Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Mark 9:2-3 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.
WHITER THAN ANY LAUNDERER CAN WHITEN
I have to admit, I'm not the one that does the laundry at my house. I do help by folding the clothes once they have been washed and dried, but I'm not in charge of washing. It's probably a good thing too -- I doubt that our whites would stay white!
I may not know much about laundering, but I do understand that the white that Jesus clothes became was much brighter than even the newest of white shirts. Mark describes it as exceedingly white, like snow. I know how bright white the snow can be when the sun shines off it on a cold winter day. It's a white so bright you can hardly look at it. So I understand that when Jesus chose to give those disciples (and us through their words) a glimpse of His glory, it was more than they could look at without shielding their eyes.
Jesus clothing was pure white. Jesus person was also pure and holy, something I am not. I'm more like the dirty clothes in the clothes hamper, stained and smelly inside and out (and that's looking at myself through rose colored glasses). While fearfully and wonderfully made, because of sin I cannot stand in God's presence or look on him. I have the smell of death on me. The stains of sin are hard to get out, and there is no laundry detergent sufficient to cleanse. Like a dirty shirt, I need to be cleansed. Thankfully, God invites me to come to Him through His Son, and He promises to make me clean, to cleanse me of my sin (Isaiah 1:18): "'Come now, and let us reason together,' Says the Lord, 'Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow . . .'"
The only thing that can cleanse me of my sin is red; it's the blood of Jesus Christ my Lord (1 John 1:7). God reveals His glory and love to me by cleansing me of my sin through His Son.
