Cleanliness & Godliness

During the Covid-19 pandemic, most people worried about cleanness. You know & I know, there were germaphobes before, but once officials reported that touching, sneezing, coughing, and even singing spread Covid, we thought about contamination. Masks, social distancing, lockdowns, and spraying Lysol were supposed to slow down Covid-19.

Covid made cleanliness important. Handwashing was imperative. Hand-cleanser was everywhere. Plexiglass shields became normal at cash registers. Even at worship services, we used “clean” pens to sign in, then put pens in “unclean” basket.

The fear of catching Covid 19 gave us a taste of the anxiety the Pharisees and teachers of the law for ritually clean and unclean things. The Pharisees asked Jesus why his disciples didn’t wash their hands before eating. It’s about ritual purity.

If Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher of God’s law, why didn’t he follow the tradition of the elders and ensure his disciples washed. Who knows what they touched in the marketplace?

Categories of clean and unclean are laid out in the OT books of Lev. and Deut. Mold, mucus, pus, blood, geckos, pigs, dogs, undertakers, and soldiers can make you religiously unclean. Washing isn’t b/c of germs but b/c of ritual contamination.

Teachers of the law took God’s OT laws seriously but were misdirected. The tradition of the elders is an oral tradition of God’s law that some rabbis attribute to Moses. Later it was written down as the Talmud. The trouble is: some teachers of the law valued the tradition of the elders over what God actually says in the Bible leading to thin ice spiritually. That’s why Jesus warns that the Pharisees are blind guides.

Jesus publicly pulls apart one example where the tradition of the elders turns God’s commands up-side down:

You can get a reputation for holiness by devoting money or food or your spare room to God. It smacks of pride, but OK.

Remember, there’s no pension plan or old age security in 1st-century Galilee. Keep participating in life of household.

Support for aging parents is obeying the 5th commandment, “Honour your father & mother.”

Where the tradition of the elders gets weird is when you dedicate certain amounts money, food, or your spare room to God instead of using them to help your parents. You get a reputation for holiness and your parents get nothing!

The tradition of the elders turns God’s law upside-down!

Do you think God is honoured by your gifts of money or burnt offerings when you leave your parents hungry, with a thread-bare coat, and w/ a leaky roof? No wonder Jesus quotes OT:

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Matthew 15:8 (NIV)

The problem is that for all their sacrifices and work to obey God’s commands, the Pharisees and teachers of the law miss the point. ‌They seek an easier way to attain holiness. They aren’t honest about the sin in their hearts. Lower the standards and everyone wins. It’s always a temptation!

Ritual handwashing before meals is not in God’s law. It’s a tradition of the elders, probably borrowed from the temple. You can read in Exodus how bronze lavers or basins were part of the furniture of the tabernacle so priests could purify themselves before they offer sacrifices on God’s altar. In I Kings 7, when the 1st temple is built, Solomon had 10 huge bronze basins set on elaborate bronze stands in the temple.

But God’s law in Ex., Lev., Num., & Deut. doesn’t say anything about washing hands before meals. It’s extra. It’s a man-made measurement of holiness.

And, truth be told, it’s easier to wash your hands than to avoid filthy language or impure thoughts, isn’t it?

The elders’ tradition could lead to self-righteousness: I wash my hands before meals. It’s doable. I can even take pride in being more faithful in handwashing than Jesus’ disciples. If religion is a competition, I win! Washing hands at meals is easier than loving God 100% and loving neighbour as yourself.

That’s the danger of the Pharisee’s teaching: it waters down God’s standard for holiness. It gives an unrealistic hope of being holy w/o a miracle.

Jesus puts the crowd on the right track:

Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them. Matthew 15:10b–11 (NIV)

The idea was new and foreign to the disciples. They were so used to the traditions of the elders, they didn’t get what Jesus was saying at first. So Jesus explains:

“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?

But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” Matthew 15:16–20 (NIV)

Jesus talked about this earlier in his ministry.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Mt 5, Jesus reminds us: murder is not just stabbing someone w/ a knife; disrespecting your neighbour w/ unkind names is also murderous.

