In the same way, they don't eat when they return from the market until they have had a wash. They observe many other rituals, like the washing of cups, pots, and pans.)
What a disaster is coming on you religious teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you're full of greed and self-indulgence.
When Pilate saw it was a lost cause, and that a riot was developing, he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I'm innocent of this man's blood. It's on your heads!” he told them.
They're just religious regulations—about food and drink, and various ceremonies involving washing—which were put in place until the time of God's new way of relating to him.
But if we are living in the light, as he is in the light, then we share in this friendship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, makes us clean from every sin.