Hand-washing

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Mark 7:1-23

Hand-washing. We take it for granted that we wash our hands numerous times a day. Probably our parents taught us to wash our hands before each meal and after using the bathroom. But did you know that the Jews of Jesus' day and Jesus Himself had something to say about it too? 

In Vienna in the 19th Century, many newborn babies and mothers were dying while they were still in the hospital. One doctor realised that doctors who were looking after these new babies were coming from another patient who was either very ill, or had even died, and were examining the mothers and babies without washing their hands. He started asking the doctors to wash their hands between seeing one patient and the next - and the death rate amongst newborns and their mothers dropped dramatically. [George A. Bender: Great Moments in Medicine, 1965]. Today, we take it for granted that doctors should wash their hands between patients as we are aware that germs spread from one person to another if they do not.

During the years of the plague in Europe during the Middle Ages, the Jewish communities were relatively free from the disease. Their neighbours began to think the Jews must be bewitched, as few if any of them died; and rather than discover the reason, they began to persecute them. What was the reason? The Jews held to a strict regime of hygiene and hand-washing. 

Getting back to the passage under consideration, a group of Pharisees and Scribes - the strictest and most religious people of the day - noticed that Jesus and His disciples were eating bread, but they had not washed their hands beforehand. The subject of hand-washing had taken on ritualistic proportions and the Jews had created many rules about how and when hands were to be washed. Eating with unwashed hands meant the food could be contaminated and thus rendered unfit for human consumption - it was 'common' or 'unclean'. Eating such foods (those that were common or unclean) then rendered the person who ate them unclean also. These rules, created by men, had become as significant (or in some cases even more significant) than the law of God itself (see vv 10-13). And they were numerous - they did not stop at the washing of hands, but included the washing of pots, cups and other receptacles (v 4). So when this group of religious leaders saw Jesus and His disciples eating without having washed their hands, they were indignant. Jesus was making Himself unclean! Jesus was breaking 'the law' - except this particular 'law' is nowhere found in the Law of God as given to Moses; it was a man made law. The Pharisees admitted as much:

"Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands" (v 5)

Being aware of their heart attitude, Jesus was quick to point out that these 'traditions of the elders' were not for the good of man, but in order that they might be seen to be 'holy' - they were holy outwardly, but their heart was not right with God. They were proud of their religious observance. He called them hypocrites (v 6) and condemned them for teaching man's traditions as if they were the oracles of God (v 7). In fact, the Jews had even come to believe that God had given these traditions to Moses on Mount Sinai, along with the Law, but Moses had not been instructed to write them down! Jesus then went on to say that while they do all this ceremonial washing, they have in fact rejected the commandments of God, in favour of the traditions (v 9).

By way of explanation, Jesus then gathered the people round Him and said:

"Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: There is nothing from without (outside) a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile a man" (v 14-15)

The disciples must have been a bit slow, because they still did not understand what He was talking about, so they asked Him for further explanation, which He duly gave:

"Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him: because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?...

That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man" (vv 18-23)

Jesus was proclaiming that true religion is a matter of the heart, not keeping the rules and traditions of men. If a person washes his hands and his pots and cups, he will still be defiled if he has evil thoughts like those mentioned. Washing the outward is not going to make the inward clean.

In the Old Testament, God had declared that certain things were not to be eaten - such as pork or shellfish, and there was a manner in which they were not to be eaten - such as if they had died naturally, or been torn by other animals, or if the blood had not been drained. These animals were declared 'unclean'. Any 'clean' foods that had come into contact with something 'unclean' was also not fit to be eaten and was 'common'. Many have taken these words of Jesus to say that Jesus thereby declared all foods clean. Even some translators have rendered the words ''purging all meats' as 'thus He declared all foods clean'. So let's look at that a little more closely.

Jesus was speaking to the most religious people of His day. If He had meant that they could now eat pork and shellfish, the Pharisees would have stoned Him. While Jesus was not slow to condemn man made rules and regulations, nowhere did He ever contradict God's law. So I suggest that this is not the meaning of this passage at all.

Neither did the disciples understand Him to have been saying that all meat was now fit to be eaten - they were still puzzled, even after Jesus had explained it to the people.

Furthermore, the subject of the passage is not about what could or could not be eaten, but is about whether or not it was wrong to eat without washing your hands beforehand.

Finally, looking at the words carefully, it does not actually say that meats were declared clean - it says that if you eat food with unwashed hands, it goes into your stomach, passes through the digestive system, and out into the toilet (the 'draught'). The digestive system is what 'purges' the food, not Jesus' declaration.

How do I know that this is true? Well, one rule of Biblical interpretation is that we should allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. So is there another passage we can look at that will shed any light on this? Yes, there is - Matthew 15:1-20 is a parallel passage. It gives the same account, with added detail. Having given the list of things that come from the heart and defile a person, Jesus concludes:

"These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands, defileth not a man" (Matthew 15:20)

So you can clearly see that Jesus is not speaking about the types of foods that can be eaten, He is not giving a blanket approval for His followers to eat pork and shellfish, but is actually speaking about the manner in which the eating is done - namely, whether or not it is absolutely necessary to wash your hands before you eat your food. And the spiritual significance of the passage is that man made laws are not equal to or greater than the law of God.

Whatever you think of Christians following the food laws of the Old Testament (and I am not making any judgment about that here), the passage in Mark 7 cannot be used to support the view that Christians (whether Jew or Gentile) can now eat anything we want to.

There is a new discussion group page on Facebook for 'Radical Discipleship': https://www.facebook.com/groups/888893724571959/