Now I sit me down to eat
And this old saw I shall repeat:
If my hands I have not laved
There is no way I shall be saved.
For through my mitts, begrimed by toil,
My soul shall also be made soiled.
This is fact—it’s true, I know,
Because my teachers told me so.
And by this same fine way of thought
I won’t be helping Mom a lot—
For if I “give it all to God”
There’s naught for her. Ah, what a fraud!
But since you ask, I’m not so sure
Such rules have kept my motives pure.
I tend to seek what’s best for me…
And that’s what’s best for you, you see.
But can I possibly believe
Such shams as this the Lord won’t grieve?
The things one eats don’t spoil the man—
That’s all just crap, you understand?
Oh, yes—I see! My heart’s the key!
It’s not my gut shall set me free.
But Jesus says without a doubt
What God don’t plant he’ll sure root out.
I’m just not sure; what does this mean?
I thought that all green plants were clean.
There must be some that God will burn…
And they’re the ones that we should spurn!
Postscript
What did Jesus mean about
The blonde leading the blonde?
I didn’t get a clear answer
On that.
Peter is pleased with himself that he “gets” Jesus teaching in response to the Pharisees’ criticism about the washing of hands. In his mind, he was just asking for clarification about Jesus parables “for James and John, because they’re a little slow in the uptake.”
We know from later historical details, though, that Peter does not really “get” the distinction about what’s “clean” and “unclean.” So here, once again, he misses the mark a bit.