Steven Carr

Luke 7:44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

Jesus was just about to eat, and he complains that he does not have any water to wash his feet with.

How did Jesus intend to wash his feet before eating without getting water on his hands?

In Luke 11 , Jesus lambasts Pharisees for washing their hands before they eat, and in Luke 7 complains that Pharisees don't give him water to wash his feet before he ate with them.

Jesus was a very hard dinner guest to please, wasn't he?

Clouseau

Feet washing for guests was normal, non-religious practice, presumably because of the dusty streets. Hand washing was a ceremonial tradition of the Pharisees that Jesus condemned as it gave only a false appearance of holiness.

Steven Carr

Dust only accumulated on feet, did it, not on hands?

How did Jesus intend to wash his feet before eating , without at the same time committing the horrible practice of washing his hands?

Is putting oil on your face while washing , as Jesus ordered in the Sermon on the Mount, a 'ceremonial' tradition?

If I can summarise Jesus teaching,
1) Wash feet before eating
2) Don't wash hands before eating
3) Wash face when fasting.

I suppose if you are the Son of God, descended from Heaven with only 3 years to impart the wisdom of the ages, then rules about washing must be very high on your list of things to teach about.

Clouseau

[QUOTE=Steven Carr;4541340]That's right. People don't walk on their hands.

Read carefully- 'a ceremonial tradition'. That did not mean that one could not wash ones hands in the usual way.

Steven Carr

Did Jesus or the disciples wash their hands in the usual manner?

And if somebody came to your house for dinner, and you knew that he refused to wash his hands before eating, would it be polite to offer him water to wash with?

Jesus came to earth from Heaven to spread a divine message to all mankind, and what does he do? He whines that he wasn't given water to wash his feet with when he was a guest at somebody's house.

Petty, I call it.

Still, I suppose the Gospellers had to fill up their books with something.

And as Jesus never spoke about abolishing slavery or racism , they had to record his complaints about his not being able to wash his feet.

Toto

Luke 11:37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.

39 Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41But give what is inside the dish [j] to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

42 "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

43 "Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

44 "Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it."

45 One of the experts in the law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also."

46 Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

47 "Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49Because of this, God in his wisdom said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' 50Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

52 "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."

53 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.

Jesus is just a bad guest. A kindly Pharisee invites him to dinner, and he heaps scorn on the poor guy, woe to him for not being totally perfect like Jesus.

But I thought that the point of this was either that washing was not part of the received Hebrew scriptures - it was added on by the Pharisees, or that it was not actually practiced by many in the first century.

Clouseau

[QUOTE=Steven Carr;4541418]I'm sure they were all well brought up. And brushed their teeth twice a day.