Diagnosing Impurity

The discussion of traditions and cleanness seems strange to modern ears. However, we just aren't familiar with the specific topic. We certainly are very aware of the thinking behind this Matt.15 and Mark 7 discussion. Perhaps if we can understand the dynamics of this discussion, we will be able to make some application to discussions we have. So here goes. Let's do some diagnostic work.

In the discourse between Jesus and the Jews' experts in law, there was a direct association between "unwashed" and "impure." A similar discourse in the first century centered around the correlation between being "uncircumcised" and being "unclean." Both had to do with the body of man. There is something that is wrong with the body, i.e. dirty hands and uncircumcised "you know what." This contamination of body was somehow, in their minds, contaminating the rest of the man (soul and spirit). But, we must keep in mind that this discussion is really not about germs. I am sure there were plenty of germs in the marketplace. When you get a lot of people together in close quarters (i.e. the cab of an airplane) you stand a much greater chance of picking up someone else's uncleanness. So we normally associate public places as more unclean than private places. But "germ" theory came much later. And I do not believe this discussion was about Jesus trying to change the practice of the experts. Here is what this exchange was about:

• What does God demand regarding uncleanness under the Law?
• How does something regarded as unclean cause the person who comes in contact with it to become unclean?
• Should these leaders be imposing a rule on others, trying to get others to conform to their sense of "holy", and making it a salvation issue?

I would point out that Peter was one of the accused. He obviously did not always wash his hands before eating. But, Peter was a stickler for Jewish ceremonial law. Read Acts 10-11 and Gal.1. Peter never ate anything unclean, even when God told him to. And, Peter had a lot of problems being around unclean Gentiles. So Peter was not unsympathetic to the idea of unclean things corrupting the person. Peter's sense of "well-being" was affected in both cases. He was not OK with eating pork, even when God told him it was OK. He was not comfortable in hanging with the Gentiles, even Gentile Christians, even when God told him it was cool. It goes back to what makes a person have well-being. We must be careful not to connect our well-being (I believe well-being and OK are defined by the more divine words Eternal Life) to anything as trivial as washed hands. It is surprising how someone who possesses true eternal life can be messed up so much over ceremonial questions as if if we nail down every action we will somehow become MORE OK. OK is OK. We are either OK or not OK, but a little hand sanitizer is not going to improve our relationship with the God of the universe. We need a much deeper cleansing than that to come into his presence. We have more to do in unpacking this text.