The Whited Sepulchre

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Debbie calling from Keokuk, Iowa.

Hello, Keokuk, Iowa. Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

What’s on your mind?

Hi. Actually, I don’t have a question. I wanted to share something really fun, I think, that you will find delightful from my family’s words.

My mom, when I was a kid, I’m the fifth of seven kids, and so, you know, there could be a lot of clutter.

And sometimes somebody would be coming over without a lot of warning.

And my mom would say, quick, guys, why did sepulchre approach?

And we knew that that meant throw everything in the closet and vacuum.

And then it looks clean.

And I never really thought about what it meant until I was a teenager.

And I said, Mom, why do you say why did sepulchre approach?

And she said, it’s in the Bible. Go look it up.

And so I went and I looked up whited sepulchre, and I found in Matthew 23, when Jesus is talking to the scribes and the Pharisees, and he’s calling them hypocrites.

And he says, you’re like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.

And I realized that when we threw everything in the closets and vacuumed, we were being like whited sepulchres.

And my mom thought it was funny and, you know, would say that.

But without even explaining it to us, it was just like her little private joke.

Well, so then, you know, fast forward, I have five children and there tends to be a lot of clutter at our house.

And I have carried on that little tradition of saying, why did Teplica approach?

And I had told my kids, this is why, you know, and it makes me laugh because we’re a little hypocritical when we’re pretending the house is clean when it isn’t.

But then this is the part that I think will really delight you.

A few months ago, one of my kids was looking for something and I heard them say to somebody,

Do you know where this is?

And one of them said, go look in the whited sepulcher, which is what they were calling the bins in the basement of stuff that still hadn’t been put away from the last time we had used the whited sepulcher.

And so it’s like a whole continuation.

It became another thing just in our family, and I think it’s really fun.

Debbie, Debbie, are you sitting down?

I am, I am.

Martha’s going to blow your mind.

Oh, I’m ready.

Well, Debbie already blew our minds. I mean, that is fantastic.

Martha, first spell this for us so everyone knows what we’re talking about.

Okay, whited, like the color white with a D, whited, something that’s been made white.

And then sepulchre, S-E-P-U-L-C-H-R-E, or you can spell it E-R. It’s spelled both ways.

And what is a sepulchre, by the way?

It’s where they would put the bodies.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes, exactly.

Exactly.

It’s a whitewashed tomb.

You’re absolutely right.

And I just, I love her application of this biblical image for what you’re talking about.

Yeah, it’s so great.

That’s fantastic.

Yeah, in antiquity and, you know, in the time of Jesus, this was a practice where people would whitewash tombs,

Usually with something like lime, to make them stand out so that, you know, you knew what it was.

You knew it was a tomb because you didn’t want to disturb or defile its contents.

And also you didn’t want to touch it accidentally because that would sort of defile you too.

You would be unclean, right.

Ritually unclean.

So as you said, Debbie, it’s these tombs that appear beautiful outward,

But are within full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.

Which pretty much describes my closet and my basement.

Mine too, I have to say.

I think that is a fantastic application of that expression.

But the larger point is that using whited sepulcher as an expression to refer to a person or situation that appears virtuous on the outside, but on the inside is actually not, is evil or is messed up, goes beyond your mother.

It’s widespread.

Oh, yeah.

And it’s got centuries of usage behind it.

Well, and she was, but what I love is she was knowingly, like she knew exactly where she had gotten it.

Yeah.

And she just, she just thought it was fun.

And, and I love that my kid carried it forward a bit.

And I was like, oh yeah.

Yeah.

That’s a great, that’s a natural extension of usage.

Sure.

Yes.

This is my new favorite expression for this.

We’ve talked before on the show about, some people call it making a lasagna, you know, where you just put a bunch of unrelated things.

Layers or or mummification, yeah, but scoop and shove, one listener called it.

Or the white tornado, but I think this takes the cake. This is brilliant. This, I’m, I’m gonna borrow this if you don’t mind. I will carry it on myself, Debbie.

Well, I think that’s the greatest thing ever, and it’s kind of full circle because my parents grew up in Southern California and you guys are in San Diego, right?

They grew up, yes, I grew up in Boston, so she was saying that to us 3,000 miles away. And now I’m in Iowa telling you in Southern California, and you brought it back.

You and a whole bunch of other people. This is fantastic. Thank you so much, Debbie.

Take care of yourself, Debbie.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

All right. Bye-bye.

All right. We’re ready for you to come over and talk with us, so call us 877-929-9673.