Snow And Wool

Hear the word of the LORD, princes of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, people of Gomorrah! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.

Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow. Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land; But if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken! (Isaiah 1:10, 16-20)

According to Wikipedia, (begin) Sodom and Gomorrah were two legendary biblical cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin (see Genesis 19:1–28). "Sodom and Gomorrah" becomes a byword for destruction and desolation. 

Isaiah 1:9–10, 3:9 and 13:19–22 address people as from Sodom and Gomorrah. He associates Sodom with shameless sinning and tells Babylon that it will end like those two cities.

Jeremiah 23:14, 49:17–18, 50:39–40 and Lamentations 4:6 associate Sodom and Gomorrah with adultery and lies. He prophesizes the fate of Edom (south of the Dead Sea) and predicts the fate of Babylon and uses Sodom as a comparison.

Ezekiel 16:48–50 compares Jerusalem to Sodom, saying: “As I live—oracle of the Lord GOD—I swear that your sister Sodom with her daughters have not done the things you and your daughters have done! Now look at the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were proud, sated with food, complacent in prosperity. They did not give any help to the poor and needy. Instead, they became arrogant and committed abominations before me; then, as you have seen, I removed them.” (end)

Such condemnation!  The message for us today is: “Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.”  This Lent and throughout the year let’s hear the prophet Isaiah – and Jeremiah as well as Ezekiel.  Otherwise, our shameless sinning will bring us the fate of those two infamous biblical cities.  

If we refuse and resist, the sword shall consume us.  If we obey, our scarlet and crimson red sins will become white as snow and wool.  That’s called forgiveness.

Deacon David Pierce