Pentecost XII, Cycle B

"On the Washing of Hands"

August 31, 2003

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Lessons:  Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9;  James 1:17-27;  St. Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

     I often wonder, when reading our gospel text for this morning, if there are astute children present, who will try to twist this lesson just slightly, to their own advantage.  It would happen something like this.  After church, the whole family would crowd into the car, and head for home.  While the parents prepare Sunday lunch, the kids change their clothes, and run outside for a few minutes on the swing, or in the sandbox, or riding the scooter, before being called in to eat.  Soon, the mom or the dad shouts out the backdoor, "Lunch's ready!"  And the kids run in, and quickly take their place at the table.  At which time, the parents say, as might be expected--"Into the bathroom, and wash your hands before we eat!"  To which one of the children replies, "But, didn't you hear the gospel lesson today?  Jesus and his disciples didn't wash their hands--they ate with defiled hands, so why shouldn't I?" 

     Of course, that would be a masterful use of scripture, and not a bad attempt at getting by without washing one's hands.  It would indicate one was truly listening during church, and it would suggest one was simply trying to follow the practice of Jesus and his disciples!  A masterful approach--except that it's mistaken.  So, before any of our young people attempt that at home, let's clear up any confusion. 

     First, what the Pharisees and Jesus are disputing,  is not the ordinary washing of hands before  meals.   For Judaism, from the beginning, obeying the Law of God meant obeying the Ten Commandments, and the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament.  For centuries, this was enough, in that included in the Torah were general principles and specific instructions that guided the faithful Jew in an obedient life.  However, as time went on, in the fourth and fifth centuries before Christ, as people became more and more legalistic in their thinking, wanting God's commandments to be spelled out so that they could know when they were obeying, and when they weren't, there came into being a class of legal experts whom we know as the scribes.  These were basically, lawyers, who delved into every aspect of God's commandments and sought to apply them to every concrete, practical question in life.  They took God's commandments in the Torah, and amplified, expanded, and broke them down until they comprised thousands and thousands of little rules and regulations addressing every possible action and every possible situation in life.  For a time, they were considered "oral law", in contrast to God's written Law in Scripture.  In time, these came to be known as the "tradition of the elders", or the Great Tradition.  This is the tradition that the Pharisees are arguing with Jesus about in our passage from Mark.  What they are arguing about is not, whether one should wash one's hands before eating, but whether the tradition of the elders--the oral tradition of the scribes, interpreting and expanding God's commandments, should be binding on all people.  That's where the argument began--but, what they ended up arguing about, was whether or not, as the Pharisees believed, religion consisted of keeping these rules and regulations! 

     As the oral tradition regarding these actions were written down, in the late third century B.C., they increased in importance, until by the time of Jesus, the Jewish religion, in so far as the Pharisees and scribes understood it, was nothing more than keeping these thousands upon thousands of rules and regulations.  What mattered to them, was not a right relationship with God,  not purity of heart and mind, not an inner transformation that issued forth in repentance, forgiveness and new life in God--what mattered was simply keeping the tradition of the elders.  Otherwise, they felt, how would one know if one was pleasing God?  The rules and regulations of the Great Tradition was aimed at helping obedient Jews know if they were being totally, completely, 100% obedient!  Because obedience pleased God, and if they could look back on their day, and conclude that they had kept all the rules and regulations of the tradition of the elders, they would know they had pleased God, and now deserved God's favor. 

     You see, then, why they were so, upset, incensed, at Jesus and his disciples, when they so flagrantly violated the traditions of the elders.  This upstart, Jesus, was being called a rabbi--a teacher;  hundreds if not thousands were following him.  He was becoming the most popular religious leader in Judaism--and what he was teaching was in direct opposition to what the Pharisees and scribes were teaching!  So, to say they were watching him, was an understatement.  With the scrutiny Jesus and his disciples were being subjected to, it was inevitable that they were going to catch Jesus, and find something that they could accuse him of, to try to discredit him before the people.  And we see that happen over and over again in the gospels.  In this instance, it's with regard to the ritual, ceremonial washing of hands.

