What Defiles A Person (Mk. 7:17-23)

When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 “But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. 21 From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. 23 All these evils come from within and they defile.”

After Jesus’ discourse with the Pharisees and Scribes about the traditions of the Jewish elders, the disciples asked Jesus to explain “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile (Mk. 7:15)".  Jesus explained that food or anything that is external to the body cannot, by itself, defile a person morally.  It does not enter into man’s heart which was considered the seat of man’s learning, morality, wisdom, and thinking.  Jesus drew a distinction between what is essential for salvation and what is not.  Mark inserted, “Thus he declared all foods clean (v. 19) to further explain the implication of Jesus’ words.  Jesus gave a new, radical teaching that there was no distinction between what the Mosaic Law and the tradition of the Pharisees defined as clean and unclean foods (Acts 10:9-16; 11:1-10).  Since the religious leaders of Israel no longer observed the Law as God intended, Jesus interpreted the Law for them.  But he does not say that the Law is no longer valid (Mt. 5:17).  Since the heart is the center of the moral life, evil deeds and vices originate in the hearts of people. 

Almighty God, you know if our hearts are pure when we bow our heads before you.  Let all that is hidden be revealed so that by your great mercy we can be healed of all moral afflictions and enter into your presence undefiled.  This we ask through Christ our Lord.  Amen!

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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.

                Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.