The Things That Defile
7 1 One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus.
2 They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating.
3 (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions.
4 Similarly, they don't eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to-such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)
(the following is from Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary -- www.christianity.com)
"One great design of Christ's coming, was, to set aside the ceremonial law which God made, and to put an end to it; to make way for which he begins with the ceremonial law which men had made, and added to the law of God's making, and discharges his disciples from the obligation of that; which here he doth fully, upon occasion of the offence which the Pharisees took at them for the violation of it. These Pharisees and scribes with whom he had this argument, are said to come from Jerusalem down to Galilee—fourscore or a hundred miles, to pick quarrels with our Saviour there, where they supposed him to have the greatest interest and reputation. Had they come so far to be taught by him, their zeal had been commendable; but to come so far to oppose him, and to check the progress of his gospel, was great wickedness. It should seem that the scribes and Pharisees at Jerusalem pretended not only to a pre-eminence above, but to an authority over, the country clergy, and therefore kept up their visitations and sent inquisitors among them, as they did to John when he appeared, Jn. 1:19.
Now in this passage we may observe,
I. What the tradition of the elders was: by it all were enjoined to wash their hands before meat; a cleanly custom, and no harm in it; and yet as such to be over-nice in it discovers too great a care about the body, which is of the earth; but they placed religion in it, and would not leave it indifferent, as it was in its own nature; people were at their liberty to do it or not to do it; but they interposed their authority, and commanded all to do it upon pain of excommunication; this they kept up as a tradition of the elders. The Papists pretend to a zeal for the authority and antiquity of the church and its canons, and talk much of councils and fathers, when really it is nothing but a zeal for their own wealth, interest, and dominion, that governs them; and so it was with the Pharisees.
We have here an account of the practice of the Pharisees and all the Jews, v. 3, 4. 1. They washed their hands oft; they washed them, pygmeµ; the critics find a great deal of work about that word, some making it to denote the frequency of their washing (so we render it); others think it signifies the pains they took in washing their hands; they washed with great care, they washed their hands to their wrists (so some); they lifted up their hands when they were wet, that the water might run to their elbows. 2. They particularly washed before they ate bread; that is, before they sat down to a solemn meal; for that was the rule; they must be sure to wash before they ate the bread on which they begged a blessing. "Whosoever eats the bread over which they recite the benediction, Blessed be he that produceth bread, must wash his hands before and after," or else he was thought to be defiled. 3. They took special care, when they came in from the markets, to wash their hands; from the judgment-halls, so some; it signifies any place of concourse where there were people of all sorts, and, it might be supposed, some heathen or Jews under a ceremonial pollution, by coming near to whom they thought themselves polluted; saying, Stand by thyself, come not near me, I am holier than thou, Isa. 65:5. They say, The rule of the rabbies was—That, if they washed their hands well in the morning, the first thing they did, it would serve for all day, provided they kept alone; but, if they went into company, they must not, at their return, either eat or pray till they had washed their hands; thus the elders gained a reputation among the people for sanctity, and thus they exercised and kept up an authority over their consciences. 4. They added to this the washing of cups, and pots, and brazen vessels, which they suspected had been made use of by heathens, or persons polluted; nay, and the very tables on which they ate their meat. There were many cases in which, by the law of Moses, washings were appointed; but they added to them, and enforced the observation of their own impositions as much as of God's institutions.
II. What the practice of Christ's disciples was; they knew what the law was, and the common usage; but they understood themselves so well that they would not be bound up by it: they ate bread with defiled, that is, with unwashen, hands, v. 2. Eating with unwashen hands they called eating with defiled hands; thus men keep up their superstitious vanities by putting every thing into an ill name that contradicts them. The disciples knew (it is probable) that the Pharisees had their eye upon them, and yet they would not humour them by a compliance with their traditions, but took their liberty as at other times, and ate bread with unwashen hands; and herein their righteousness, however it might seem to come short, did really exceed, that of the scribes and Pharisees, Mt. 5:20."
This is an interesting passage to consider in the midst of a pandemic. Of course we should wash our hands often and thoroughly. If we want to do as Jesus has asked us to, that is to love our neighbors as ourselves, then we want to ensure that we don't spread this virus to others. So, we wash our hands, wear masks when in public, and maintain social distance when with others outside our household. We take all of these measures to protect our health and the health of people who might be complete strangers to us.
But this isn't really what this passage is about. Under the old law, many adhered strictly to those customs as a way to clean the outside of their bodies, thinking that cleaning the outside made them holy. Jesus came to teach us that it is what is in our hearts that matter. When we see others who are not adhering to the recommendations made by public health officials, we should teach with love and not condemnation. I feel like I am seeing a lot of modern-day Pharisees, people who have become hyper-critical of others due to their choices in this pandemic. They've put a label of good or evil on the person based on how well they comply with health recommendations or even mandates.
I don't think God is looking upon the people who wear masks, always, and maintain 6 feet of distance between themselves and others as holy. And I don't think God is condemning, eternally, those who fail to follow these measures. I do think God is looking into our hearts right now. How am I responding when I see a half-masker in the store? Am I remembering just how difficult it is for some to adhere to the rules? Am I compassionate? Does it occur to me that maybe this person feels like they are smothering inside the mask? If I don't feel like a mask does any good, do I maintain compassion for those that do believe in mask-wearing and don one anyway?
Jesus teaches us that what is in our hearts is far more important than how clean we keep the outside of our bodies. But we should still keep our outsides "clean" so that we can keep from causing harm to others, others who God also calls His children. --LM
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