Skip to main content

God as a Cleaner!

What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?
- JESUS

That statement is from Luke 15:8. Actually, my answer to the Lord's rhetorical question has always been no. I do not know such a woman. Not one who does all three things as stated. I can see why the woman lights the lamp (it is dark) and seeks diligently until she finds it (it is worth something). But I can't see why she decides to sweep the house in the middle of searching for a coin! And clearly late in the day or more likely at night!

As someone who grew up in a village, I struggle to even imagine these three actions taking place at once! The reason is obvious. Sweeping takes time and distracts from the purpose of searching. But not only that if it is not done properly, depending on what we are looking for, it even leads to mistakenly throwing away other things!

And yet this woman in the Lord's statement does just that. Has the Lord just included it for rhetorical flourish? Just as a piece of unnecessary detail that keeps the story flowing and helps us focus on the bigger point of his parable? Perhaps, but I am more inclined to think that the brevity of the parable (one the shortest parables) and the authorship alone are enough for us to take time out and ponder a bit further. Words in this parable appear to matter significantly.

Why is this woman sweeping? Is she killing two birds with one stone? Or is the woman too unfocused? And what is she sweeping? The answer of course is that the house is dirty. We sweep to clean dust. The lost coin is among the dirt. It is a dirty house and in need of a good broom. This woman not only wishes to find the coin but bring order and cleanliness to her house.

The house here represents God's world. The image of God as a woman looking for a coin is one of a God who pursues the lost sinner against all odds. The image of a woman sweeping the house therefore becomes an image of a God who passionately seeks to save the sinner and has time for dealing with the dirt or scum of the earth. God is in every sense of the word is the ultimate cleaner or street sweeper! And this is precisely what God says through Zephaniah in his opening words of the prophecy :
I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” says the Lord. “I will sweep away people and animals alike. I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish in the sea. I will reduce the wicked to heaps of rubble, and I will wipe humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord. (Zephaniah 1:2, 3)
But lest we think it is all just about sweeping, God ends by saying through Zephaniah :
For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. On that day I will gather you together and bring you home again. I will give you a good name, a name of distinction, among all the nations of the earth, as I restore your fortunes before their very eyes. I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Zephaniah 3:17, 20)
Like the woman in the lost coin, the God of Zephaniah saves and rejoices over His people with songs! And yet He is also the God who sweeps away the wicked. Next time you see your mother or sister or wife cleaning the house, it must be a reminder of this great God who sweeps the rubble of sin away. And yes, even street cleaners and bin collectors are images of a God who will one day clean our world and make all things new.

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2013
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I am what I am by Gloria Gaynor

Beverly Knight closed the opening ceremony of the Paralympics with what has been dubbed the signature tune of the Paralympics. I had no idea Ms Knight is still in the singing business. And clearly going by the raving reviews she will continue to be around. One media source says her performance was so electric that "there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen as she sang the lyrics to the song and people even watching at home felt the passion in her words" . The song was Gloria Gaynor's I am what I am . Clearly not written by Gloria Gaynor but certainly musically owned and popularized by her. It opens triumphantly: I am what I am / I am my own special creation / So come take a look / Give me the hook or the ovation / It's my world that I want to have a little pride in / My world and it's not a place I have to hide in / Life's not worth a damn till you can say I am what I am The words “I am what I am” echo over ten times in the song. A bold declaration that she ...
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →

Trusting God, By Jerry Bridges (A Review)

Trust is the bedrock of human relations. It is a necessity in a world of finite creatures. We do not know everything and we are powerless over many of the events that occur in our lives. We depend on others to make life work. We cannot afford not to trust. Trust deepens us as individuals by bringing us into mutually satisfying relationships. It enables us to know, love and learn from each other. The tragedy of life is that the one person who we can truly depend on and deserves all our trust, is also the person we struggle to put our trust in. When it comes to trusting God, we are all bankrupt. This poverty is most acute when we go through pain and adversity. Jerry Bridges’ Trusting God aims to help us take a fresh look at God. To help restore our confidence in the goodness and sovereignty of God. This issue is important because though many of us claim to trust God, our thoughts and actions speak otherwise. In our private moments we often ask: how can we trust a God who is supposedly ...
KEEP READING →

Living in contradiction

As I was growing up in India, I read a story about a man who had two idols in his home. One was large and rather fierce looking. The other was small, with a cheery face. Every day, morning and night, the man would carry out his worship rituals — placing fruit offerings before the idols and chanting hymns, while his son watched with great curiosity. Finally his son said, “Why are you talking to stones? These are lifeless things. They can’t speak or move or do anything, yet you spend all this time every day doing what you do.” The father grew very angry and reprimanded his son. “Don’t you dare speak that way! These are not just stones! These are our gods! We worship them, and they protect us.” The son realized he had touched a raw nerve and wisely decided to push the issue no further. But one day, in the father’s absence, the son took a big stick and smashed the little idol to pieces. Then he took the stick and placed it in the hands of the big idol. When evening came, his father walke...
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →