In our day to day life, we will come across many tasks, of which some may be challenging and some may be relaxed and we may come across many such tasks. At the end of the day, in spite of giving our best efforts, the resultant in some tasks may be successful and in some we may not be satisfied as much as we are, but our efforts to overcome them make no difference. Our experiences how we dwelt through those times is expressed only through our emotions, either orally or in writing. Our great apostle Paul is no exception to any such emotions. He had about thirty years of tedious journeys and human relations before being a martyr. His emotions include rejoicing, praising, pain, grief, hope etc. And out of the blue came one such human emotion, disappointment.
Apostle Paul speaking about the ministries in the work of God, presume themselves as "scum" and "garbage", "We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world — right up to this moment." (1Corinthians 4:13, NIV).
Don't know how depressed was Paul, while writing/saying these words. A synonymous meaning can be drawn from the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:16-24. In spite of his number of miracles, parables about the kingdom of God, the people gave a deaf ear to these things. Despite of many prophets, His forerunner John the Baptist, Jesus himself, and the apostles, people are unoffended and unrepentant. These words of Paul may seem to come out of helplessness of the dire situation of this generation in the near future.
However, these two degrading and humiliating words still make sense, if thought properly. The greek words for scum and garbage are perikatharma and peripsema. When Paul was using this word perikatharma, he might mean an outcast or a person who is worthless and non considerable, and while using the word peripsema, he might mean the greasy and gluey part inside the kitchen utensils or a discardable or useless utensil. Now we can understand how gloomy and sad he might be after some dedicating, faithful, tired, and exhaustive travelling for the kingdom of God, since his conversion in AD 37(?), till his writing of this letter in AD 56(?), and till his martyrdom in AD 68(?). He had gone through every hard situation, we can read about his toil and hardships in 2Corinthians 11:16-33. He calls himself foolish, weak, runaway, scum, garbage etc. How hard life could have been for Paul in spreading the good news of the Lord with the stonyhearted, uncaring people around.
I would like to delve more deeply to make you understand and take you to the grossroot meaning of these two words in Paul's writing. Away from this subject for a while I would like to take you to 1897's, when Mahatma Gandhi, as we call him the father of India and his wife Kasturba were staying in South Africa with his young law clerks in "Beach Grove Villa, a beautiful, spacious five bedroom house", writes the author Neelima Dalmia Adhar, in her authorial "The Secret Diary of Kasturba". She goes on to explain about the chamber pot and it's purpose. How lowly Paul would have been while writing the word peripsema, which meant the greasy and gluey part inside the kitchen utensils or a discardable or useless utensil(s). Neelima Dalmia Adhar writes about Kasturba' experience on one fine day. The author goes on like this, "All my life I had looked upon the cleaning of toilet pots [chamber pot is a bowl kept in a bed room and used as toilet at night] as the lowliest of jobs; a task that condemned those who did it as sub-humans, unfit to even reside inside the city limits where decent folks lived. I knew that even their shadows were unclean and deemed you ritually impure if they were to fall upon you. These wretched cleaners were allowed into our homes only in the thick of the night, so that no one set sight on their ill-omened faces while they went about their jobs of removing night soil [the human excreta] from homes of the upper castes. And now Mohandas [Gandhi] tells me to defile myself and clean my own toilet and if need be, others toilets as well! How dare he?"
The author writes about Kasturba' experience when "a new Christian house guest moved into Beach Grove Villa. The atmosphere of our open and always welcoming home must have lured him to stay, but I felt a sharp twinge of loathing. That lowly malech! [the last or the fourth varna in the hindu caste hierarchy. The caste system divides humans into four main categories - Brahmins at the top, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras or Malechas at the bottom] I couldn't bear to be eating from the same plate as him. And what if he touched the faucets of my kitchen and polluted them? ..within the twenty-four hours of his arrival. Unaware or probably unmindful of the rules of Beach Villa Grove, he had left his un-emptied chamber pot under his bed and was gone for the day. I was furious. I knew Mohandas would pick up the dirty pot of the stranger, empty it out, clean it and place it back for him to soil again. To prevent him from the humiliation, suppressing my own outrage and spilling tears, I yanked out the filthy pot, holding my breath as I dragged it down the stairs and emptied it out into the main collection trough. ..as I lugged the pot downstairs with angry pouring out of my eyes. "Ek toh malech! Upar se uska pot mai uthaaon? [Besides being an outcast! why should I empty his pot? - translated into english from hindi language]."
Such was the experience of Kasturba about the human excreta chamber pot. Till now (2019), in northern India, human scavengers are at work. Indian states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi etc. have human scavengers, who are seen lowly in the society. Links provided below to know more about the lifestyle of human scavengers.
Coming back to our subject - It is justifiable on part of Paul in using the words perikatharma and peripsema due to non responsive people towards the good news. Although these greek words might mean outcast, worthless, non considerable, discardable, useless; with right interpretation we can learn something extraordinary from these two filthy, self blasphemous words of Apostle Paul.
In the dye industry these very worthless chamber pots, waste vats and cesspool which Paul equates himself with, can't contain fresh water and are worthy of what they contain. Since the time man has acquired the knowledge of dying, the chamber pots and large vats are used for holding liquid dyes. Consider the dyes like royal purple, true purple, imperial purple etc. which are used by noble families. The dye gives the colour to the cloth which differentiate between the aristocratic and the normal citizens. The purpose of the vat or chamber pot is to give what it is filled with. It's like the concept of redemption, from the old or the past to the new, the process of purification or atonement. It's like an expiation for the guilty. The worth of expiation or atonement is nothing but the Blood of Christ. In the Old Testament we can see many daily and annual redemptive sacrifices of sheep, bull, etc. done by the High Priest for sin and guilt as part of temple sacrifices, which will re-establish the covenant between God and man/humans. But in the New Covenant, Jesus "..entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. [In the old Covenant] the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ [in the New Covenant], who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death.." (Hebrews 9:11-14 NIV). "Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Hebrews 9:25,26 NIV). "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. (1Timothy 2:5,6 NIV).
The gospel of Jesus Christ is which that carry the Blood of Christ which will wash and cleanse you from all sin and guilt. Come to that redemptive and salvific Blood and cleanse yourself.
*Words within parentheses are my additions and a hindi translation into english as well.
Sources :
1. Pages 98, 100, 101, The Secret Diary of Kasturba by Neelima Dalmia Adhar, ISBN: 978-93-86036-53-7, first published in Tranquebar Press by westland ltd 2016.
2. Links about human manual scavengers.
(a). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J6d8cfBvR3w
(b). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l-xrOYYuoWg
(c). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OuKeydsNxHY
(d). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oXYRjqivvhA
(e). https://www.facebook.com/65543352052/posts/10157603500187053/