And Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who went one day to do his laundry. He bundled his whites into the washing machine with a powder that promised to wash them whiter and a fabric conditioner guaranteeing  ‘the soft smell of spring’.   “An hour later the man returned to find that his whites were indeed clean, soft and fragrant as a meadow in spring. Less delightfully, the man’s whites had all gone pink.” And Jesus said unto them, “Verily, the kingdom of heaven is like the red sock hidden in the white wash, that turns the whole load pink.”

 

Jesus told parables about everyday experiences to make important points. Had he been born two thousand years later he might well have told the parable of the red sock. It’s a modern version of the parable of the yeast that works its way invisibly through the dough. Elsewhere he calls us the salt of the earth. The recurring theme is that a Godly minority can influence a majority on two conditions:

There are many who still believe that we should divorce ourselves from society in order to be holy. But our calling is the exact reverse – our fruitfulness actually depends upon intimate interaction with the world, like salt on food, yeast in bread and a red sock in a white wash. In our fear we may think we are more like a white sock in a colored wash – unable to influence and in danger of being permanently stained by such an alien environment. Hence we stick together with others like us and try not to mix. But Paul says that the one in us is GREATER than the one in the world. And Jesus’ parables on the subject all teach the power of the lesser to overcome the greater.

 

However, if you are into 24-7 you probably already agree that we need to engage and interact with society and that it is possible to be a true Christian in the midst of the real world. If that is your conviction then you – like me – probably need to be provoked in another way by these parables. Because, of course, we are not called merely to be a better bit of dough in the midst of a load more dough. Neither are we called to be a tastier bit of food on the plate, nor a white sock in a white wash. Our impact is dependent upon us being different in essence from the environment in which we mix, to be alternative, other. This is the meaning of the word ‘holy’ – to be ‘set apart’. We are called to be utterly present – as was Jesus – and yet to be culturally irrelevant, controversial and strange in the ways we think, act and speak. As surely as we belong in the mix of the real world we are different from it too – aliens in the world.