Semmelweiss was professionally attacked, denied tenure at the university where he taught, and eventually suffered a mental breakdown from the stress, being placed in an insane asylum "where he was beaten until he died" at age 47 on August 13, 1865. His only crimes were he "believed in God and germs." (All quotes are from Kellmeyer in a comment on an article about Lister.)
Not two years later, on March 16, 1867, Dr. Lister presented a paper titled "An Address on the Antiseptic System of Treatment in Surgery," and medicine was changed forever. Kellmeyer believes the only reason he was accepted and Semmelweiss was not is that Lister was not Catholic.
If you know anything about Judaism, you know that hand washing was required of certain people at certain times, beginning in Exodus, shortly after the delivery of the Law on Mt. Sinai. The LORD said to Moses, “You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the LORD, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations (Exod 30:17-21).
Hand washing is still practiced today by Orthodox Jews. Although hand washing is certainly a healthy custom, that is not what the law is about in Judaism. In fact, it is required that the hands be clean before they are washed and soap is not used in the ceremonial washing. It is about ritual, not hygiene, and is symbolic of washing away impurities from our lives. However, by the first century the ritual was just that—an empty practice that never reached the heart. Jesus scandalized the Pharisees when he refused to wash his hands before a meal and denounced them for missing the whole point of the ritual. While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you (Luke 11:37-41).
As Christians we also have a washing ritual, and too many times we also miss the point. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name (Acts 22:16). Too many sing "Just As I Am" and think that means they do not have to make a large and fundamental change in their lives by putting away impurity when they commit their lives to the Lord. Yes, Jesus will accept you as you are, but he expects you to change who you are. Go your way and sin no more (John 8:11). But some want to keep living as they have, enjoying the same lifestyles that smack far more of wallowing in the mud than washing away sins. We must become "new creatures," living new lives with new motivations and new goals—living for Him and not for ourselves. When we confess Him, we deny ourselves. If that has not happened, we are just like those first century Pharisees whom Jesus so strongly denounced: "Hypocrites."
Semmelweiss understood the value of literal washing and in a very real way, died for his belief. God expects us to die to sin, beginning with that first symbolic washing that for some of us occurred so very long ago. Was it only a symbol, or did it really mean something?
…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, (Eph 5:25-26).
Dene Ward