sin like scarlet; the color scarlet

It would seem, after hearing our first reading today, that sins in the bible are given various colors. And one of the most common color given to sin is scarlet - though your sins be like scarlet. What is scarlet? Scarlet is an orangish red color, the color of the blood of a living person. In the bible it is a color associated with particular sins, sins that could not be easily forgiven, sins that could not easily be forgotten. A scarlet stain after all is one of those stains too difficult to remove - blood stains are difficult to remove and so are wine stains. So it is with sins like scarlet. They refer to sins that could not easily be forgiven, sins that could not easily be forgotten, sins which we feel guilty of and ashamed of even after having confessed it several times. This happens and I have experienced it many times in the confessional, people confessing the same sin all over again, again and again even if the sin happened a very long time ago and has been confessed several times. It simply goes to show that there are sins that won’t leave us, sins that leave a mark in our mind and in our hearts, mistakes that we find difficult to forgive ourselves of. Have you experienced this? When the memory of that sin keeps coming back and sometimes we would even find ourselves biting our lips in regret or wanting to slap ourselves over and over again?


This goes to show that there are real sins, real sins that hound us, real sins that disturb us even if we do not believe in God or in some kind of objective morality. Human beings, it would seem are equipped with this mechanism, an innate or inborn mechanism that makes us avoid at all cost certain sins and certain mistakes in our lives. This in effect is an acknowledgement that there are sins that are just simply dirt consisting of dust and grime - sins that can easily be washed off. But there are sins too that mark us for life, sins like scarlet - too hard to forgive, too hard to forget and leave behind. Beware of sins like scarlet.
From my experience in the confessionals there are sins that simply won’t leave us. One is abortion. No assurance from the priest can assuage the guilt and every chance they go to confession the same sin will be confessed again and again, year after year. Another sin is in relationship either as couples or as parents to their children, or as children to their parents. This is another sin which I often find in the confessional that’s very hard to leave behind and forget especially when there is no longer hope of reaching out to the person offended.
Why am I telling you this? I just want to reiterate that there is such a thing as a sin like scarlet - too difficult to forgive, too difficult to forget. Be aware of sins like scarlet. Beware of sins like scarlet. Avoid sins, especially sins like scarlet.
So is there hope for us when our sins are like scarlet?
Sins like scarlet are sins we are powerless of - the damage has been done, we can no longer undo it. Wala na ta may mahimo. Wala na, tapos na, anhon mo pa. Sins like scarlet therefore are sins only God can redress, only God can make amends to. That is why in Jesus our sins were paid for “by the blood of the lamb.” The color of blood is scarlet. In the book of revelation for example the saints are robed in white, robes that were washed by the blood of the lamb.
There are things we can no longer do or undo for ourselves, sins in whose presence we can only heave a sigh of regret. That is why in the gospel we are enjoined to be humble. In the gospel we are called to acknowledge Christ as master because he will do for us what we can no longer undo for and by ourselves. This is how I would like to view confession - confession is a way of surrendering, a way of acknowledging that there have been things in my life that I can no longer undo and I am asking Jesus through the priest to undo these things for me. I could only kneel in humble submission, saying, Lord undo the things that I did.
Probably this song can help us in our reflection:
Only by grace can we enter; Only by grace can we stand; Not by our human endeavor; But by the blood of the lamb. The scarlet sins washed away only by the scarlet blood of the lamb.