He also says adultery is not just sleeping with someone you’re not married to. Looking at someone lustfully is also adultery.

Jesus doesn’t talk about theft in Mt. 5. But: Do you think theft is a sin only if you take something that isn’t yours? Does theft include wanting something that isn’t yours – or is that covered by the 10th commandment, “You shall not covet.”

What about false testimony and slander?

9th commandment: “You shall not give false testimony.”

“Do not go about spreading slander among your people.” Lev. 19: 16a

Saying untrue things about someone, or even true things to make them look bad, does that come from a pure heart?

Or does it come from our sinful nature, our dark inclinations, the part of us that is okay with disrespecting others as long as we look good? When does false testimony and slander fall under Jesus’ definition of murder?

Jesus’ teaching gets uncomfortable b/c Jesus tells his disciples:

The things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. Matthew 15:18 (NIV)

We find a similar warning in the NT book of James:

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. James 1:26 (NIV)

This is challenging b/c all of us struggle to tame our tongues. Later in his book, James writes:

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. . . . My brother and sisters, this should not be. James 3:7–9, 10b (NIV)

Here’s the challenge: all of us find ourselves saying and doing things that make us unclean and impure in God’s sight.

As our ruler and judge, God holds us accountable for the wrong we’ve done. The Lord judges according to his own standard of righteousness and holiness, not the tradition of the elders or the opinions of our culture. When we are defiled by our sin-stained words and actions, God holds us accountable.

God can’t wrap his holy arms around people defiled by sin. We’re exiled from his kingdom and estranged from his family. There’s no room at his table for people defiled by sin. Sin-stained people are left out, where there is, in Matthew’s phrase: weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But do not despair. We celebrated God’s forgiveness of our sin at the Lord’s table. Although our sins are as red as crimson, God has made us whiter than snow. How?

Jesus did not just teach about holiness – he practises what he preached. He is completely human, but he lived up to God’s standard of righteousness, holiness, and obedience.

That’s not all. If you’re reading Matthew’s gospel with the rest of the congregation, you heard Jesus’ warning on Thursday:

Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Matthew 16:21 (NIV)

We remember those events on Good Friday.

Jesus died on the cross. On the cross, Jesus, God the Son, took the punishment for our sins upon himself, enduring the punishment for sin that would have destroyed us. He died the death we deserve, so that on the third day, when Jesus was raised to life you were raised to life with him.

By faith in Jesus, all your sins are forgiven by Jesus’ crucifixion. All Jesus’ obedience is credited to your account. With Jesus’ resurrection, all creation is being renewed. It’s the beginning of a new creation. It’s a new exodus from slavery. It’s a return from captivity! The Church – among God’s chosen people – is where the renewal of human culture is most clearly displayed.

The Church is God’s new creation. With the HS’s help, by studying God’s word together, and by encouraging each other to control our tongues and our behaviour, by offering forgiveness in all cases of offense, the church is where God has begun renewing, purifying, and cleansing human culture. If the kingdom of heaven is an iceberg, the church is the visible part!

Obedience to God’s instructions for holiness starts with just a handful of disciples in room that first Easter evening, shocked and filled with joy because Jesus rose from the tomb. From there, news of the kingdom of heaven has spread through Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

God’s goal is for every person around the globe to hear about Jesus’ victory over sin and death and to respond w/ faith. Every person, every household, every culture can be transformed and renewed by Jesus’ death and resurrection. The kingdom is coming! All things will be made new!

That’s one of the reasons that Jesus doesn’t have patience with teaching mere human rules. We’re called to strive for whole-hearted obedience to all that he has taught. Love for God and our neighbours is the measurement of obedience.

Our behaviour as believers, our behaviour together as the church, is meant to be a beacon of light for the rest of society. It’s what Jesus said in Mt 5:

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. . . . In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14, 16 (NIV)

We strive for holiness, b/c we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, part of God’s family, and members of Christ’s body.

The church is meant to be a foretaste of the coming kingdom.