The Scarlet Letter "U"

Scripture: And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean. Leviticus 14:20

Observation: God spent a lot of time in Leviticus outlining the policies and procedures for dealing with various skin conditions, such as a boil or rash. Someone with such a condition was to be declared unclean. This designation was not intended to describe their spiritual condition—they were not being judged by God. But they were called unclean and separated from the rest of the people in order to preserve the holy. To keep the rest of the community clean.

The good news is that this ritual unclean state was not permanent. There were procedures not only in how to separate people, but how to reintegrate them. The hope and goal of separation was always restoration. Full fellowship. When the condition changed, and the cleansing was complete, the priest was to announce they were clean.

I wonder, however, if there were aftereffects from being called unclean. Even though the priest had declared them clean, were there people afraid to shake hands, invite them over for dinner, greet them with a kiss? Was there an invisible scarlet ‘U” hung around their necks? We see in Acts just how seriously God’s people took clean and unclean foods. Even when God declared a food to be clean, some struggled to embrace them. How much more would this have been with people?

Application: What God has made clean, do not call common. Acts 10:15 What God has declared clean, is clean, whether I like it or not. Food, clothing, and yes, even people. If God declares them clean, either through ritual in the case of skin or regeneration in the case of a heart, I must also accept as clean. I cannot hold prejudices or withhold touch. I don’t consider myself that kind of person, but perhaps below the surface, I too struggle to embrace those whom God calls clean. Maybe I project that scarlet letter "U" on others who have genuinely been cleansed.

Prayer: God, I want to declare your power to cleanse by embracing what you embrace. Will you show me if there are areas or people or even people groups that you have cleansed in Christ, yet I hold back from. Will you open my eyes to any vestiges of legalism or judgmentalism?