What Are You Washing?

I had a neat realization the other day.  I was reading in the Old Testament...one of the many passages that focus on ritual washing. (See: most of Deuteronomy) In this case, I was reading about the priests needing to be washed and clean before they could enter the presence of God in the Tabernacle. It's really kind of a weird thing when you think about it: God requiring all this different washing and purifying...to what end?  God doesn't want them to stink?  Is it really possible that the creator God of the universe is so repulsed by B.O. that he instituted a whole list of washing laws before people could come into his presence. This is clearly silly, and this is clearly an extremely important concept to God, so what was the reason or purpose behind it.

I used to primarily think it was for practical reasons.  For example, the scriptures are clear that if you come into contact with a dead body, you are ceremonially "unclean" until you are properly cleansed. Well, this makes sense to me.  You could pick up a disease or virus and then spread it among all the other Israelites. Hygiene was a serious problem, and this was a serious answer from God. Now I'm not saying this wasn't part of the purpose of laws like this.  What I'm saying is that in the big picture, I don't believe this was their primary purpose.

All of the law of God was ultimately created for the same two-fold purpose: to reveal the glorious perfection of God and to overtly reveal our vast distance from that same perfection.  So, it is with this assumption in mind that I am approaching the idea of ceremonial washing.

When we turn to the New Testament, Christ offers us some new insights. He tells us, "It's not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart." - Mark 7:15 It seems that with Christ, we definitely get a different attitude toward what makes someone clean or unclean. At first glance, the washing seems to no longer be important or necessary for coming into the presence of God.  So has Christ nullified the need for washing and being clean in the presence of God?  Well, yes...and no.

The rules have only changed in light of the fact that the location of God has changed.  Let me explain.  In the Old Testament God lived and worked among Israel in a physical location within their community.  This was the tabernacle, and ultimately the temple.  In the New Testament, God has moved.  God no longer lives in a physical structure, but rather he lives within us.  In light of this fact, the change in ceremonial washing makes perfect sense.  We are still called to wash - but not our body.

When God dwelled outside of us in a temple, we washed and cared for the outside of our self in the particular manner laid out by God.  In this way, we were preparing our self to be in the presence of God.  The people of the Israelite community all had to keep themselves clean by these laws because they were God's community and his dwelling place was among them.

Likewise, in the New Testament we have Christ discussing "washing." But he clearly shifts the focus from physical washing.  God has moved, and the Holy Spirit of God now dwells within us.  So Christ focuses on the "washing" of the inside.  In speaking to the Pharisees, Christ calls them "whitewashed tombs - beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with bones of the dead and everything unclean." - Matthew 23:27.  He is speaking not just doing what's right, but also of thinking what is right. Suddenly a clean attitude, mindset, and heart have become far more important than the physical cleanliness of our body.  Our bodies have become the holy temple of God.  He dwells within us and we must keep our self pure for the presence of our Holy God.

So yes, please do still take a shower before church on Sunday.  But don't loose your focus.  "Looking the part" isn't enough.  We are called to be more than "do-ers" of the right stuff.  Instead, we are called to be constantly "renewing our mind" so that we will be able to test and know what God's will is - "his good, perfect and pleasing will."  We are able to effectively do this because, quite literally, God is living within us.  If you are willing to submit to our living God through the constant renewing of your mind, you will find that it's almost impossible not to step up and step out in this world in the name of Jesus Christ.