My family loves gadgets. Growing up we were one of the first homes to have a personal computer. We got touch lamps when they first came out too (note: if you have a touch activated lamp try holding onto it while someone else touches your hand. It is magical). My wife loves gadgets too. Recently she brought home a steam cleaner. We took it out of the box and immediately went to work on the bathrooms. I have to say, it is a very satisfying experience steam cleaning sinks, floors, and toilets.
People like to watch things get clean. You can easily find on the internet videos of people pressure washing things. There are even video games where all you do is pressure wash stuff. It’s amazing how much we like that.
The cleaning industry is a large one. In 2024 the size of the global cleaning market was over 415 billion dollars. And there are more than 350,000 new jobs expected this year in the janitorial services. Getting things clean is a big deal. One way to gage the importance of a job is to see what happens if those services go away. This does happen sometimes when people go on strike. What would happen if trash collectors, for example, went on strike for a few weeks in your city? It wouldn’t be long before everyone felt the effects of trash building up outside their homes and places of work. How would you feel if you went to a restaurant and saw a large pile of trash just outside the door? You might think twice about going in.
There are several reasons why we clean. Health is an obvious one. But other reasons exist too. We clean because we care about appearances. Things look better and give you a better feeling when they are clean. There are also social reasons. We care what others think of us, and being clean goes a long way towards being perceived well by others. I also think we clean because we care about ourselves and the environment in which we live.
There is a spiritual aspect to being clean. You see this in the Old and New Testament.
Leviticus 14:8-9
8 “The person to be cleansed must wash their clothes, shave off all their hair and bathe with water; then they will be ceremonially clean. After this they may come into the camp, but they must stay outside their tent for seven days. 9 On the seventh day they must shave off all their hair; they must shave their head, their beard, their eyebrows and the rest of their hair. They must wash their clothes and bathe themselves with water, and they will be clean.
2 Kings 5:9-10
9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
In the Old Testament bathing had a lot to do with ritual cleansing. By the time the Greeks and later the Romans came into power, the practice gained popularity as a social exercise. Public baths were places people would go to clean and relax. Bathing was part of life in Jesus’ time.
John 13:4-5
4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
What does it mean to be clean, spiritually? You have heard the phrase “Wash me and I will be white as snow.” When we say things like this we draw a comparison between sin and dirtiness. Likewise, being clean means the removal of dirt, or sin. Being clean spiritually means being spiritually healthy. It means being acceptable to others and to God. And it means we care about our spiritual well-being.
When we do a deep cleaning in our house, we decides what needs to be gotten rid of. We decide what needs to be given away, and we decide what needs some loving care. Likewise when we do a deep spiritual cleaning we agree to let go of sinful things. We decide what aspects of our faith need to be shared. And we focus on relationships that need some loving care.
Being clean is a big industry in the world. It should be an even bigger “industry” for our faith.
God Bless