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THE LINEN LOINCLOTH
Thus said the
Lord to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth, and put it
on your loins, but do not dip it in water.” So I bought a
loincloth according to the word of the Lord and put it on my
loins. And the word of the Lord came to me a second time,
saying, “Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and
go now to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the
rock.” So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord
commanded me. And after many days the Lord said to me, “Go now
to the Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I
commanded you to hide there.” Then I went to the Euphrates and
dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden
it. But now the loincloth was ruined; it was good for nothing.
Then the word
of the Lord came to me: Thus says the Lord: “Just so I will ruin
the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil
people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their
own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and
worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for
nothing. For as the loincloth clings to one’s loins, so I made
the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to
me, says the Lord, in order that they might be for me a people,
a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen.”
“Don’t wash your dirty linen in public,” my
mother would say. Don’t tell your faults and failures. Don’t
reveal problems or concerns in your family, business or country.
Keep quiet.
Through Jeremiah, the Lord calls people to
account: “You became dirty useless linen. You stubbornly went
your own way, forsaking God’s values.” God says, “I created you
to cling, true to me.”
Jeremiah acts out the message. Sadly, he
warns of consequences, national crisis, Babylon’s takeover,
Judean leaders and people deported to exile. Jeremiah does not
keep quiet. He airs dirty linen in public.
We are in distressing economic and global
times. Personal and public faults, failures and needs plague us.
God’s Word and Jeremiah’s actions speak to us.
My mother said, “Keep quiet.” But if I
don’t reveal my difficulties, others cannot care and encourage
me. If we keep silent, seeing hurts or wrongs, nothing changes.
It gets worse.
We need washing! At the Last Supper Jesus
washed Peter’s feet in caring love. Jesus said, “Unless I wash
you, you have no share in me.” Peter replied, “Lord, wash my
feet, my hands and my head!” We seek God’s grace to come clean
with God and one another.
Gracious God, wash and renew us. Make us
fresh and clean, that we may live according to your will, to
your glory, sharing your everlasting love. Amen
The Rev. Sally Fahrenthold
Retired
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