August 23, 2015

Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 

So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 

Jesus said to Pharisees, 

“Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” 

Then Jesus called the crowd again and said to them, 

“Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” 

***

You know there is social faux pas involved in not washing your hands when they created an entire Senfield episode around it. Jerry is at his girlfriend’s father’s restaurant, both men are in the bathroom, and the father doesn’t wash his hands before cooking. Therefore Jerry doesn't eat, and subsequently his girlfriend dumps him. Similarly, and less comical is the truly life or death consequence of those in hospitals transmitting infection if they don’t wash their hands from room to room, or from outside in. I know we are always supposed to be against the scribes and the Pharisees, but in this case they make an important point. Washing your hands is a good thing. 

They are the leaders of the community, and there are practices that keep the community healthy. Their warning is like the signs with smiley-face chariticures of germs in restaurants, “All employees must wash their hands.” and in hospitals, “Soap up upon entering and leaving.” I don’t blame the Pharisees on this one. In fact, I think they are right in some ways.

The disciples have been going town to town, home to home, in and out of boats, in contact with the sick and the poor, and at the end of one of these long days they sit down to eat and with dirt on their hands, grime under their nails, and countless germs. Its like at youth group, the youth walk in sweaty from practice, basketballs have been passed, locker rooms entered and exited, handles and knobs and steering wheels grabbed, and unfortunately cell phones with their touch screens smeared. As Luke gathers them for prayer, we hold hands around the circle and I am highly conscious of those hands. After the Amen, I remind them, “Wash your hands.” Sometimes, I am washing mine again after the prayer depending on if I myself witnessed the youth, with whom I held hands, wash their hands prior.  I don’t blame the Pharisees on this one; I don't blame them for what they are saying. They are right. I blame them for how they say it. 

The Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” The Pharisees are not giving gentle advice, they are slinging judgments. They are saying the hands of these outsiders are defiled, and I wonder how many times we have done the same. I read an article the other day from the Week Magazine, "In a bid to rid the city of the smell of urine, officials in San Francisco have begun coating walls near bars and areas frequented by the homeless with a special liquid-resistant paint that repels pee. “The urine will bounce back on the guys’ pants and shoes,” said a spokesperson. “The idea is they will think twice next time about urinating in public.” Requests for the pee-proof paint are pouring in." The Week Magazine. I thought of another idea. More public bathrooms. San Francisco is trying to fix the problem not the cause. What about more rehab and counseling centers, or housing the homeless? How would that cut down on public urination? I think how sometimes we treat foreigners as similarly dirty, how many times I have walked into a bathroom and seen shoe prints on the toilet seat and somehow told myself their shoe marks were dirtier then hundreds of bottoms on that same seat, when in fact to squat down low is healthier than to sit, and would take care of the need for sanitary paper seat covers. Who is dirtier? Likewise, I think about the political rhetoric that deems Spanish speaking immigrants from below our border to be criminals though we Americans feed the drug trade that murders their own for our own hunger. Who are the criminals? I think about the number of times I drive by houses with old cars and various equipment and parts and I think of how trashy it makes the home look, ignoring the possible source of income when just the right person needs just the specific part and trash becomes reusing and sustainability. Who is the trashy one me or them? Perhaps the disciples, once fishermen are now the migrant workers, the homeless, of our time. When you are out in the field, or unwelcome on city streets, where do you wash your hands? 

On our youth mission trip one day we designated a spot behind a haystack as the bathroom, another day was between the rows of a corn field, then we’d break for lunch, with the hunger of hard work and no sink, none of us washed our hands, not even me, and we ate. Someone might have seen us sitting to eat, that may not have seen the work of God the youth had done, and I wonder if the Pharisees had come up to our leader, Luke and said, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” I would hope he would respond similarly to Jesus, 

“Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” 

Jesus is right. There are a lot more important things than washing your hands. Doing the work of God being one of them. Hygiene may be important and indeed essential to the health of the community, but what is a healthy community that cannot welcome the outsider, that cannot look upon itself and its own rituals with question and perspective. That is not a community of God. I don’t see us spending time harping on the importance of washing hands at Open Door (which feeds Middle School kids breakfast from our basement), or before Fellowship Hour after worship, there are more important things at hand. And there are a lot worse things then grubby fingers on a breakfast biscuit, or a fruit tray. There are kids who are hungry and need a place not to be harped on, there are congregants and visitors to welcome. What is important is being the people of God. 

That said, I wonder what of our own rituals would become less important if we welcomed the outsiders, the homeless, the immigrant, the impoverished, the migrant worker. I wonder what we would deem dirty or have a hard time putting in perspective. Would we open up our building for a public restroom, or have signs in different languages, how might we look at our own abundance of trash with resourcefulness. What would we have to give up? What is truly important in being the people of God?