NOTES for Mar 6:54-7:8
Jesus' conversation with the Pharisees about washing hands is a fine illustration of the essence of that conflict between Jesus and part of the Pharisaic brotherhood which eventually led many Pharisees to outright hatred of the One whom, as it seemed to them, they had awaited so eagerly. In this case, of course, the issue is not hygiene, not the need to wash one's hands before eating, but precisely ritual washing, without which, as some Pharisaic teachers believed, one could not touch the bread that was about to be broken and blessed. Believing Jews did not and do not eat bread without blessing it in a special way.
It should be noted that this washing was not so much the fulfillment of Torah norms as a tribute to tradition. The Torah, which indeed requires washing for those taking part in a temple sacrifice, says nothing about the need for washings before blessing food in general or bread in particular at home. But evidently, for some, perhaps quite significant, part of the Pharisees, refusal to follow this and other similar late and secondary traditions was equivalent to apostasy from God. And Jesus responds rather sharply to the accusations against His disciples, as usual the disciples are not accused directly, with all responsibility being placed on the Teacher. He does not enter into any discussions with His opponents about tradition. He merely reminds them of Isaiah's words about true and false worship of God, that honoring God with words does not mean honoring Him with the heart.
What, then, does He mean? After all, such "excessive" piety, at first glance, does not especially hinder genuine piety. One can, of course, be faithful to God without washing one's hands, but washing one's hands would seem unable to hinder such faithfulness either. And yet Jesus sees the situation differently. The matter is probably not only that "excessive" piety so often becomes an occasion for pride and self-assertion at the expense of one's neighbor.
The matter is, above all, in the spiritual roots of such "piety." The point is that a person who does not want his relationship with God to deepen and intensify, and who fears such deepening, is often inclined to replace it with excessive religiosity, which gives rise to "super-piety." The person unwilling to go "inward," to deepen his relationship with God, will inevitably go "outward," along the path of increasing the number of religious rites and religious obligations. And the more numerous they become, the fewer the chances of returning to the path of movement "inward." Jesus, of course, understands this perfectly well. And He condemns the movement "outward" in the most decisive way. For by moving that way, one will never come to the Kingdom.