What's it mean to be clean? There's the feeling of your teeth right after you walk out of the dentist, when you don't want to eat anything because of how clean your teeth feel. There's something satisfying about washing your car and seeing it gleam in the sunlight on a nice day, so that you're not afraid to touch it because of how much dirt has accumulated. Or there's the idea of having a clean heart and mind, of resisting temptation and focusing on love and selflessness.
All very different, yet all the same. It's easy for us to say that a clean heart and clean mind are more important, but cleanliness in other areas of life are important. Cleaning your teeth regularly keeps you healthy, and cleaning your car helps the paint last longer. They're important to do, but shouldn't be the most important thing.
The Pharisees got their priorities a bit backwards, and so they focused intently on cleaning surface items, like their hands, and perhaps lost track of their hearts. It's not a hard thing to do in a fast-paced & results-focused world. I probably spend more time each day washing my hands than I do thinking about the cleanliness of my heart. Jesus called the Pharisees out on this, and he calls us out, too. Not to distance himself from us, but to help us recognize our sins and come to God as children, trusting in the love of God to heal and redeem us, to truly wash us in the waters of baptism and mark us clean forever.
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