No Earthly Good

Last year I attended a beautiful wedding down in Texas of a friend of mine. Afterwards I wound up at something of an afterparty with a group of believers and people I knew from a million years ago in "church" that I attended.  We were sitting around discussing theology with other people in patio furniture between two hotels. There was one man with a professed faith in Christ, who was approached by one of the modest women who attended the wedding  and she offered a handshake with her introduction. He didn't move from his seat, looked at her hand, and then looked her in the eyes and said "I don't touch women."
That event has crossed my mind at least a dozen times since then and I think about that hyper sheltered impropriety mindset. I know some people who also will not be on a prayer call with someone of the opposite gender to pray because they have a hypervigilance to the supposition of scandal.  
While I know people have personal convictions and all, I've thought about the subject a few passages have come to my mind regarding this over implication of fencelaw. Starting in John 4

John 4 

 So He *came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.7 There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.”

Right off the bat what stands out to me is that Christ is talking to a woman. Not only is He talking to a woman, He's waiting alone for this woman to show up. Christ does not seemed concerned with what would be said or implied or twisted by waiting alone to talk to this woman. He just waits to speak to her. 

8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

His disciples left him alone and went to go get food, and Christ is alone waiting to talk to a woman and asks her for a drink.  He's alone and He's asking for her to share water with Him. There are some who would never even get this far without casting aspersion of nefarious motives on someone who is doing this. Christ, who is without sin is doing this- because there isn't anything about this exchange that is improper nor sinful. 

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 She *said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

They talk theology, alone.  This is not improper or sin. 

15 The woman *said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” 16 He *said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus *said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” 19 The woman *said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Christ sat with a woman that was living with a man who was not her husband. HE knew what was going on when He chose to sit alone with her and discuss the things of God. There are people now, today that would cast judgements and condemnations on Christ Himself for these actions if He were in their church. 

23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman *said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus *said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Spirit and Truth. I wonder sometimes how the over emphasis of reputational anxiety fits within the context of Truth. Is it possible that the fear based scenarios and caring so much about how people MIGHT distort matters that are NOT sin into thinking that they ARE sin often times has a lot to do with ego rather than  "avoiding the appearance of evil"? 

27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and *said to the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

The disciples DIDN'T look at the situation and say "What do you seek" or "Why are you speaking with her." They didn't come out and be like "oh the sin of speaking with a woman even though you are a full grown adult people!!!" Another passage that keeps coming to my mind is this dinner in Luke 7 but backing up a little bit we see Christ speaking about the generation He was with

Luke 7 

31 “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

He's stating outright that these grown people were acting like children.  Grown people with made up rules "you didn't do this thing" and "I don't like this and that." From this example of calling out the childishness of these people He goes right into the point about those who are too concerned with their reputation and how people will evil optics will find evil optics regardless as to if actual evil has occurred. John the Baptist preached and walked in the Spirit of Elijah proclaiming the Messiah, and they still chose to invent the "appearance of evil".  Christ who is without sin (even when sitting alone having a conversation with a woman) who ate and drank (of which some christians would deem is a sin in of itself) seems pretty self confident in His identity as He reminds them to grow up and be adults. 

 36 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. 

Christ had PHYSICAL CONTACT with a woman who was KISSING His feet. While we ourselves should not accept worship as Christ alone is worthy of it, the point im making here is that He was touched by this woman.  A woman, a sinful one at that, was touching Him, and He did not rebuke it. Christ did not incur sin because this is not a sin. Who does object to such "obscenity"?

39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”40 And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”

The Pharisees that are hyper-image and reputationally focused with man made customs and burdones redefinitions of what is proper or not are all standing around at this and they cast a collective judgement. This group that of ostracizations that is SUPPOSED to be the ones preaching repentance and embracing those that would return to the fellowship of God- get all smug in their pretensions exclusion. Pride, Ego, and childishness. This hard hearted obstruction of things that God is doing right in front of their faces because they're worried that someone might see it as "unclean" or "improper". These Pharisees were just as sinful as the woman that they were excluding, but they'd somehow convinced themselves in their own sense of self righteousness that they weren't, and that she didn't belong in the same group as they were.  

 44 Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. 47 For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” 49 Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” 50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Christ rebukes those Pharisees who have so many man made "holiness customs" and "righteous decrees" hyperfixate on their sense of purity culture. Yes, Purity is important. Yes we should avoid the appearance of evil, but No, two adults talking unsupervised because they're not children isn't the appearance of evil. Two people being interested in each other isn't sin. Two people shaking hands isn't improper. There is a saying of people who are overly religious in the sense that they confine and burden up their lives into practical ineffectuality. 

"They're so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good" 

What if Jonah was like "I'm to holy or righteous to be seen in Nineveh because that place is so exceedingly wicked and sinful" and refused to be around them?

.....oh wait