     In times past, only those who lived in the cities, and were part of the elite, were expected to keep the tradition of the elders--because ritual washing of hands, according to these regulations, was not possible for fishermen and farmers and sheep-herders.  Before eating, these common folk would surely have washed their hands in a lake or stream, or brushed them off on their clothes.  As water was scarce and valuable, they did the best they could with regard to cleanliness and hygiene.  But only among the elite, was there water reserved only for this ritual purification.  It had to be pure water, kept in a ritually purified jar.  If the jar was touched by someone with ritually unclean hands, the water was then impure, and the water had to be poured out, the jar ritually purified, clean water poured into it, and then covered, to make sure no impurity fell into it.  THEN, to ritually cleanse one's hands, you first had to hold your hand upright, fingertips in the air, and have water poured down the hands, at least to the wrist.  With a closed fist, you scrubbed your other hand.  After that, your hands and the water on your hands was unclean, because it was touched with an unclean hand--so, next, you had to point your hands, fingertips down, and have ritually clean water poured over them so that it ran down and off your fingers.  Then, you couldn't touch another person, a part of your body, or any food or utensil that hadn't been ritually cleansed.  If you did, you had to start the ritual all over again.  Now, as you can see, a scribe or a Pharisee, a member of the elite, wealthy class in a city, with servants to help you, would make it a full-time job, fulfilling the tradition of the elders.  The common folk--craftsmen and laborers, servants and housekeepers,  an itinerant preacher and his followers, would never have been able to keep these thousands of rules and regulations--they did well to focus on God's written word, without paying heed to these human interpretations.  But that didn't keep the Pharisees and scribes from criticizing Jesus and his disciples.  And that didn't keep Jesus from responding, harshly, to the Pharisees and scribes.   For in response to their criticism, Jesus calls the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites, which translates, "play-actors", who abandon the commandment of God and hold fast to human tradition.  In response, Jesus calls the crowd standing around together, and uses the Pharisees and scribes as an object lesson, telling them, as Isaiah prophesied, that honoring God with one's lips--with words only,  is not what true worship and devotion is about;  nor is true obedience to God, merely keeping human teachings.  No, Jesus says, honoring God and worshiping God is not about external obedience, while your heart is far from God--true honor and worship, is a matter of the heart.  For true honor and worship comes from the heart, just as from the heart, comes evil!  As Martin Luther wrote in the Large Catechism:  "whatever your heart clings to and trusts in, that is thy God".

     And that, is what, at least some of the Pharisees and scribes never understood.  And that, is what many of us, still don't understand.  That what matters, is not an outward show of religion--not just showing up for church when convenient, but having your heart far from God;  not just having a plastic fish on your bumper, while you cuss out the fellow that pulled out in front of you;  not just having a church marriage, while you flirt with the women at work as soon as you get back from your honeymoon.  What matters to God, is abiding in him, and He in you--having God near to you--in your heart and life, in a way that you fight against all that would defile you:  that you fight against, fornication--in Greek, "porneia"--every kind of sexual vice;  that you fight against adultery, theft, murder, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness--or morally unrestrained sexual behavior, envy of others, slander of others, pride, folly.  What matters to God, is abiding in him, and He in you--having God near to you--in your heart and life, in a way that you strive to live a godly life--not just godly in an outward, showy way--but godly, in a way that your godliness grows out of Jesus' presence in you, that first, purifies your heart and mind, inwardly, and then, flows out, in words and actions that are clean and pure, toward God and your neighbor.  As Christians, this is what we are to be concerned about;  not just an outward appearance of godliness--but an inner experience of God in Jesus Christ, that transforms the heart, so that more and more, with all our lives, we hold to the commandments of God;  so that more and more, with all our lives, we honor God, and praise God, and obey God, from the inside, out.  That is what Jesus was trying to tell the Pharisees and scribes, and that's what Jesus is trying to tell us, today.  That being clean and pure, spiritually, doesn't have anything to do with washing your hands--but with the cleansing of the heart, so that, your purity and godliness come, from the inside, out.  Which means, you still have to wash your hands, before you have lunch today!

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.