The Cathedral Close

In the Epistle for this week, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is contrasted with the sacrifices of the law of Moses. These, we are told, had an outward efficacy, sanctifying to the purifying of the flesh. The leper, for example, was cleansed from the ceremonial uncleanness which clung to him while he remained a leper, so that when the sacrificial blood had been sprinkled by the priest seven times upon him, and he had washed his clothes and fulfilled other obligations of the like kind, he was free to return again to his home, and to go up again to the courts of the house of the Lord.

The unhappy leper, as a type of the sinner, was treated as the impenitent sinner must be treated. He was bidden to depart from God’s presence, and from all communion with God’s people. The blood which restored him was typical also of the atoning and cleansing Blood of Christ.

But the leprosy was not in itself a moral but a physical disease, which resided in his flesh. The blood which restored him, therefore, sanctified only to the purifying of the flesh. On the other hand, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ was the sacrifice of an obedient will, and for this and other reasons His Blood has a spiritual power, and purges the conscience of him who believes in Him from dead works.

But what are dead works? They are the works which issue in death, that is, they are sins, and from these the Blood of Christ cleanses the conscience of those who come to Him by faith and prayer. We may well ask, “Is it so with me?”

Of the great multitude whom St. John saw in the courts of Heaven it is said that they washed their robes, and (also) made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. They made their robes white, allowing no little spots of pride, or selfishness, or impurity, or ill-temper, or untruthfulness, to retain upon them and mar their beautiful whiteness. Such must be our aim also through prayer and perseverance “to wear the white flower of a blameless life.”

Prayer

O Holy Spirit of God, teach me, and lead me in the path of holiness, I beseech Thee. Amen.

From Lent for Busy People © 2017 Fr. Charles H. Nalls