30 Seconds

"When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. " - Mark 7:1-3

When our oldest was little (that is, younger than he is today), we used to teach him to sing "happy birthday" while washing his hands. That way, he spent the right amount of time cleaning, and since he knew the song he could easily make the 30 second mark. While that didn't last forever, he still demonstrates good hygiene, which helps prevent the spread of colds in our house.

But the washing of hands back in Jesus's day wasn't to kill cold germs. It was a part of a ritual made to make someone "clean" in the eyes of God. Mark is mentioning this so we, 2000 years in the future, can understand who the Pharisees actually were. We know they challenge Jesus, they are sticklers for the Jewish law, and often boast about how closely they follow the law. But in many encounters with them, Jesus tries to help them understand that what they're doing only cleans their outward appearance - that is, cleaning them from the things they've already done wrong.

And while it's important to do that (Catholics and other faiths do that now as a part of reconciliation), Jesus's point is that they need to change on the inside - that simply following a ritual doesn't fix what's really wrong. He makes this point well during his Sermon on the Mount, and continues to throughout his ministry. That it's more important to be good within, then demonstrate goodness on the outside. Not that giving and helping others is worthless in the eyes of God (in fact, one could argue that doing those things is an outward extension of who you are) - but that we need to spend as much time focusing on our inward appearance as we do our outward appearance. Something the Pharisees had a hard time understanding.

Thank God we are a bit more enlightened!