Wash Your Hands

We are still in or should I say coming out of the pandemic that encouraged us to take all the known precautions for spreading germs. Even as a child we were taught to wash our hands often to remove dirt and germs. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) among many rules and guidelines has stated one specific guideline: To prevent the spread of germs during the COVID-19 pandemic, you should also wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

Have you ever been accused of not washing your hands? Jesus’ disciples were. (Mark 7:1-5) Do you know that even Jesus, himself was accused of not washing his hands? (Luke 11:38) The Pharisees were very careful to wash often. (Mark 7:3,4)

I suppose it makes good sense to remove physical dirt and germs but I wonder how long you would have to wash your hands to remove sin. Consider Shakespeare’s Macbeth. She is walking and talking in her sleep about the assassination of King Duncan, in which she is implicated. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have been unable to sleep since they murdered Duncan, but when she does manage to fall asleep she is plagued with a nightmare about the murder and the blood they have shed. As she walks she rubs her hands as though washing them, trying to get rid of the blood. The spot she’s referring to is a spot of blood on her hand. She’s rubbing it, trying to erase it, but cannot. “Here’s yet a spot,” she cries, desperately rubbing. “Here’s the small of blood still.”

Is it even possible to wash the stain of blood from your hands? Pilate thought he could and said so. (Matthew 27:24) We still have to answer the question as to whether or not washing the hands will actually remove the stain of sin.

Jesus was washing the disciples’ feet (John 13:1-9) and Peter told Jesus that he would not wash his feet. He did not initially realize that the cleansing needed was not just his feet. Walking in sandals on the filthy roads of Israel in the first century made it necessary for feet to be washed before a communal meal, especially since people reclined at a low table. When Jesus rose from the table and began to wash his disciples feet (John 13:4), He was doing the work a lowly servant. The disciples must have been surprised by this act of humility that Christ, their Lord and master, should wash the feet of His disciples. If any feet were to be washed, it was their responsibility to wash Jesus’ feet. But when Jesus came to earth the first time, He did not come as King and Conqueror, but as the suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. As He revealed in Matthew 20:28, He came “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The humility expressed by His act with towel and basin foreshadowed His ultimate act of humility and love for us on the cross. Even in the Old Testament, Naaman, captain of the host of Syria, had to humble himself and obey the prophet Elisha’s command to go and wash 7 times in the Jordon river to be cleansed of his leprosy. There are many scriptures that tell us the importance of washing but we must understand that physical washing is very different from spiritual washing. Our ultimate washing, whether hands, feet or the entire body is with the washing of water by the Word. (Ephesians 5:26)

Have you washed your hands today? How long did you wash them? Are your hands clean? Are you clean?