A Gospel Mirror

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22)

Once, two men were working on a roof when, lo and behold, they tumbled down a large chimney. Reaching the bottom unscathed, one man’s face was as black as midnight while the other man’s arm protected his face from the soot. Now, before the two men went back to work, the man with the clean face washed while the sooty-faced man did not. Can you figure out why?

Both men were judging themselves by one another. The man with the clean face assumed his was dirty while the other man assumed his was clean. What these men needed most was not the measure of another man. What these men really needed was a mirror! The truth of the matter is that right washing requires right judgment.

With one hand, Jesus holds up the Law to show us our soot. The Law would be a good mirror, would it not? However, we are known for reading the Law as saying, “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, and don’t go with girls that do.” That interpretation is only concerned with the soot on the outside; God is concerned with the soot on the heart. Hasn’t that always God’s chief concern? “Man judges from outward appearances, but God looks on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7) Isn’t that really our chief concern? James Dobson once noted that he had never heard a dying man regret not working more hours at the office. However, there are plenty of deathbed confessions about regret, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and the like. The latter are all about the soot on the heart, and they cause us the most personal anguish. To look at the heart is right judgment.

With the other hand, Jesus holds up the Gospel – “I will wash you white as now; I will present you in splendor - without spot, without wrinkle, without any such thing.” (Ps. 51:7; Eph. 5:28) We can wear about a bottle of Clorox, scrubbing away at the filth in our life, but that only washes the soot on the outside. Jesus washes the soot on the heart. Herein lies right washing.