One of the huge cultural issues that modern Western readers miss in the Gospels is the way that Jesus (seemingly) breaks purity laws. In Matthew 8-9 we see Jesus encounter a variety of people who would be considered “unclean” in ancient Israel: a leper, Gentiles, two demonized men in tombs, a woman with vaginal bleeding, and a dead girl. To be unclean was to be in a state of “ritual impurity”, it meant that these people were not supposed to be in the presence of the holy because their impurity would desecrate whatever holy item or person the touched or came near. These purity codes provided Israelites with a means to express their devotion to God: by recognizing God’s holiness was not an ordinary thing and ordering their lives in a particular way (according to the Law) they showed their desire to worship God and live in His presence. While impurity (being unclean) was not a sin, the Israelites were commanded to deal with it and cleanse themselves to maintain the holiness of their community.
In the books of Leviticus and Numbers we see examples of this pertaining to the above groups:
Lepers: Leviticus 13:9-17, 45-56
When a person contracts a leprous disease, he shall be brought to the priest. 10 The priest shall make an examination, and if there is a white swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white, and there is quick raw flesh in the swelling, 11 it is a chronic leprous disease in the skin of his body. The priest shall pronounce him unclean; he shall not confine him, for he is unclean. 12 But if the disease breaks out in the skin, so that it covers all the skin of the diseased person from head to foot, so far as the priest can see, 13 then the priest shall make an examination, and if the disease has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease; since it has all turned white, he is clean. 14 But if raw flesh ever appears on him, he shall be unclean; 15 the priest shall examine the raw flesh and pronounce him unclean. Raw flesh is unclean, for it is a leprous disease. 16 But if the raw flesh again turns white, he shall come to the priest; 17 the priest shall examine him, and if the disease has turned white, the priest shall pronounce the diseased person clean. He is clean.
Women with irregular vaginal “bleeding”: Leviticus 15:25-30
If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness; as in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. 26 Every bed on which she lies during all the days of her discharge shall be treated as the bed of her impurity; and everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her impurity. 27 Whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. 28 If she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count seven days, and after that she shall be clean. 29 On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 30 The priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement on her behalf before the Lord for her unclean discharge.
The Dead: Numbers 19:11-20
Those who touch the dead body of any human being shall be unclean seven days. 12 They shall purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean; but if they do not purify themselves on the third day and on the seventh day, they will not become clean. 13 All who touch a corpse, the body of a human being who has died, and do not purify themselves, defile the tabernacle of the Lord; such persons shall be cut off from Israel. Since water for cleansing was not dashed on them, they remain unclean; their uncleanness is still on them.
14 This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel with no cover fastened on it is unclean. 16 Whoever in the open field touches one who has been killed by a sword, or who has died naturally, or a human bone, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17 For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt purification offering, and running water shall be added in a vessel; 18 then a clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the furnishings, on the persons who were there, and on whoever touched the bone, the slain, the corpse, or the grave. 19 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean ones on the third day and on the seventh day, thus purifying them on the seventh day. Then they shall wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water, and at evening they shall be clean. 20 Any who are unclean but do not purify themselves, those persons shall be cut off from the assembly, for they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Since the water for cleansing has not been dashed on them, they are unclean.
Strikingly, in our stories from Matthew, Jesus is not concerned that He will be made unclean by His interactions with these groups of people. Given that Jesus was an obedient Israelite, this would be very surprising to both His disciples and on-lookers. And what’s even more surprising is that Jesus did command some of the people He healed to follow through with purity regulations themselves (Matthew 8:4).So why did Jesus disregard purity laws for Himself?
There are two concepts in the Old Testament that provide us with an answer to this question. First, God always has the power to cleanse the impure by obliterating impurity with His presence and power. God makes Moses holy (he glows!) by meeting with him on Mount Sinai. God makes Isaiah holy by having an angel touch his lips with a coal in a vision (Isaiah 6:8). Second, the priests who serve in God’s presence (the Temple) cannot be made impure by any of their priestly duties, even though they handle corpses and blood, the two most impure items in the Old Testament. As long as they are serving faithfully in God’s presence they have nothing to worry about. Both of these reasons could have provided Jesus the rationale to claim that issues of purity were non-issues for Him. He was full of God’s presence and power via the Holy Spirit (Matthew 4 when He’s baptized) and so He had the pure power to override impurity. Furthermore, Jesus was always serving God in God’s presence; He was the true High Priest endowed with the power to give holiness and purity to those He chose.
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