To be cleansed by the blood of Jesus and bearing his light burden?

So, what does this Christian cliché mean exactly? Well, first we all need to meditate on our ‘sin’ and what this might mean? With sin, we are not just talking about the ‘biggies’ – murder, robbery, mindless violence etc – but the so-called ‘littler sins’ which are much more part of ‘the norm’ and are therefore often hidden and excused – petty ego assertions, pride-filled ambition, vain self-absorption, and all that comes with it – so, the insistence that ‘I’m right and you are wrong’, lack of loving attention to others’ hurts and pains, being too quick to speak and slow to hear, etc. The Christian cliché and repeatedly found in Scripture, is that we have been cleansed from all the above, and more besides, and by Christ’s blood!!

For example, in the first letter of John (so in 1 John 1: verse 7) he states: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” This gets us to the heart of the Christian message, that Christ has taken the blame for all our wrongdoing and wrongbeing, and whether we believe it or not. So, later in the same letter, John declares in Chapter 2 verse 2: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but for the sins of the whole world.”

So, if we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and purified from all our sin big and small, what does this cleansing mean exactly?

First, we don’t have to do anything or even be anything to make ourselves pure and clean. Think about the radical ‘upside down’ character of this for a while: Nothing that we can do or be at ‘our end’ will make any difference whatsoever, but only God’s reaching out to us through Christ’s love and sacrifice for us. What a blessed relief having this belief is because I know, if I am honest with myself, that however much I try to do and be better I always fall short of God’s standards of perfect love for others (and even those I am close to). No wonder Christ says in Mathew 11: verse 28: “Come to me all those who are burdened and heavy-ladened and I will give you rest.”

Second, once we give up trying on our own efforts, then we can focus on the ‘hard’ bit, which is to always trust in God and Christ for deliverance. This kind of trusting is ‘hard’ because we are not used to giving up trying - the world and religiosity tells us that we must do and be otherwise. That is why Christ, in Mathew 11:28-30, does not promise us no burden, but rather a light burden. The light burden is this, not to trust in your own strength (which would be the heavy burden) but to turn to God and Christ always (the light burden), and continually say: “I’m coming to you because I can’t do this. I can’t cleanse myself from my own sin and countless shortcomings from your perfect and infinite love. I therefore lay down completely my own strength and effort and rest wholly in you, anticipating that only you can make me better. That my job is only to admit my sins and confess them to you, and then hand the rest to you, for me to then receive your free blessing, your grace, your love, your forgiveness, your gentleness, which purifies me.” Praise God!