My husband and I were fostering four siblings. The youngest was just 11 months. When she came to us, she had lice, and we had to go through the tedious process of removing the lice in her fine, blond hair. It was traumatizing for the child and for us.
The mom had weekly visits with her children. Every time we got the child back, she had lice again, because Mom had lice, and they would jump to the baby she was holding. And we would go through the tedious process again.
Finally, the Department of Social Services asked the judge to order the mom to get treated and checked by the health department before she could see the children again. She never saw her children again and gave them up for adoption.
I thought of this story as I read today’s passage. In the Old Testament covenant, people were under the law. They were required by law to do offerings of sheep and other animals so that blood would cleanse them. But our passage in Hebrews tells us that these offerings only cleansed the outside of people, not the inside. The covenant of the Old Testament demonstrated that “the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed.” People did not have a way directly to God—only the high priests had this opportunity.
But now, we are SO blessed. Christ is our high priest, and we have ready access to him at all times because he shed his blood for us. That means that Jesus can cleanse us inside with forgiveness, no matter what we do. Jesus cleanses us completely with his own blood to “cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so we may serve the living God.” All we have to do is confess and sincerely ask for forgiveness.
The rest of the story? The four children were actually adopted together by an incredibly loving family that already had five children. The family had a large church family, and they helped the adoptive family with everything. God brings us this happy ending in the incredible blessing of Jesus’ blood.
Praise to our living God!
Peggy Terhune is a lifelong Lutheran who lives in NC and is the CEO of Monarch (www.monarchnc.org). For fun, she teaches a leadership class at Duke University, and a mental health course at Wingate University. She and her husband Bob have seven grown children (two adopted as teens), 10 grandchildren, and fostered many children for over 20 years. She is also a lay preacher for the NC synod and studying to become qualified as a SAM. For fun, she knits, reads, and travels extensively, having been to over 35 countries.
To Consider
What do you need to consider inside yourself that you need forgiveness for? Have you confessed it and asked for forgiveness?
There is NO sin too great to be forgiven. What are you holding inside from your past that you need to consider asking forgiveness for?
Prayer
Blessed Jesus, thank you for the gift of your son to cleanse us inside, to make our souls clean. Forgive us our sins, both things we have done, and things we have left undone. Thank you for your forgiveness. You have set us free! Amen.