There are a lot of excuses at my age for not washing my hands. First of all, I haven鈥檛 done anything to get my hands dirty. That is because I am old and retired.
Twiddling my thumbs isn鈥檛 dirty work. 鈥淪tay home and practice social distancing when you are out,鈥� is the regular lifestyle of an old geezer like me. It seems to me the only way people would get close and talk to each other is if all cellphones were confiscated.听
Ed, my old neighbour in Saskatchewan, has suggested that I stop talking about taking away cellphones. He feels it makes me sound both old and completely out of touch with reality. I did not argue with my old friend, but reality is pretty much upside down lately. The whole world is waiting to get back to normal since COVID-19.
I spoke with one pastor relative who was frustrated there was no Easter service at his church that his congregation could attend in person. He streamed Sunday and Holy Week and Easter Services. He feels the emptiness of his church building with heartache at present.
Stay home, wash your hands often, and don鈥檛 touch your face; may feel like a trap and snare for many. As soon as we are advised to do something, we may resent it because it curtails our independence and our way of doing things. It always seems some ignore instructions while others live to correct those who aren鈥檛 doing as they should. When my grandson was a little guy, he always washed his hands after using the toilet. When I would come out of the bathroom he always questioned, 鈥淒id you wash your hands, Grandpa?鈥�
In scripture, Jesus was asked, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!鈥� Jews became ceremonially defiled during the ordinary circumstances of daily life and were cleansed by pouring water over their hands. This washing with water was meant to cleanse Jews in a spiritual sense, which kept them from becoming spiritually unclean. They isolated themselves from non-Jewish people as much as possible.
In today's sense, we wash our hands with soap and water to prevent becoming sick with COVID-19 . We do not fear COVID-19 will makes us spiritually unclean but physically ill. Jesus explained to his disciples what makes people spiritually unclean. He said about food Jews considered unclean to eat, 鈥淒on鈥檛 you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander. These are what make a man unclean, but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean.鈥�
We know crowds brought Jesus their lame, blind, crippled, mute, and others for help. Jesus healed them, and the people praised God for the healings. Jesus acted to provide healing for all sinners by his unwashed hands nailed to the cross in death as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
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