READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Exodus 20:12-24
- St. Matthew 15:1-20
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 Jn. 1)
Who speaks to us today, saying,
“But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone”
I know what you’re thinking. The Word said “unwashed hands” so pastor is going to let us have it on how washing hands is not going to save us. And if you’re not thinking that, now you are and that’s good, because I’m not “letting you have it”, God’s Word is.
This is how God’s Law works and this is where we as sinners, begin to feel attacked, especially since all we see in front of us is a man, like us, preaching it to us. In reality, we hear God preach against the things we are doing in life and it convicts us and hits us right in the conscience, as Moses says in Ex 16:8, “Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord.”
This is the way the 10 Commandments and all commands and demands from God work. He says this is how it is and that’s how it is. Even if you feel like you aren’t going against the commands, God says otherwise.
Such is the case with this evening’s “washing of hands”. Jesus takes God’s commands to a height we cannot hope to attain. On the surface washing hands is easy and proven by testing over and over that it not only helps you remain healthy, but also helps others. In fact, hygiene in general has been the game changer, in the last century, to increasing survivability.
However, we do have a saying that pits our good conscience against itself about “washing hands” and it means the exact opposite of godliness. “Washing your hands” of something means you take no responsibility for it, just as Pontius Pilate did with Jesus’ crucifixion.
And this is where the sin lies, as Jesus has explained in the Gospel. He said we do one thing, give things to God, and expect it to be substituted for another, honoring father and mother. In the case of washing hands, or any other perceived medical action, we keep ourselves clean and chalk it up to caring for and loving our neighbor. In one sense that may be true, but it is not the whole truth.
Many things in the civil realm are used this way by us. Everyone’s complaint about welfare is that it’s just hand outs and that hard earned money that is taxed, shouldn’t go to something like that. But there are people in need of handouts precisely because you have substituted being taxed for charity work.
Let us fail in the doctrines and commandments of men. Let our stricken consciences be dragged to private confession and absolution. God’s conclusion of the 10 Commands from our Exodus reading is not “now go and get that work done”. It is “now go have church and I’ll bless you”.
Washing hands is not enough. your neighbor needs helping hands. Accessible hands. Physical hands. And not just from you, but from God as well. And while God does let you do good works in His Name, He would rather take that work upon Himself.
Jesus demands an Altar be made in order that He put the sacrifice on it, Himself. Jesus demands burnt offerings and peace offerings be on the Altar that bears His Name. This is so only because He is on the Altar, He is the sacrifice, He is the burnt offering, and He is the peace offering made between God and man.
Jesus does not let washed hands get in the way of His work of salvation and it is in no way a barrier between His sacrifice and the sinner for which it was made. In Jesus explaining the commands and demands from God for us, we see only one conclusion: that we will not win if we fight the law that only condemns.
True washed hands are dirty hands. They are the soiled hands that beg for forgiveness. They are the grimey hands that beg for bread and wine. God’s hands are dirty hands. We prefer to picture Jesus as bright and full of Easter shine, but that is not this side of glory.
On this side of glory, cleanliness is found in the dirtied and bloodied hands and feet of Christ on the cross for you. In that, though, is the forgiveness of sins found. for though we do our best to cleanse, it is never enough, until we believe in and take credit for Christ’s cleanliness, which He lovingly and happily gives us.
The cleanliness we seek is not of this world, thus it is only found in the Gospel. Not in the law, but in the free offer of the free forgiveness of sins for free. So it is that the filthiness of God is cleaner than the cleanliness of men. Such that it is the only sure proof against sin and death.
God forgives, so we confess our uncleanness and believe in and receive His absolution and His purity. Though the Law call us filthy rags, yet the Gospel gives to us Christ’s robe of righteousness.
If our hands are not dirty, if we need no physician, then God has nothing for us. If our heart is already good, then we do not need a clean heart or a right spirit within us. Are our hands bright scarlet? Good. Are our hands dirty in service? Good. Is our Savior “radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach” Him (Mk. 9:3). Better. Best.
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