One of my bucket list items is to go to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania for the Groundhog Day celebration. I think it would be fun to see the spectacle they put on around Phil, the groundhog that supposedly decides whether there will be more winter or an early Spring. This year he predicted an early Spring, by the way. His track record is around 40 percent, which puts him near the top of my list for weathermen.
Spring is coming, whether a groundhog is involved or not. And with it comes Spring Cleaning. You know what that is, right? It is the annual urge to clean your home. It is so popular a thing that we all know that phrase. But why do we get the urge to clean in the spring? What is so special about that season vs. all the others for cleaning the home? You don’t really hear about Winter Cleaning, do you? Summer or Autumn Cleaning just isn’t a thing.
I did some research and found three explanations for this. One comes from China. The Chinese have a tradition of cleaning their homes in anticipation of the new year. The Chinese New Year occurs later than the Western New Year. They sweep their floors and clean the house as a way of removing bad luck and misfortune that “accumulates” with the dirt. Right after the new year they prohibit any sweeping, lest they accidentally sweep away any good fortune that comes with the season. Another reason for the urge to clean in the Spring comes from the Jewish Passover customs. The Israelites had to hurriedly leave the land of Egypt and were forbidden to make any leavened bread, a time consuming enterprise. During the Passover time is it considered ungrateful to keep any leavened bread in the house. Homeowners can’t even have crumbs of that kind of bread on the floor. So they clean the house in order to make sure they don’t inadvertently defile the home.
Spring cleaning may also have a lot to do with biology. Spring brings with it more sunlight and we usually sleep less when the days are longer. Our bodies produce less melatonin when there is more sun so we don’t get as sleepy like we do in the winter. We may like to clean simply because we have more energy to do so now that our bodies are “waking up” for the year.
What about ourselves? What lengths do we go to clean our bodies? How often do you take a shower or bath? Most people I know say they do it about once a day on average. But how often should we clean up? It depends on how dirty you get, of course. Many of us only actually need to take a shower or bath two to three times a week at most. If you spend a lot of time outdoors then the frequency needs to increase. And there are other factors, like skin allergies, or the presence of oily skin, that can change the amount of bathing needed. Health care professionals say to target about a 3 to 5 minute shower. And most people don’t need to shampoo their hair everyday either. Two to three times a week works for most types of hair.
How often did they bathe in biblical times? Most people certainly did not bathe everyday. But hand and foot washing was done regularly. It was a Jewish custom to wash hands before eating (an excellent idea, by the way), and most Jews observed this custom. In Luke’s gospel we get an account of Jesus not doing this, however:
Luke 11:37-41
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 was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
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. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
Take a moment and ask yourself what it means when Jesus says everything will be clean for you.
Think back to your days growing up. If you played outside and got dirty, then came inside, what was the first thing you were told to do? Most likely you were told to get yourself clean. But why? Why the emphasis on getting clean so quickly when you come inside? It can’t be a hygiene issue, or else you wouldn’t be allowed to get dirty in the first place. You can stay outside as long as you want with a dirty body and not a lot of people care. But as soon as you come inside you have to get clean. The answer is that you will get the house dirty. Your dirtiness transfers to other things.
Jesus is saying something else. Jesus talks about being clean on the inside. This is spiritual cleanliness. And it transfers too, only this kind of clean transfers to other people.
How much time do you devote to getting your outside clean?
How much time do you devote to getting your inside, your spirit, clean?
Studies show that a clean home impacts your physical health. People with clean houses tend to be healthier, and cleanliness is a pretty good predictor of good health. Cleaning helps us to improve our mood and increases our focus. Spiritual cleanliness can do the same thing, but not only for you. Spiritual cleaning helps those around you.
What if we focused on a different type of Spring Cleaning as we approached Easter?
God Bless