In the Old Testament, over and over again, the people of Israel were told not to touch certain things: unclean objects (everything from idols and foreign gods to mildew and mold), unclean people (from menstruating women and sick people to corpses) and unclean animals and food (pork, shellfish, certain birds and reptiles, etc.). They were to avoid these things for two reasons: (1) their holiness was in their ritual cleanliness and touching unclean things spoiled that; and (2) being unclean also meant they were separated from the rest of the community and no one could be holy all by themselves. So, to be holy meant to be connected to God's holy people and that meant you needed to be clean and "not touch."
Jesus definitely seems to have a different perspective. He touched lepers. He associated with and ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. He welcomed Gentiles as well as Jews. He touched and raised the dead. Indeed, one of His best teachings - the parable of the Good Samaritan - is about touching and associating with someone you shouldn't touch.
Jesus even said Himself in Mark 7:15-23:
"Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'" . . . "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "
So, to be holy . . . does it mean I should touch or not? What do you think?
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Just not that simple?
ReplyDeleteSo why did God set up a system that He would later blow out of the water and say, "no guys you are going about this the wrong way"? Why not just say from the beginning what Jesus said?
ReplyDeleteGreat comments. . . I wonder what is meant by not that simple. As for the system, I wonder how much of it is a system by God's intention and how much of it is a system that we created. What I mean is, Abraham was to be a blessing and so were his descendants and then we see a system develop that is all about religion and determining who does and doesn't qualify. Micah makes it pretty simple and many other OT writers are right in line with Jesus. I think God was clear all along, but the people tried to create something against his intention - a system.
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