Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [new wine]; old things are passed away; behold, all things become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Many are still trying to deal with the shame of their disasters that are consequences of sin by either doing or not doing certain things. In a very real sense you are still trying to wash yourself. And you know the washing is failing. You sense that it isn’t enough and never will be enough. The ceremonial stone washing jars are getting closer and closer to empty. You are wondering what will happen when the jars are empty.
Remember the wedding at Cana? Jesus turned water into wine, but first he had the servants draw water from the well to fill the ceremonial stone washing jars. What you need is not another jar of ceremonial washing water. What you need is a well that gives forth life giving, joy filling wine.
Jesus knows this. So after filling the ceremonial stone washing jars full to the brim with water he tells the servants to draw again from the well. This time they take the water to the master of the ceremony. Amazingly it is now a well giving forth the best wine.
Now there is no wine without the blood. Jesus told the woman of Samaria that the water he would give her would become a spring in her welling up onto eternal life. That doesn’t happen unless Jesus completes his obedience and goes to the cross. And he does!
We are still trying to wash our hands to get rid of the dark stain of shame on our fingers because somehow we are still trying to hang onto the lie deep in our hearts – and it is sinful to hang on to it – the lie that the key to joy is for me to take care of myself. The lie that I need to wash and wash and wash and wash and wash to take care of my shame and find joy.
It is a futile exercise. We know, but we struggle to embrace, the biblical truth expressed in the line of the hymn. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”