Faith Under Construction

How would you define dirty, filthy? I asked a group of friends the other evening, and we had some fun trying to get a satisfactory definition of dirt. Why is it that if a boy plays in the mud he gets dirty, but a woman can put a mud-pack on her face and she is not dirty! To be sweaty is dirty, though it comes from one's own skin. And so on. Our conclusion was that dirt is something that is socially unacceptable, that indicates slovenliness and lack of care of one's body, that smells bad, that contains elements of decay . . . so one could go on describing dirt without ever reaching an over-all definition.

By and large, people were dirtier in Biblical Palestine than they are in Britain today, because of the shortage of water, especially in the desert. I have no doubt that Jesus and his disciples were very sweaty and would not be socially acceptable here. In fact, the Pharisees who were meticulous in their washing, according to their own hygienic and dietary traditions, accused the disciples of being dirty — not washing their hands in the proper way before meals, nor their cups and pots and brass vessels. (Mark 7: 2-4.) I can just imagine them saying: "CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS!" But Jesus retorted rather sharply, reminding them that their rules of cleanliness were not commanded by God but were merely the traditions of men. Then, in an important statement, Jesus defined what HE meant by dirt. Calling the people to him and claiming their full attention, he said: "Hearken to me everyone, and understand. There is nothing from outside a man that, entering into him, can defile him, because it does not enter into his heart but goes into his stomach and so passes on. But the things that come out of him, these are what defile the man. For from within, out of the heart, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, envy, slandering