Isaiah 1:17-31: a reflection

17Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.” 18“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says the LORD: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; 20but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for the LORD’s mouth has spoken it.” 21How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers. 22Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. 23Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them. 24Therefore the Lord, GOD of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies. 25I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin. 26I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, a faithful town.’ 27Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. 28But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. 30For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. 31The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”

Amid Isaiah's rebuke of a people whose worship had become empty while they neglected justice, comes a strikingly gracious invitation. God calls, Come now, let us reason together: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. To a people stained deep with sin, God offers a cleansing so complete that the scarlet stain would become white as snow. And this comes alongside his call to learn to do good, seek justice, and defend the vulnerable, real repentance issuing in changed life.

Notice the astonishing offer: the scarlet made white as snow. Scarlet and crimson are deep, fast dyes, stains that do not easily come out; they picture sin that is deep, ingrained, seemingly permanent. And to such stained sinners God offers not a partial fading but a complete cleansing, white as snow, whiter than the stain ever was dark. However deep the stain of our sin, God's offered cleansing is deeper still.

That offer is for us. Perhaps you feel your sin is too deep, too ingrained, too scarlet to ever be made clean; the stain seems permanent, fast, impossible to remove. Hear God's invitation: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. There is no stain so deep that God's cleansing, offered in Christ whose blood makes us white, cannot remove it. Do not despair of your scarlet sins as beyond cleansing. Come, as God invites, and let him make the scarlet white as snow. And let that cleansing show itself, as Isaiah urges, in a changed life that seeks justice and does good.

Lord, to a people stained deep with sin, you offered an astonishing cleansing: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though red like crimson, they shall become like wool. When I feel my sin is too deep, too ingrained, too scarlet ever to be made clean, hear that offer over me. There is no stain so deep that your cleansing, offered in Christ whose blood makes me white, cannot remove it. Keep me from despairing of my sins as beyond cleansing. Help me come, as you invite, and let you make the scarlet white as snow. And let that cleansing show itself in a changed life, one that learns to do good, seeks justice, and defends the vulnerable. Thank you that your cleansing is deeper than my stain.