Communion Meditation

February 2026

Well, I know you’re all sick of snow. But I can’t help it. I have to talk about the snow. I don’t want to tell you how much I enjoy the snow, because that will just irritate you. But you won’t be able to get mad about what I’m going to tell you about snow this morning, because it comes from the Bible.

When I think of the geography of Israel, snow is not what comes to mind. I think of a dry, arid land. I think of the river Jordan. I think of the dead sea. I think of vineyards, cucumber fields, and olive trees. But not snow. Nevertheless, snow was a regular feature of Israel, especially in the north. But even in Jerusalem, snow would not have been unusual.

There is no question that freshly fallen snow is beautiful. I know many of you would prefer to see it in a picture frame– not out of your picture window.  But it is beautiful. When the sun comes up on a field of freshly fallen snow, it is blindingly white. Radiant. Glorious.

In Psalm 51, David is repenting of a personal, horrific sin. He had lived in denial of his sin for a season, and perhaps the dawning realization of his wickedness weighed even heavier for the months of cold-hearted denial that had characterized David. Imagine: the man after God’s own heart failing to express any kind of remorse for adultery and murder!

But then it hit home. The prophet’s word penetrated David’s armor. The world turned upside down and rather than a righteous king patiently bearing the weight of the nation, David saw himself as the lowest of sinners. He was sick. Sick in his heart. Sick of his sin. Sick of his pride. Sick of his lust. Sick of his cowardice. And truly, David was guilty in every sense of the word. David could have drowned his guilt in wine and strong drink. But he didn’t. He could have rushed off to battle and lost himself in the busy-ness of the business of war. But he didn’t. He could have ended his life rather than face the consequences of his evil. But he didn’t .

He turned to the God whose holiness he had violated. Psalm 51 is his prayer of repentance. And in that prayer, he remembers the fresh fallen snow and thinks, “I want to be that clean. That pure. That holy.” Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow!

We know that that God wants to wash man from his sin as much as any man wants to be washed from his sin. Isaiah speaks the words of Yahweh to Israel: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow! But it wasn’t until the Son broke his body on the cursed tree and spilled his blood for the sins of the world that we knew HOW we could be forgiven. How we could be whiter than snow.

So we eat, and we drink, and we remember that He has washed us with his blood. Though our sins were like scarlet, we are whiter than snow.