Hands Clean, Hearts Clean

14th Sunday after Pentecost B 2012

James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

A couple of Jews washing their hands.

I. Be doers of the Word, not just listeners (James 1:22-24)

A person who listens but does not do is like one who looks in a mirror but does nothing (James 1:23-24).

The Pharisees and the scribes saw that some of the disciples of Jesus eat with "unclean", that is, with unwashed hands. (A Hebrew translation of the New Testament, published by The Society for Distributing Hebrew Scriptures, uses the word ידיהם בטמאת b'yadihem temerot, 'their hands unclean'--the same word used in the Torah for ritually impure objects.) Mark goes on to explain the Jews have complex customs when it comes to handwashing (Mark 7:3-4). The ritual of handwashing does not have warrant from the Torah (altough Tractate Hullin 106a cites Leviticus 15:11), but a "traditon of the elders" (בקבלת הזקנים b'kabalat hazaqenim; παραδοσιν των πρεσβυτερων, paradōsin tōn presbuterōn). The Babylonian Talmud has a whole tractate on handwashing, aptly called Yadayim, ‘hands’. Here are some excerpts:

The following mishnayot explain how much water is to be used and how to pour water on the hands, that is, with a utensil:

[To render hands clean] a quarter-log [a unit of measure equivalent to one and a half eggshells—Ed.] of water do they pour for hands, for one, also for two. A half-log [is to be used] for three or four. A log [is to be used] for five and for ten and for a hundred.’ R. Yose says, “And on condition that for the last among them, there should not be less than a quarter-log.” They add [to the water used] for the second [pouring], but they do not add [to the water used] for the first [pouring of water over the hands]. (Yadayim 1:1)

With all sorts of utensils do they pour [water] for hands, even with utensils made of dung, utensils made of stone, utensils made of [unbaked] clay. They do not pour [water] for hands either with the sides of [broken] utensils, or the bottom of a ladling jar, or with the plug of a barrel. Nor should a man pour [water] for his fellow with his cupped hands. For they draw, and they mix [water with the ash of the red cow], and they sprinkle purification water, and they pour [water] for hands only with a utensil. And only utensils afford protection with a tightly fitted cover, and nothing affords protection from the power of a clay utensil [in the Tent of a corpse] except utensils. (Yadayim 1:2)

[If] one poured water for one hand with a single rinsing, his hand is clean. [If he poured water] for two hands with a single rinsing—R. Meir declares unclean unless he will pour a quarter-log [of water]…. (Yadayim 2:1)

The following mishnah confirms what Mark says in 7:3, which is rendered in the KJV as “they wash their hands oft”; but the word “oft” is πυγμη, pugmē which is better translated as ‘fist, cleached hand’ or even ‘up till the elbow’:

The hands are susceptible to uncleanness and are rendered clean up to the wrist. How so? [If] one poured the first [water] up to the wrist, and the second beyond the wrist and it went back to the hand— it is clean. [If] he poured out the first and the second [pouring of water] beyond the wrist and it went back to the hand, it is unclean. [If] he poured out the first water onto one hand, and was reminded and poured out the second [water] on to both hands, they are unclean. [If] he poured out the first water on to both hands and was reminded and poured out the second [water] on to one hand, his hand [which has been washed twice] is clean. [If] he poured out water on to one hand and rubbed it on the other, it is unclean. [If he rubbed his hand] on his head or on the wall, it is clean. They pour out [water on the hands of] four or five people side by side, or above one another, on condition that they [the hands] lie loosely so that the water will flow among them. (Yadayim 2:3)

Another part of the Talmud which deals with washings is Tractate Kellim, which contain complex laws on which vessels and utensils are clean or unclean. Here is an excerpt from Tractate Hagigah (on the offerings on the Three Great Festivals) on the “immersion” of vessels. Mark uses the term βαπτισμοσ, baptimos for the “washing” of vessels—a word which means ‘to immerse’ and where we get the word “baptism”.

VI Utensils which are completely processed in a state of insusceptibility to uncleanness [and so when completed are clean] require immersion for use in connection with Holy Things, but not for use in connection with heave offering. VII A utensil unites everything contained therein for the purposes of Holy Things, but not for the purposes of heave offering. VIII [That which is made unclean in] the fourth remove from the original source of uncleanness in the case of Holy Things is invalid, but only [that which is made unclean in] the third in the case of heave offering. IX And in the case of heave offering, if one of ones hands is made unclean, the other is clean. But in the case of Holy Things one has to immerse both of them. X For one hand imparts uncleanness to the other for the purposes of Holy Things, but not for the purposes of heave offering. (Hagigah 3:2)

By these additional laws, the Pharisees and the scribes try to look more pious--"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Mark 7:6). They not only add to the commandment of God, but they replace them with the commandments of men--"They worship me in vain; their doctrine are but the commandments of men" (Mark 7:7). In fact, they were so in manipulating the Law that they actually withold support for their parents by declaring things are Qorban (קורבן), that is, supposed to be 'offered to God' (Mark 7:10-13).

II. Look into the perfect Law of freedom (James 1:25)

A person who does the Word of God is like a person who looks into a mirror and does not forget what he or she hears. (James 1:25)

Jesus explains why handwashing does not make a person pure: Whatever enters a person's mouth does not enter into the heart but into the stomach and eventually out of the body (Mark 7:18-19). (Jesus uses a very strong phrase for "to expel out of the body": και εις τον αφεδρωνα εκπορευεται, kai eis ton afedrōma ekporeuetai, 'And expelled into the toilet'.)

Jesus furthermore explains that it is what comes out of a mouth of a person that makes one "unclean", because out of the heart comes all sorts of evil (Mark 7:20-23). No wonder James says that if one person claim to be religious but cannot control is tongue, his/her religion is worthless (1:26; cf. 3:1-12). That is why for James, "true religion" is 1) taking care of widows and orphans (which not only commanded in the Torah [see for example, Exodus 22:22], but also an expression of practical religion); and 2) keeping oneself from being polluted from this world (i.e., not with words but with deeds) (James 1:27).

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