Concordia Lutheran Church
Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost – August 22, 2009
What Needs to be Washed?
Mark 7:1-13 and Eph 5:21-33
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace, the mercy and peace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, that was given to you when you were washed in the waters of baptism sustain you always!
As you read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Pharisees and other religious leaders confront Jesus and his teaching over and over. They question his views on taxes, and on relationships, on the afterlife, and on authority. In today’s gospel, they confront Jesus on what at first appears to be an issue of hygiene, of good, healthy practices.
It is far more than advice on avoiding the swine flu, the discussion is about the core of the gospel, and understanding the issue is critical to our faith, and to the way in which we walk through life, whether we live full of joy, and basking in the peace of God, or whether we struggle with guilt and shame, and wondering if God is out to get us, because of our past.
It is a discussion that gets to the heart of our ministry here at Concordia. It is why we gather in worship, and in Bible study. It is the reason we have an elementary school, and a preschool, and we have deacons and elders, and boards and committees.
By no means is this a discussion about health standards, it is a discussion about “what needs to be washed.”
What must Be washed/baptized?
Levitical Law – that which has contacted unclean
Cups, pots, kettles, dining couches and recliners?
As you look at the discussion, it becomes apparent that the Pharisees had a lot of practices “handed” down to them. For that is what it means – that which is handed down.
There are traditions, things handed down, that are good and beneficial. Paul uses the verb form of the word in 1 Corinthians when he says
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 1Co 11:23 (ESV)
He uses it again in 1Corinthians 15:3 (ESV)
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
In the Old Testament, there were a number of traditions as well – traditions that were meant by God to be passed down, and indeed, they were. Such traditions included the washing of anything that came in contact with something unclean – whether it be unclean animals, things carrying disease, people who had sinned, or that which was bloody. When these things were contacted, the Law- given to them by God usually stipulated something like,
Lev 11:28 (ESV) and he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.
Lev 14:47 (ESV) and whoever sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
Even when the priests were to go in the Tabernacle or the Temple, they had to ritually wash, as noted in Exodus 30,
20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”
Some have speculated that some of God’s commands in the Old Testament were about hygiene, about protecting people from bacteria and infections especially when they were very vulnerable because of bleeding. Other times, the washings were based on God given directives, and were a religious practice. Some theologians will argue for hours about which is which, using terms like ceremonial law, versus covenant law, versus health law.
In our passage today though, the word used all but one time for wash – is definitely washing from a religious perspective – the root word is the very word we get baptism from!
The Pharisees and scribes saw all these Old Testament washing as religious, and added some. There were laws about symbolically washing cups, and pitchers, and kettles and while it says dining couches, the word in greek is kliner – like recliner! That one actually does have some Old Testament backing – for if someone who had a bleeding issue sat on your couch, you were supposed to baptize it!
What does Washing/baptizing seek to accomplish?
Cleansing
Ridding us of the need for vain worship
SO how does it not become vain?
As we begin to understand the usage of the root word for baptism, we get to the heart of the matter. The Pharisees were interested in ritually washing everything – to prove that they were cleansed. The idea of washing before eating was to show that you were holy – that you had set yourself apart to enjoy the blessings of God’s providing you with food. From both a hygienic viewpoint, and from the idea of realizing God provided you with the food – its not a bad idea.
But to prove you were clean? To prove you deserved to participate in the meal God had given you?
We could go through a thousand gallons of dish soap, and a million bars of Zest or Ivory, and never prove that we were clean enough. That is why Jesus quotes Isaiah about vain worship – they were more interested in proving their holiness, proving the level of their devotion, than they spent realizing that they were in the presence of God!
That is so often our challenge for the church in America, - we fall into the trap of trying to justify ourselves. Lord – we did this and this and this – see how good we are? Lord, well our intentions were sincere, and we had the right ideas, sorry we actually didn’t do what you asked. Lord, we know you said that was a sin, but we really didn’t think you meant it was a sin here and now.
Jesus words about their worship was that it was not based in what it should have been based in – the fact that God made them His people.
What had been washed?
That’s why you are welcome here.
Titus 2 & Exekiel 26
Eph 5
The question isn’t what has to be washed, but what did God cleanse? What does He cleanse today?
Hear what God talks about cleaning, as He promised through Ezekiel,
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Eze 36:25 (ESV)
Paul confirms this is what God does, in his letter to Titus,
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Tit 3:4 (ESV)
And it is the description of what Jesus does, to his bride, the church, in our epistle today,
Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. 26 Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, 27 dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. Eph 5:25 (MSG)
In a more literal translation, it talks of Christ’s work as having cleansed her by the washing of water, with the word. That again, is what God does to us in baptism, he makes us whole, he brings out the very beauty, the very craftsmanship that He used in recreating us as the children of God, pure and Holy.
The Pharisees thought that ceremonial washing, that baptism was about them proving themselves to God about proving their faith – a task that could never be accomplished, and therefore was vain. They pushed it to limits beyond human capability. The gospel though, says to those that believe and have been baptized, come and eat, know that God has cleansed you in baptism, that you are radiantly clothed in Christ.
This is that which must be passed down, that it is, by water and the word, that we have been united to Christ’s death in baptism, in order that we would be forever united with Him, given life everlasting. For that is the grace of God, the very mercy and peace which comforts us in this life, and protects us, heart and mind, until we see Him face to face….
AMEN?
