Cleanliness is next to godliness

This blog idea arose from a conversation last Wednesday at our ministerium (I have a feeling those meetings will be the breeding ground for many of these topics in the weeks and months to come). One of the pastors had visited a parishioner and was complaining to us about their level of cleanliness (or lack thereof) and that we needed to pray for them to clean up their house. I know I'm not innocent of having had similar thoughts about "dirty" people before, but as I think more about it, I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this thought - at least not entirely. I do think it is important for us to take care of ourselves and the possessions that we've been blessed with to the best of our abilities. However, the more I think about who God is and how God relates to us, the more convinced that the notion of cleanliness being next to godliness is wrong. I even question whether or not it is possible.

Our God is a dirty God. That is, he is a God who gets his hands dirty and associates with the people we like to call dirty or "unclean." We see this in Genesis 2 with the creation of people from dust. We see this in John 9 when Jesus makes mud to heal the blind man. We see this in God's passion for the poor, the widow and the orphan throughout the Bible - people who are dirty. We see this in Jesus' birth in the (presumably) dirty stable and placed in a dirty manger. We see in when Jesus washes the disciples' feet (John 13). We see this in Jesus' interaction with (and sometimes even touching) lepers & the sick (Matt. 8, Matt. 12, Matt. 14, Mark 1, Mark 6, Luke 5, Luke 13, Luke 14), menstruating women (Matt. 9, Mark 5, Luke 8), & the dead (Matt. 9, Mark 5, Luke 7, Luke 8) - all people presumed by his contemporaries to be dirty.

We see continually how the Pharisees are scolded by Jesus for their obsession with cleanliness - be it literal or symbolic. I think this can help us as we evaluate what is truly important as God's people: is it to be clean and free from dirt and the poor, or should we too get dirty once in awhile and live/work/play/help the "dirty" among us? Afterall, we're all dirty in some way: we carry disease, we're made of earthly elements which when considered alone are dirty, and we're sinners - the ickiest dirt. I think when we judge others based on their level of cleanliness, we're actually bringing judgment upon ourselves. I think we need to get our hands dirty like God and leave worries about cleanliness to the Pharisees. What do you think?