Mark 7:1-23
Clean and Unclean
1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"
6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,'[d] and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 11But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
14Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "
17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "
In the Law of Moses there are rules for keeping clean and unclean...The Book of Leviticus gives us many examples of clean and unclean...The Book of Leviticus also relates cleanliness to holiness...Cleanliness and uncleanliness is related to our hearts...
God created us and gave us a heart...God designed us with our hearts, and in His image...The heart is mysterious and complex, and confusing, much like our thoughts about our Creator...St. Augustine said this about our LORD and our hearts, "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."...Our hearts are always restless...They are searching for Him...
Jesus is questioned, by the Pharisees, on what makes one clean or defiled...What does it take to make one defiled?...Jesus talks about the heart...The heart needs to be pure...It wants to be pure, since God designed it...Jesus tells us we cannot be defiled, or our hearts can become unclean, not by what goes into you, but what comes out of you and your heart...He is talking about food, but I also think He is talking about all those things we see, hear, feel, or read about and make them our thoughts...These are our new thoughts...These new thoughts (of ours) come from something we see, hear, or read, or feel that is from others, and these things can make us unclean...But it doesn't have to...We are defiled, when we internalize these external things we see, hear, or feel and put them into our heart, when evil comes out...It is these new internalized thoughts and then the deeds of these things we have (seen, read about, or felt) that are internalized, and we put in our own thoughts and now they come out as evil thoughts, such as sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, slander, arrogance, or folly, that makes us unclean...
We are not defiled by these thoughts until we take ownership to those things we see, read about, hear, or feel, and we make them our personal thoughts...We are the one who internalizes that negative thing we have seen, heard, felt, or read about and make that thought our thought and turn it into evil...It is not another's thought or another's idea that makes our heart unclean, but it is how we accept or do not accept the negative and bad thought, that we receive each day...The mysterious part of our heart, takes our biases, what we have learned since birth, and mixes with the things we see, hear, feel, and read and we make them a new thought that we internalize...Since, God gives us complete, unfettered free will, we can reject negative or bad thoughts...Free will and free choice allows us to reject any thought, good or bad...Jesus tells us it is up to us, whether we use our free will and internalize these negative thoughts with our biases, and our backgrounds, and keep them and make them ours...We can just say, I do not believe that, or I do not believe in that and send that thought on its way and out of our heart...
Out of men's heart flows evil and evil thoughts...But also, flows the good things, from love that He put in our heart, when He created us...Our heart represents our freedom...Both good things and bad things can go into our hearts when we let them...
Jesus refers to God, very often as Father...A good, loving biological father will be loved...How could he not be?...We have a natural love for our Father who created and designed us...This is our deepest love, the love for our Father...This is the love and what St. Augustine was talking about...We want to get rid of our whys and our restlessness...We have an internal need and desire to get back to Him and His peace...Jesus said, My Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you...I do not give to you as the world gives...Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14:27)...He gives us a divine peace...We want to get back to the Garden of Eden, to see Him...