Clean Clothes

A man stands in a courtroom. His clothes are covered in filth. Beside him stands an accuser, ready to list everything he has done wrong. And the man has nothing to say.

We are back with the prophet Zechariah, around five hundred and twenty years before Jesus, in a Jerusalem slowly rebuilding after the exile. The people have a new temple to build and a new high priest to lead their worship. His name is Joshua, son of Jehozadak. His father was carried off to Babylon. The high priest was supposed to stand before God on behalf of the whole nation, pure and holy. But the people coming home from exile knew their history. They had been sent away because of sin. Could God really accept them, and their priest, again? One night, Zechariah is shown the answer.

In the vision Zechariah sees Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. And standing at his right hand is Satan, a name that means the accuser, ready to accuse him. It looks like a trial, and the case against Joshua seems strong. Because Joshua is clothed in filthy garments. Not just a little dusty. The Hebrew word means foul, disgusting. That is what sin looks like in God's presence. But before the accuser can say a word, the Lord speaks. “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Yes, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn't this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?” Joshua is like a stick snatched from the fire just in time. God has rescued him on purpose.

Then the angel gives an order to those standing before him. “Take the filthy garments off him.” And to Joshua he says, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.” Zechariah is so caught up in it that he calls out, “Let them set a clean turban on his head!” And they do. They put a clean turban on his head and clothe him in clean clothes, while the angel of the Lord stands by. Joshua did not wash himself. He did not earn the new clothes. They were given to him.

Now the angel gives Joshua a charge. If you walk in my ways and keep my instructions, you will look after my house and my courts. And then a promise about the future. “Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign. For behold, I will bring forth my servant, the Branch.” A stone is set before Joshua with seven eyes on it, and God says, “I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” And the vision ends with a picture of peace. In that day, everyone will invite his neighbour to sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree.

The clean turban mattered. In the law of Moses, the high priest's turban carried a plate of pure gold engraved with the words Holiness to the Lord. He wore it on his forehead when he served, so that he could carry the people's guilt before God and the people would be accepted. A dirty turban meant a priest who could not do his job. A clean one meant the way to God was open again.

Clean clothes. You can read it in Zechariah chapter three, verses one to ten. God answered the accuser not by pretending the dirt was not there, but by taking it away. Christians at Christmas remember the promise of the Branch, and a later promise that sin would be removed in a single day, and they see it fulfilled in Jesus. So here is a question to carry with you. God took away Joshua's filthy clothes and gave him clean ones. What would you like God to make clean in your life?