Ritual Washing To Washing The Feet Of The Other

Psalm 15 asks, who will enter your tent O Lord? Psalm 24 asks, who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? Luke 10 asks, what must I do to inherit eternal life? This is a repeated question in the Scriptures. In other words the question is, will I enter God’s tent? The sad answer to that question given by the Pharisees and teachers of law of todays gospel appears to be, one who does ‘ritual washing’.

Ritual washing (Mark 7: 1-23) has nothing to do with cleaning ones hands for the reasons of hygiene. It means that when they went out they came in contact with non-Jewish, gentiles and coming in contact with them defiled them. Therefore they had this ritual washing and sprinkling of water on the things that are bought from the market etc. A parallel in our context is of the high caste person coming in contact with the lower caste person, and this has to cleanse themselves to return to their purity. They considered all that are outside them as unholy and less worthy etc. They embraced a ‘spirituality of avoidance’ and exclusion. They avoided or excluded everything other then themselves. The avoidance was so strong that in some sense they avoided ‘even god’. Jesus was attacking such dehumanising beliefs, practices, and traditions.

inclusivity, acceptance, best quotations

Jesus’ answer to this question perhaps is in John 13: 1-15; Jesus washed his disciples feet and told them wash one another’s feet. Wash one another’s feet as a sign of acceptance, forgiveness, and inclusivity. This assures us a chance to dwell in God’s tent. We will not enter that tent alone, but with the other. Jesus prompts a ‘spirituality of involvement and inclusivity’.

As Mother Teresa decided to leave her home at Yugoslavia for India, her friends well-wishers, elders etc, warned her, saying, do you know what you are heading at? India is a dirty, filthy, place. It is a place with sickness, many gods and goddess; your religion will get corrupted, you will become dirty and sick. Yet mother left for India and arrived in India. Eventually she would leave the comfort of his convent and touch the untouchables, she carried people who are dirty and sick, people oozing with pus and blood. Apparently she cleaned them, but in truth, she herself was getting cleansed by fire.

Isn’t there an element of untouchably and defilement in the story of the Good Samaritan? Who will not reach out someone wounded and dying on the roadside? The priest and the Levite were going, most probably, for performing rituals. They passed on the other side lest get defiled by a dying or dead man. The Samaritan had no defilement and untouchability; thus he without hesitation did the needful. Jesus emphatically concluded, “go and do likewise”.

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