Savior: Jesus Makes Us Clean. March 30, 2025

We all have something we're powerless against. Death is one. The other is the collection of things that get in between us and God. When we admit we are powerless and finally turn to God, Jesus washes away the things that suppress us from living in full relationship with the Lord.

When Jesus makes us clean, he's not washing dirt off our bodies. Instead, he's cleansing us from another type of grime, the captivity of sin and death that make us feel spritually dirty. In this context, clean means life and unclean means death. When we're tainted with sin, we can try to ignore it and we can justify it. However, the result is guilt and self doubt. Although we want sprititual cleanliness, we simply can't achieve it on our own.

At the Last Supper, Jesus humbled himself to an act of service, washing the disciples' feet. In that moment, Jesus demonstrated that faith and loyalty to God are part of being clean. The next day, a reluctant Pontius Pilate turn Jesus over to the authorities to be crucified. Then Pilate washed his hands of the matter, blaming his decision on the crowds Like Pilate, we can try to stifle our guilt, mistakes, and failures, or we can follow the example of Jesus. In other words, there are handwashers, and there are footwashers. On this fourth Sunday of Lent, Pastor Mia asks, which one are you?