NO GREATER LOVE: YOU ARE CLEAN

In the course of washing the feet of the apostles, Jesus comes to Peter to wash his feet. First, Peter does not want Jesus to wash his feet. (Jn 13:8) Then, when Jesus insists that He wash Peter’s feet, Peter wants Jesus to wash him completely. (Jn 13:9) Jesus refuses to do that but tells Peter, “You are clean”. (Jn 13:10) What exactly does it mean to be “clean”? It certainly has nothing to do with personal hygiene. Jesus was not telling Peter about the dirt on his body. In the Judaism of the time of Jesus and in other world religions, “clean” meant fitness to be in the presence of God, to worship God. The Mosaic Law had many regulations concerning “clean” and “unclean”. For example, eating “unclean” animals made one unfit to worship God. A woman during her menstrual cycle could not worship. Touching a dead body made one unclean for a period of time. Of course, lepers could not worship with the community because they were “unclean”. The centurion did not ask Jesus to come into his house to heal his servant. “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof;” (Mt 8:8, Lk 7:6) He knew that Jesus would be defiled by entering the house of a Gentile.

Jesus certainly rejected the idea that ritual actions make one clean or fit to worship God. “And he called the people to him and said to them, ‘Hear and understand: not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.’ Then the disciples came and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?’ He answered, ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘Explain the parable to us.’ And he said, ‘Are you still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.’” (Mt 15:10-20) The Lord is clearly telling us that the evil which comes out of us makes us unfit to be in the presence of God. Ritual actions alone, such as ceremonial washing, do not qualify us to be in the presence of God. 

While ritual actions do not, by themselves, make us clean, Pope Benedict, in Jesus of Nazareth, explains that even moral actions, by themselves, do not make us clean. Yet the question immediately presents itself: How does the heart become pure? Who are the pure in heart, those who can see God (Mt 5: 8)? Liberal exegesis has claimed that Jesus replaced the ritual concept of purity with a moral concept: in place of the cult and all that went with it, we have morality. In this view, Christianity is considered to be essentially about morality, a kind of moral "rearmament". But this does not do justice to the radically new dimension of the New Testament. Its newness becomes clear in the Acts of the Apostles when Peter takes issue with the former Pharisees in the Christian community who insist that Gentile Christians must be circumcised and must "keep the law of Moses". Peter explains: God himself decided that "the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe .... He made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith" (15:5-11). Faith cleanses the heart. It is the result of God's initiative toward man. It is not simply a choice that men make for themselves. Faith comes about because men are touched deep within by God's Spirit, who opens and purifies their hearts. God gives us His Word, which ultimately is Jesus Christ Himself. We did not ask Him to come for He came on the Father’s initiative as His gift to us. This Word purifies us of the evil which, had the Word not come, would be within us. This Word is mediated by the Church. We must receive this gift from God through the Church as a living faith. 

What do we mean by “a living faith”? We can see an example of living faith in St. Peter. When the Lord says, “Hear and understand: not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man” (Mt 15:10-11), He does not just say “hear”, He says “hear and understand”. When the Word of God comes to us, it is not enough that we listen to it. We must truly understand it so that it becomes a part of our being. When Peter first heard this statement from Jesus, he did not understand it. Therefore, he said to Jesus “Explain the parable to us.” (Mt 15:15) Peter had a living faith in Jesus since when he heard something which he did not understand, he asked Jesus what it meant. He sought to understand it. Jesus marveled that Peter did not understand what He as saying. “Are you also still without understanding?” (Mt 15:16) Jesus knew that it was extremely important that the disciples understand Him so he patiently explained that being clean comes from the heart and not from external ritual actions. We might still be surprised that Jesus called Peter “clean” at the Last Supper since that very night Peter denied that he knew Jesus three times. (Mt 26:69-75, Mk 14:66-72, Lk 22:54-62, Jn 18:15-18,25-27). Jesus even predicted Peter’s denial. (Mt 26:39-35, Mk 14:26-31, Lk 22:31-34) However, Jesus knew that Peter had a living faith. Thus, when Peter realized the sin he had committed, he repented and went out and “wept bitterly”. (Mt 26:75, Mk 14:72, Lk 22:62) Peter’s living faith in the Lord made him capable of repentance after he had sinned. In contrast to Peter, when Judas realized his sin, he despaired and hanged himself. (Mt 27:5) 

A living faith is not a faith which is divorced from life but is something which determines our life. We can see the importance of a living faith in the Lord’s famous parable of the sower. (Mt 13:1-9, Mk 4:1-9, Lk 8:4-8) In this parable, a sower throws seeds on a footpath, on rocky ground, among thorn bushes and onto good soil. However, the disciples do not understand the parable, so the Lord explains that the seed is the Word of God, and the various types of soil are the faith of those who hear the Word. (Mt 13:18-23, Mk 4:10-20, Lk 8:9-15) The seed (the Word of God) which falls on the footpath refers to those hearers of the Word whose faith is weak or non-existent. The devil can take away their faith with even the most silly or weak arguments against the faith. The seed which falls on shallow, rocky ground refers to those whose faith is shallow or superficial. The first troubles or tests of their faith cause them to fall away. The seed which falls among the thorns goes to those for whom the riches and lures of the world are stronger than their faith. Their faith does not mature and bear fruit. The seed which falls on good soil is faith that is received by those who strive to understand it. The Word grows in their hearts and becomes a part of them, thus defining their very being. They are productive in whatever the Lord calls them to do. 

The good soil (those who are clean) bear fruit for the Lord. However, what is this fruit? St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is a great theological treatise on faith. At the beginning and end of this letter, St, Paul refers to the “obedience of faith”. (Rom 1:5, 16:26) The fruit of faith is obedience. If we truly have faith in the Lord, we will naturally obey Him. “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (Jn 15:14) When Jesus discussed the things which defile, He gives several examples. “For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.” (Mt 15:19) These are all commands of the Mosaic Law which the Lord declared make makes one unclean (unfit for worship). 

In the Sermon on the Mountain, Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.” (Mt 5:17) The Lord’s teaching on clean and unclean is an example of His fulfilment of the law and prophets. The Mosaic regulations on ritual purity taught Israel the need for holiness. However, they did not provide that holiness. God provides this holiness through His Word, but we need to accept it in faith. In Psalm 15 we read: “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks blamelessly, and does what is right, and speaks the truth from his heart; who does not slander with is tongue, and does no evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor; in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.” The teaching of Jesus on the need for a clean heart did not abolish this psalm but fulfilled it. 

We need to pay attention to what the Lord says about clean and unclean. Are those who are unfit to worship God in an earthly assembly also unfit to worship Him in the Heavenly Banquet for all eternity? –Jim Nugent, CfP