For April 27

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Sermon Notes: Truly Clean

Intro: If you are one of us who grew up hearing “Cleanliness is next to godliness”, you might have also been led to believe it was a Biblical quote, and therefore it carried the weight of Scriptural wisdom. If you can’t recall where that is in the Bible, it’s OK because it’s not in the Bible, but it's an old proverb with roots in religious traditions, including those of Judaism and early Christianity, emphasizing the importance of both outward and inward purity. You may have been told to wash your hands before supper, front and back, even though you didn’t use the back of your hands to eat. Sometime during my youth, showers replaced baths, making it faster, and easier to get clean – providing you used soap. Clean clothes were important if you were going out anywhere, especially church. So cleanliness was up there in importance, even if not Biblical.

   The military takes cleanliness to a whole different standard, though. Inspections not only require clothes conform to cleanliness standards, but neatly pressed, worn properly, and properly fitting. Shoes and belt buckles must even be cleaned and shined. Even weapons are inspected for strict cleanliness and readiness.

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I. Jesus’ Standards

A. While these may seem strict standards, Jewish religious leaders during Biblical times had lists of what they considered clean and unclean, and acceptable means for one to be considered clean. Foods like pork and shellfish were considered unclean and forbidden to be eaten. You were judged by your outer appearance, and your outward self revealed the state of your soul. Women’s heads were required to be covered in public, and their hair never cut short. Men wore beards with standards regulating their appearance. Compliance meant you were obedient to God. Non-compliance was sinful disobedience. Jesus was often considered a heretic for non-compliance to their many laws, which were not God’s laws.

B. Violation of many laws required ritualistic purification. People with specific health issues, like body sores, were considered unclean. You couldn’t touch them without becoming unclean yourself. Not touching a leper, for example, would have been understandable to avoid becoming infected, but contact with a menstruating woman would also render a person unclean. Washing one’s hands before eating was a purification ritual more than a good sanitation practice. Mikvehs were specific pools of clean water for Jewish baths for ritual purification.

C. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, for example, the two religious leaders passed by their badly injured countryman because if he was bleeding, or if he was dead, touching him would have made them unclean and unfit for duty, even if it meant not showing mercy. Helping them would have required an inconvenient ritualistic purification.

D. Having your feet washed by another was not a sanitation practice as much as it was hospitality to show respect to another. People wore sandals on the hot, dusty roads, so washing feet not only removed dirt, but was also refreshing. It was an expected hospitality as well as humility

shown to one considered of a higher social standing. It was a servant’s task, if you had a servant.

E. Jesus taught and practiced a different standard of cleanliness principles with His followers, for which He was harshly criticized by the religious leaders. He would often touch untouchable lepers to heal them, addressing their spiritual need of healing with compassion and mercy, as well as their physical need of healing. He would forgive paralytic’s sins and then heal their paralysis, showing the forgiveness of one’s inner sin, a higher priority than the outer body’s condition. It’s never recorded Jesus then underwent ritualistic purification to be clean.

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II. Matthew 23:25-28

A. In our first Gospel reading, Matthew records Jesus’ angry confrontation with the teachers of the law, and the self-righteous Pharisees about true cleanliness. They knew the Law, but had misinterpreted the applications. You can see the anger in His words by the exclamation points, saying ”Woe to you!”  Woe is an expression of judgment, condemnation, or lament, often indicating divine displeasure, or the consequences of sin and disobedience. Jesus wasn’t offering an opinion, but condemnation, displeasure about their actions.  He calls them hypocrites. In Greek, the word is hypokrites meaning an actor in a play. In Greek theater, actors wore masks portraying a particular trait of their portrayed character, like happy or sad, hiding the actor’s true face. Calling them hypocrites was saying that what they appeared to be on their outside was a mask, covering who they really were on the inside. They were concerning themselves appearing clean on the outside, but inside were filled with greed and self-indulgence. They were like tombs, clean and whitewashed on the outside, but inside were the bones of the dead, all the unclean things they were teaching against. They were appearing to be clean and righteous, but it was only masking their unclean, unrighteous hearts.

B. By calling them “teachers of the law”, emphasizing their self-elevated status and legal responsibilities, Jesus was adding further condemnation of them. In my years as a military leader, and now as a pastor, I believe there is greater accountability for those in positions of such authority for those in their care, with greater consequences for those who knowingly violate such responsibility and authority. Woe to pastors, priests, church officials - leaders who abuse such a trust.

C. I came across a story about hypocrisy. A priest returning home after dark one evening, was stopped by a robber who pulled a gun on him and demanded, “Your money or your life!” As the priest reached his hand into his coat pocket, the robber saw his clergy collar and said: “I didn’t know you were a priest. Never mind, you can go.” The priest was relieved and surprised by the robber’s courtesy, so he offered the robber a candy bar that he remembered was in his pocket. The robber replied, “No thank you, Father. I don’t eat candy during Lent.”

