What makes something or someone holy?

Walter Eichrodt, in, The Theology of the Old Testament,

writes, “Of all the qualities attributed to the Divine nature, there is one which, by virtue of both the frequency and the emphasis with which it is used, occupies a position of unique importance. Namely, that of holiness.”

One biblical understanding of holiness concerns morality. Holiness as morality is indicated in Matthew where Jesus instructs his hearers, “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Jesus’ words are related to one of God’s commands: one from Deuteronomy, “Be blameless for I am blameless;” and the other from Leviticus, “Be holy for I am holy.”

In the film Forest Gump, someone asks slow-witted Forest: “Are you stupid?” Forest replies, “Stupid is as stupid does.” In the same way: holy is as holy does.

A Jewish couple were arguing over the name to give their firstborn. They finally asked the rabbi to come and intercede. “What is the problem?” the rabbi asked. The wife spoke first, “He wants to name the boy after his father, and I want to name the boy after my father.”

“What is your father’s name?” he asked the man. “Joseph.”

“And what is your father’s name?” he asked the woman. “Joseph.” The rabbi was stunned. “ So, w hat i s t he problem?”

It was the wife who spoke again. “His father was a horse thief, and mine was a righteous man. How can I know my son is named after my father and not his?” The rabbi thought and then replied, “Call the boy Joseph. Then see if he is a horse thief or a righteous man. You will know which father’s name he bears.”

What makes something or someone holy? One could say an object or a person is made holy by being loved. Yet something or someone can be loved in a perverted sense. It is only spiritual common sense that everything is not holy. Then what bestows holiness?

It was recently shared with me what makes an icon holy. Icons, paintings or wood carvings of saints, are not common in the Protestant tradition, but in the Orthodox Christian tradition they are prevalent. Icons represent the holiness that we perceive in, say, the Cross, the Holy Bible or the Lord’s Table.

In the Orthodox tradition, an icon becomes holy to an individual when it is kissed. S omething i s made holy when it is loved for the sake of goodness; someone is made holy when loved for the sake of goodness. When the intrinsic goodness in an object or a person is appreciated and its value appropriated, the object or person becomes holy.

In 2 Samuel 23, David is hiding from King Saul in a cave overlooking his hometown of Bethlehem. Three of his mighty warriors come to him. Speaking to himself, he is nonetheless overheard by his companions: “O that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!”

The warriors pretend to leave on an errand, but go to Bethlehem, fight their way through the gate and to the well, and bring a skin of the coveted water to David. But David would not drink of it. The Bible says, “He poured it out to the LORD, for he said, ‘The LORD forbid t hat I s hould d o t his. Can I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?’ ” The water had become holy, you see, because David had the heart to recognize the “goodness” which had brought it—the love of men for their captain. My friends, be good, be loved, be holy, for God is holy.