It is late spring, and the sun is up at 5 am. This morning, I was up at six, and putting the first load of the multiple weekend clothes wash on the line. The sky is clear, and despite the joke that “if you don’t like the weather in Dunedin wait 15 minutes” (yes it is very changeable) the clothes may dry on the line.

Which moves to the passage. For the metaphor of washing our lives is about purifying our lives. Getting rid of that which holds us back. And this is a series of choices: letting go of the bad, holding to the good. Having a sense of accountability, or feedback.

Which is why I wear a sleep and activity monitor, and use apps to monitor my activity. I’ve stopped using paper for this. And it is why the blog concentrates on the lectionary. Because as the clothes I wore this week need to be washed, so I need to be cleansed, regularly, habitually.

Revelation 22:14-21

¹⁴Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹⁶“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
¹⁷  The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

¹⁸I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; ¹⁹if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

²⁰The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

Matthew 18:21-35

²¹Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” ²²Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

²³“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; ²⁵and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. ²⁶So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ ²⁷And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ ²⁹Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ ³⁰But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. ³¹When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. ³²Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. ³⁵So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

There is an apparent conflict between the first and second passages here. For those who add to the word of revelations, as the Mormons have, or those who look to legends and superstitions to see the end times (Dan Brown would be as big a modern offender as St Malachy). They are accursed: yet we are told to forgive our brother.

And at times this is held against us. There is an assumption that 9because we should forgive our brother) that all are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Not so. Those of the church, the true church, are. But within the visible church there are many who err, and they need to be confronted. Moreover, outside the church are those who demand that they are let in, just because they say so.

And that is not the way of the Spirit, or the way of Christ. The way of Christ is being broken, to find yourself weeping before the Cross of Christ, fully aware that your own actions have damned you, and it is only by Christ’s choice that you have been saved. It’s nothing about merit badges, degrees, or good works. For our sins stink before God. And there is no washing powder in this life that can remove this: it required Christ dying for us.

So the old monks and mystics, and the puritans, when they meditated on their unworthiness and on the cross, had more truth in their thinking and practice than we do with our current emphasis on self esteem and self worth. (For we are not worthy of worship: Christ is).

And outside the church we have to say this. We have to sound harsh. We have to be confrontational: for to let another remain in error is no mercy, but instead cowardice. Within the church we need to be gentle, and work softly: fully aware that we are flawed, our theology has errors, and our knowledge is limited.

And we need to trust God, knowing that his spirit will lead us into truth, for his word indeed is truth, as he is the ur-truth, the foundation of all beauty, goodness, honour and valour in this broken world full of fallen creatures.