D. Now let’s turn our attention to what Jesus preached and how He practiced His principles. The Beatitudes in Matthew 5, are the early teachings of Jesus. Among them are that the merciful will receive mercy, the pure in heart shall see God, and the peacemakers will be called children of God. They weren’t about earning a reward, but rather about righteousness being its own reward. If we are merciful, others may (or may not) respond to us with mercy. Being pure in heart allows us to see and understand God and respond to Him. Those who are not pure in heart, without seeing and understanding God, only manipulate others to receive the response they desire. Power and control. Peacemakers, living by God’s peace, know true peace that Jesus gives, not like the world gives. These are what makes a person truly clean on the inside.

E. Our Call to Worship was based on David’s well known confession in Psalm 51. David was king of Israel, a successful warrior who had earned the loyalty of his people. But, his coveting the wife of his loyal friend and soldier, Uriah, then having him killed to disguise her adulterous pregnancy, and his escalating lies and coverups, left David an internal mess of uncleanliness. Not only had the lies to his undeceived family and friends damaged his credibility and tarnished his reputation, but he also hadn’t hidden anything from God. He was the one who felt the spiritual uncleanness in his bones in long, sleepless nights. He was the one who suffered from his separation from God, but continued to deny his spiritual uncleanliness. Until David confessed his sins before God, asking God to create within him a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within him, was he able to honestly stand before God as the anointed king, the God who still loved David. And God forgave Him, enabling Him to truly feel God’s salvation again. Then, and only then, was he truly clean.

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III. John 13:2-11

A. Jesus used His last night with His disciples to teach His most memorable lesson of true cleanliness by example, as those who were here on Maudy Thursday heard. The disciples came into that upper room to celebrate the Passover, but they had been arguing about who was the greatest among the disciples.

B. As a former tax collector, Matthew was looked down on by his fellow disciples, while James and John had previously asked to be seated at Jesus’ left and right hands in heaven, seats of greatest honor. Peter was the unofficial leader of the disciples, although the one most often reprimanded by Jesus. As we discussed earlier, without a servant, it was up to one of the group to wash the feet of the others. Peter seemed to have been the designated servant that night, but his ego driven strong objection may have touched off the resulting argument. As a result, no one assumed the role of a servant to wash the others’ feet. Not even their Master’s feet, a major omission of hospitality and respect.

C. But Jesus took off his outer robe, and laid it down, symbolic of laying down his life for them. Afterwards He would pick it up again, symbolic of His Resurrection. Then He took a towel with a pitcher of water and a basin and approaches Peter to wash his feet. Peter objects to the Lord about to wash His feet, saying the Master would never wash his feet. His reaction is what leads to the notion that Peter was supposed to have been the servant washing the others’ feet that night, and was embarrassed that the Master should have to perform such a servant’s task. But that’s exactly the point Jesus was making, saying the first shall be last, and the last first. Jesus had come, not to be the greatest of them, but a servant to all. His stronger message to Peter was unless He washed him, Peter had no part with Him. His washing the disciples’ feet symbolically foreshadowed Jesus' ultimate cleansing sacrifice of Himself on the cross for them, representing the spiritual cleansing by His blood they would need for them to have fellowship with Him. Saying "you have no part with Me" emphasized the necessity of accepting Jesus' work for our salvation and fellowship, echoing the concept of being part of the body of Christ. Unless Jesus washes us, we can have no part with Him, for unless He washes us, we can never be truly clean.

D. Seeming to understand, Peter immediately backs down saying, “...then wash not just my feet, but my hands and my feet as well.”  Peter's response highlights his intent of complete submission to Jesus, even if he didn't fully understand Jesus then. Peter's request for Jesus to wash his hands and head signifies a desire for total purification. In Jewish culture, where bathing was a common ritual for purification, Peter's request can be seen as his desire to be spiritually clean. This reflects the greater theme of being sanctified, set aside for His special purpose, and the need for spiritual transformation. By telling Peter they were already clean, Jesus was telling them their initial faith and acceptance of Him was sufficient to have made them clean, and once cleansed by Christ, they were fully justified before God.

E. This assurance of complete cleanliness would further point to the sufficiency of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross for the forgiveness of sins. The completeness of this spiritual cleansing for those who accept His blood to wash away their iniquity is a central principle of our Christian doctrine, affirming the believer's secure position in Christ. However, by saying ‘you are not all clean’, He was referring to Judas, whose heart He knew had already been prompted by Satan to betray Him and had not accepted His cleansing.

F. We’ve seen Jesus condemn the religious leaders whose hypocritical masks let them be seen as righteous, like the cleaned outside of a cup or dish, but whose hearts and minds were unclean, like the inside of a tomb. But Jesus, showing His humility and love by washing their feet as a servant, demonstrated what it meant to be truly cleansed by Him.

 

Conclusion: Our Easter celebrations emphasized Jesus having died on that Cross, shedding His blood for the forgiveness of our sin. His blood paid the price of our sin, enabling Him to wash away our iniquities, making us wholly clean. Truly Clean. The only question remains for each of us now is, Am I washed in the blood of Christ so that I am truly clean?  Eternity awaits your response. Amen.