Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

Romans 3:19-20

I did a “google search” on “the uses of a mirror.”  I was surprised at all the different ways mirrors get used. Obviously there are bathroom mirrors that help us with shaving, make up and so forth.  There are bedroom mirrors that help us make sure we have dressed ourselves correctly.  But there are also mirrors used in cameras, and telescopes. There are side view and rear view mirrors in cars.  Mirrors are used in periscopes.  They are used in flashlights, searchlights and spotlights.  The astronauts of Apollo 11 left a mirror on the moon to be used to measure the distance from the earth to the moon.  Dentists use mirrors when working on your teeth.  The list goes on and on.  Basically, however, all these uses can be narrowed down to one.  The use of a mirror is to reflect. 

That also is one of the chief uses of the law of God – to reflect.  When we look into the law, it reflects back to us who we really are.  It shows us our sin.  Just like a physical mirror reminds me that I need to lose weight, the law of God reminds me that I am not so good as I may pretend to be.  That’s the whole meaning of St. Paul’s words to the Romans in 3:19-20. “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

The question I want to pose today is this – What will you and I do about the reflection we see in the mirror of the law?  Will we be like the wicked queen in the children’s fairytale, the one who asked the mirror on the wall, “Who is the fairest of them all?”  When the mirror told her it was Snow White, the queens didn’t accept that truth. She tried to create her own truth.  She tired to kill Snow White.  That’s one way we react to the law.  We deny the truth about ourselves.  Or we see what we want to see. Remember the rich young man.  When he asked Jesus, “What must I do to be saved?”  Jesus, seeking to show the man that there was nothing he could do, recited the commandments to him.  Yet instead of seeing the true reflection of his sin, the rich young man patted himself on the back.  “All these I have done.”  Or will you to try to cover over the truth?  That’s the thing people do all the time when they look in the mirror.  They cover their blemishes with make-up, their pimples with cream, and their wrinkles with Botox.  Will you try to hide the truth, lie about your sin, or blame others?  John warns us about this – “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 

How much better it is to look into the mirror of God’s law and see the truth!  How much better it is to admit the truth… to confess the truth.  For then God will show us a different picture. He will turn our gaze from the ugly reflection of our sin, to the beautiful portrait of His love.  Having shown us our sin in the law, He will show us our Savior in the Gospel. He will take us to manger where He became one of us to be our savior. He will take us to the cross where He loved us so much that He gave up His life for our sins.  He will take us to the empty tomb and assure us that because He lives, we will live also.  He will bring us to His house to be reminded that at our baptisms He has washed away all our sin.   He will bring us to worship to hear the words of forgiveness spoken… the promise “that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sin and cleans us from all unrighteousness.”   He will bring us to His table that we might taste His forgiveness in His body and blood given in, with and under the bread and wine.  Having acknowledged the ugliness of our sin, God will show you and me the fairest of them all – He will show us Jesus who took the ugliness of our sin upon Himself, that we might be God’s beloved children – washed clean in His blood!