Clean
AM Psalm 87, 90 • PM Psalm 136
Num. 11:16-17,24-29 • Eph. 2:11-22 • Matt. 7:28-8:4
Matthew tells the story of Jesus cleansing a leper. The man knelt before him and asked to be made clean. Jesus touched him and immediately was cleansed of his leprosy. Jesus told him to say nothing to anyone, but to go and give the gift that Moses commanded as proof.
What does it mean to be truly clean? What is the significance of the cleaning process? The conclusion I came to is that cleaning is an act of love, an act of healing. To be clean you must be completely vulnerable. Your walls fade away, the dirt fades away, everything you’ve been carrying is washed away. It is the outward expression of releasing what was never yours. To some extent, we all have been covered in the dirt of life and blinded by the suffering we’ve endured. Just as Jesus cleansed the leper, God can cleanse us of the dirt of this world. We just have to ask. We have to be willing to lean into the fear of complete vulnerability. To be clean you have to watch the dirt wash away.
After living with something for so long, the suffering becomes familiar. The hurt we carry can begin to seem synonymous with ourselves. Just as the leper was not his leprosy, we are not whatever pain we have been holding on to. Cleaning is painful and scary because we are attached to something that was never ours and never intended for us to have. Life has a way of trying to mute who we are and who God intended us to be. The world tells us we are what has happened to us and what we do. Like the leper we become defined by what has happened, something completely out of our control. True spiritual cleansing requires us to kneel before our God and acknowledge that we aren’t our actions, our hurt, our story. God is in us and we are in Him. Let Him wash the dirt away. Bathe in His love and be clean. Then go and tell no one, but share the gift.
Written by Hadley Thomas
Hadley graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a biochemistry degree and is in her first year of medical school at the Uniformed Services University. She was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy prior to starting medical school. She is passionate about her faith and is excited to share her perspective and interpretations with the amazing congregation of Saint Paul’s.