Moral Defilement Comes from the Heart (Mark 7:14-23)

He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15 Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” [16] 17 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 has challenged the way purity is being discussed, he turns back to the crowd and calls everyone to listen and understand. He states his point in a compact way: what enters a person from outside does not defile, but what comes out from within does (Mk 7:14-15).

Here, “defile” is about moral and religious uncleanness, not about hygiene. Jesus is redirecting attention from external sources of impurity to the interior source of sin. Mark even notes that some ancient manuscripts add a line like “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mk 7:16), which fits the seriousness of Jesus’ summons to understand.

Later, in private, the disciples ask what he means by this “parable,” that is, this compact saying (Mk 7:17). