Washing Your Hands

Good Morning and welcome to another week of church here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we can gather together and worship this morning.

Of course we know that we can’t ever seem to escape Covid and the talk of Covid. At times it weighs heavy on us. I was reading the passage of scripture for this week and i could’t help but think about one of the most interesting things that has come about from Covid.

If you you can’t figure out based on the title what the most interesting thing is i would be worried. I must confess that the amount of hand washing that has come about because of Covid is interesting. I remember for the longest time last year hearing people say i wash my hands more often now. It made me ask the question.

Were you not washing your hands before?

Now admittedly I also increased my hand washing this past year but because i started working in food industry and that always requires more hand washing. Yet this idea of washing our hands was one that came to the for front a lot. This basic hygienic idea was even more important for us in light of everything going on. I have to admit that i am also now very much aware of when people leave a public bathroom and they didn’t wash their hands. It was bad before its worse now.

Yet, this idea of basic hygiene is pretty common for us in our Western culture. It is one of the advancements that our culture and society has made that has been an important one to our extended life spans and living. Yet, hygiene and these kinds of practices were not always the norm and what is interesting were a mark of a different culture.

Mark 7:1–5 NIV

1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

Ceremonial Washing

This whole argument that breaks out between Jesus and the pharisees is an interesting one. It reminds me of some of the said arguments that we see today but at the root of it there is more to this idea of washing than simply Hygiene.

One could read this passage and think that it was simply about practicing good hygiene but they would be mistaken.

When the passage references a defiled hand makes us think that they were dirty or had been covered in some kind of bodily discharge and needed to be washed. It draws thoughts that the disciples were just dirty people. Yet, it wasn’t as simple as that understanding.

Originally in the Torah, the idea of hand cleansing was originally only assigned to the priest as they entered the tabernacle. Or if someone touched a bodily discharge of some form which yes is a form of good hygiene.

Yet, as with some traditions as humans we like to expand on these ideas. We love to make more of simple actions than is always necessary.

For the Pharisees and others in the Jewish community they quickly expanded the idea of defilement to be more than just bodily fluid. If they came into contact with a Gentile, Samaritan, and any other common folk they must also wash. The list grew and grew.

The list grew to include any human excrement, women after child birth, corpses, carrion, creeping things, idols, lepers, Samaritans, and Gentiles.

Conveniently these were all things that we know the disciples along with Jesus encountered through the Gospel.

Now again this idea should be clear that this wasn’t a simple matter of washing ones hands the rituals were more involved to become clean from these actions. Basic Hygiene was not the main goal. I am sure that the disciples given their background would be participators of good hygiene.

The truth is that this was a way for the Jewish people to convey a distinction between themselves and others. In many was this would be used to segregate, and discriminate against others in their world. It became a position of power.

in Fact one Jewish sect took it so far that they even started viewing other Jewish sects and people as defiled.

Warping a tradition

This happens still to this day in the church. We have certain things within the church that become elevated beyond their original intention or purpose. One of my favorites in the history of the church is the Pulpit. Now don’t get me wrong there are nothing wrong with pulpits. For a long time they were an important part of the worship space within the church building. There are many reasons for one and why to have one. Yet, I want you to answer this question honestly.

What is the purpose of a pulpit?

Is the Pulpit mentioned in the New Testament?

Well the truth is that the earliest known reference to the use of a pulpit was in the writings of Cyprian in 250 A.D.

For the first 200 years a pulpit wasn’t every mentioned. This is mostly because early Christian churches meet in homes. No formalized building exsisted. it wasn’t until we started building churches and we started to merge elements of the temple into our worship spaces that the pulpit really developed. If i am really honest the main purpose than of the pulpit was to hold the scriptures while there were being read.

So at the end of the day what is the purpose of the Pulpit?

To hold my notes and the scriptures.

Yet, the removal of the pulpit is one that can be marked with perilous danger for a pastor if you aren’t careful in some churches. It could be viewed as disrespectful to God’s house and sinful to remove it. Yet, again it isn’t in the scriptures It is an item that holds historical value but not one of spiritual value if we are really honest. Yet it was elevated a spiritual status in the church.

In many ways this is what the pharisees had done with ceremonial washing. Jesus had an interesting response to though them.

Mark 7:6–7 NIV

6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’

Jesus’ Response

Hypocrites

What an interesting term. It is one we hear often. Yet in this incident when Jesus refers tot he Pharisees as “Hypocrites” he is taking the term from the theater. This idea means to play a part on stage. The word “Hypocrite” came to mean in this incident someone who acts a role without sincerity, or a pretender.

These teachings were rules that were created by men. They observed them and practiced them and elevated them further than their original intention. That is the thing about the church you can start to look tat things and many ideas and traditions are rooted in a strong principal or measure of scripture, and or the Law. Yet, over the years they are changed and adjusted to suit the preferences of man and to create a way to separate ourselves as a group of believers.

In many ways we elevate these “traditions” to a place of an idol in our world.

The pharisees became so entrenched in their practice of human rules and following the “Law” that they lost sight of why they were following the Law. In fact they did it so much they couldn’t even recognize who Jesus was and the fact that the Son of God was standing right in front of them.

The Pharisees became so focused on the outward appearance they lost sight of the inward apperance.

Mark 7:20–23 NIV

20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

The Heart of the Matter

The truth of the matter is that all sins originate not as some external object or things that enters us and causes sin but it is the internal struggle to participate in things that we now are contrary to God’s will that lead to sin. The truth is that if we are not careful the evil things of this world are born in our heart and then are shown out in this world as we live. we aren’t tainted by being in contact with people who might be sinning. We aren’t hopelessly lost if we interact with others in the world.

Now before i exapnd on that too much let me be very clear. There are some ways that we must protect ourselves. The greatest example that any Pastor can use is that of an alcoholic. Someone who struggles with Alcohol and the dangers of alcohol should not put themselves in a position to endanger themselves with unnecessary temptation. An alcoholic should probably not be a part of a Bar ministry if they are not ready for that kind of temptation. It doesn’t mean they never can be around alcohol but they must weigh those decisions out carefully.

The same truth can go for other sins. A young man or women struggling with Sexual immorality should not put themselves into situations that they would be tempted to commit the sins in their heart that they know they should avoid. This means at times we may have to change who we interact with and what we do. This isn’t always easy but sometimes it is necessary.

It doesn’t mean that all Christians stop interacting with the people that others may need to stop interacting with. The truth is that we still need to share the message with everyone we can no matter what their situation and that is important so that we can bring the gospel to everyone. If we avoided all sinners because we were afraid of being defiled than the Gospel wouldn’t spread.

There are going to be times that we are uncomfortable because we don’t know how to handle the lifestyles of others. Yet, we need to be reminded that it is the Spirit’s job to convict and challenge others of their spiritual state it is not our responsiblity. Instead we are called to share the message and we are called to live our lives in a way that Honors God.

Conclusion

The church has changed a lot in the last few decades as we continue to wrestle with our place in this world. We have changed many things and some of these things are important. At times it is challenging and it makes us feel like we don’t recognize the church that we attended as the church we used to attended. At the end of the day though the truth of the matter is that with time comes change and that is enevitable. Yet, the truth remains that if we keep our hearts and minds focusd on God than we know we are in a position of honoring him and living a life that we don’t need to worry about our state of cleanliness. But always remember please wash your hands.

Let’s Pray.