Are Our Hands Clean Enough?

Mao Tae Tung had blood on his hands! 70 million. 

Joseph Stalin had blood on his hands! 62 million. 

Adolf Hitler had blood on his hands! 10 million. 

Genghis Khan had blood on his hands! 10 million. 

Vladimir Lenin had blood on his hands! 10 million. 

Benito Mussolini, Pol Pot, Carl Marx, each 3+ million.

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That’s a total of over 170 million people. Clean hands are important. In Judaism, the practice of ritual hand-washing was very prominent. Jews washed their hands on many occasions, when first getting out of bed, before daily prayers, and other occasions. The Old Testament has several examples of ritual hand-washing to symbolize innocence, see Deuteronomy 21:6-8 and Psalm 26:6, where David said, “I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your alter, O Lord.” The Roman governor Pilate washed his hands at the arraignment of Jesus Christ. He did it to symbolize his “withdrawal from responsibly” for whatever might happen to Jesus. It was a mere ritual. The act fooled no one! It was probably a widespread custom. Matthew records the event in chapter 27 of his Gospel. Matthew reported that Pilate took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood.”

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Stomer, Matthias c.1600-after 1650 b. Netherlands active Italy  

PILATE WASHING HIS HANDS

Stomer was fascinated by struggles with one’s conscience, and Pilate is the prime example of a man who goes against his conscience for the sake of peace. In the Gospel story, he ostentatiously washes his hands, saying that he is innocent of the blood of Christ. Light shines on Pilate, but his inner world is dark, and the full dilemma of his fatal misjudgment is the theme of this picture.

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Pilate’s word “innocent” obviously meant cleanness and purity-but, was it clean and pure? Of course not! Maybe it was Pilate’s illusion that the word water was perfectly pure. It is not the water, but the heart and mind that need purifying. Hands are our instrument of action, and we just cannot wash them and feel what we do is good work. The washing of hands is an important action and still today we say, “I wash my hands of this entire situation” which implies escapism, which is man’s natural response to avoid difficult situations. We know that even though Pilate washed his hands, clean hands are not enough. Pilate knows that now!