What is God asking of us? What are the sacrifices that are
important today? What are the sins we are committing that we aren’t asking
for genuine forgiveness?
Many scholars
have written of this text. This was a community of people that if you were looking
in on them from a far would appear to be a Holy community. However, when you
actually see what their priorities were and where they placed their truth, it is then that you realize they are living for
their own goals, their own victory, their own power.
One commentator
states, “Isaiah had access to four different kings, but his great concern was the spiritual state of the nation and
not the political success of the leaders. There is a place for diplomacy and
political action, for God established human government. But a leader’s
faith must be in God’s truth and not in men’s schemes.
Outwardly the
nation seemed prosperous and even religious, but God saw a different picture. His
people were rebellious children, lower than animals. They were sick with sin
like lepers, and their garden city had become another Sodom and Gomorrah . Their popular religious meetings were futile
and a grief to the lord. In fact, their religious activities defiled the people
instead of making them clean. Sin breaks god’s heart, cheapens a nation
or an individual, and invites the judgment of God. God graciously offers his forgiveness if we will repent.”
One thing I want
to point out before I continue is the mention of the political leaders of these cities.
Isaiah says he is concerned with their spiritual state. This is such an
important idea that I think it often gets lost in the hustle and bustle of politics where it becomes more about money and
power than about the people themselves. I have heard so often that politicians
are horrible people, that they always make the wrong decisions and don’t really care about people. Some of that might be true, but how often do we care for them, our political leaders? How often do we send them a note of encouragement saying you were just thinking about them and wanted them
to know you were praying for them?
Being a politician
is a lonely job to many extents; there are so many pressures coming in from large groups of people. But how often do they hear an encouraging word, something to maybe inspire them and remind them why they
went in to politics to begin with. It is so easy for us to criticize decisions
and statements that are made, but can we really point the finger at a politician for losing their faith after getting into
office, when we, the church, haven’t been there supporting them in that faith.
So I think the
words of Isaiah are very important to hear. He was concerned with the spiritual
state of the leaders and the nation, and I think that is something that we, too, should be concerned with. How can we expect a leader to make a good decision without encouragement and support from a positive voice
who truly cares about him/her as a person?
This text feels
like a wakeup call to me. How often do we find ourselves following a path that
God doesn’t want us to be on? How often do we offer a simple sorry from
our heads, instead of a passion-filled apology from our hearts? How often do
we throw a few extra bucks in the collection plate in hopes that our wrongs might be forgiven without even asking for forgiveness?
This text is
speaking to each one of us. We have all traveled down paths that weren’t
great, done things we should not have done, acted in ways that aren’t uplifting, treated people with little to no respect,
talked behind someone’s back, walked away from someone in need of our help, laughed at an idea that might truly have
helped people, hesitated to act because other people might not think what we were doing was cool. Each day we do things that don’t bring out the best in us, that aren’t showing to others the
love of God that we have in our hearts.
The question
that remains is this…What do we do now that we recognize that we often act in ways which are displeasing to God? How do we approach God? Our scripture
today is a reaction from God towards people who knew they hadn’t been acting right, who, instead of coming before God
broken and unworthy, tried to pay their way out of their guilt. They were presenting
offerings out of their great multitude of belongings; it was of no sacrifice at all for a person with a 1,000 sheep to give
the smallest of these over as a sacrifice. The people were not making sacrifices
because they felt the need for forgiveness. They were offering them because they
could, and it was no sacrifice at all to give out of their great multitude. This
is what God was trying to show them, that it doesn’t matter how great your sanctuary is, how much gold you have on your
altar, how much incense you burn, and all of your feasts, because none of this is for God’s benefit. It seems that the more the people gave of their wealth, the less they understood why they were supposed
to be making the sacrifice to begin with.
God calls them
to wash themselves, to make themselves clean in order to remove the evil from their lives.
God doesn’t care how many sacrifices they offer up, because they continue to act immorally, they continue to
be extravagant. And it is in this moment that God challenges the people; he tells
them that they need to remove all of the greed, arrogance, and power hungry attitudes at the altar instead of the fatten lamb. It is their hearts he wants them to leave at the table. God calls them to learn to do good, to seek justice, to rescue the oppressed, to defend the orphan, and
to plead for the widow.
We have all heard
this call and charge before, that we are to do good, seek justice, and take care of the oppressed who can’t speak and
defend themselves. But what does it mean?
What is the good we are suppose to do, and how do we seek justice and care for the oppressed? This is something that each one of us needs to discover on our own, for each of us has different skills
and different things we are called to do. But the bottom line is, we are suppose
to act out of our love for God; that is how we are to come before others, showing them the love that God has shown us.
The final part
of this scripture is this concept of our sins being the color of scarlet, and God will wash them white as snow. Have you ever put something red behind something white? Can’t
you usually see the thing that is red peering behind the white? So how can this
work? Have you ever played with snow? Ok,
a silly question I know, but one thing I have always noticed about snow is that it is remarkable. When it first starts to fall, it feels like a dream; when the light flakes start to fall to the ground
and begin to cover the trees and the lawn, they reflect in streetlights, and everything just seems to glow. Then when it finishes it just looks like a blanket of beauty until the snowplows and the shovels start
moving it around, and cars start to drive in it. Then what color is the snow? An icky brownish grey that we have gone from thinking was beautiful one moment to
thinking it is hideous the next. Snow is an odd thing.
One other thing
I discovered about snow one winter was how good it is at cleaning the sludge from cars, have you ever picked up a clump of
snow and used it to clean off a window on the car or the gunk from the top of your shoes?
The snow cleans it up with no trouble at all. It just wipes away the dirt
like the little eraser button on the paint program on your computer. And I think
this is the concept of ‘white as snow’ that is being pictured here. Snow
when falling makes everything white, nothing is safe from the falling show, whether it is the trees, or cars, your house,
or your eye lashes. Everything can be covered with the snow and become white;
the snow is ever reaching and there is nothing it can’t touch. Can the
same not be said of the love and grace of God?
When this scripture
was written a major event in our Christian belief had not yet happened. Jesus
had not yet entered this world as fully human, fully God. He had not come yet to share the love of God and to eventually give
himself up as the ultimate sacrifice. So we need to continue this scripture into
the New Testament; Christian people need to be reminded of this concept of ‘white as snow’ in the light of the
cross. There is actually something we get around Christmas every year that might
show this concept of ‘white as snow’ and the blood of Christ fully. Each
year we all flock to the stores to buy presents and goodies for Christmas, but this one thing I am thinking of is often put
on trees, or attached to cards, or in a nice hot cup of cocoa. What is it you
ask…the candy cane!
The candy cane
was originally just a piece of long candy until a candy maker decided to shape it like a shepherd’s staff for Christmas. But what many don’t know is that the colors of the candy cane represent this
very idea of what we are talking about. The candy cane bridges the Old Testament
concept of white as snow, as pure as the falling snow, with the New Testament truth that the blood of Christ was spilled for
our sins. The white and the red are wrapped around the shepherd’s staff,
which is what we call the candy cane.
So it is with
the candy cane that I close today. The candy cane represents the idea of our
sins being washed away, just like the snow cleans our shoes. The candy cane also
represents the blood of Christ that was shed for our sins, that was spilled because our sins are so great. So let us remember that although our sins have been forgiven, we must come to God seeking forgiveness.
We must recognize the sacrifice that God made by giving his only son, and we
must realize that we are a broken and unworthy people, in need of the saving love of God.
