When you do the washing, you pull the plug and let the dirt go away in the running water.

It would seem strange indeed to then go through the dirty water looking at all the dirt, holding it in your fingers, touching it, admiring it, trying to recapture it and put it back.

Instead, you have washed it away, glad to be rid of it, and ready to enjoy cleanness, freshness and the smell of purity.

It is the same when you take a shower, you let the dirt wash away and you savour the beauty of freshness again. It is a good feeling and you have no wish to chase after the dirt to bring it back.

Perhaps this is why baptism is a symbol of repentance, it is the washing away of sin but what would you say if a baptised person immediately went down into the water again, searching for the sin that had been washed away? What if he wanted it so badly, he returned to the scene again and again, seeking to find the sin; to touch it; to hold it; to enjoy it? It is too silly for words, isn’t it?

No, repentance means a total separation from sin just as a shower means total separation from dirt. If you make any effort to get it back, to relive it or take any delight in even thinking about it, you make a mockery of repentance, showing that you enjoyed the sin more than cleanliness and that dirt is your normal.

‘Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight!’ The Lord told Isaiah, (1:16.)

John the Baptist also prepared for the presence of the Lord by the washing away of sin through ‘a baptism of repentance,’ Luke 3:3-6. When sin had been washed away, he was able to reveal the Lord to those around him and the Lord could come to his people, John 1:29.

Like a reformed alcoholic, who must not seek or taste alcohol again, we must not seek or taste our sin again. And, as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples before sharing the meal with them, we must do a wash of repentance every day. Wash, and let the dirt go.

Elizabeth Price reprice@dragnet.com.au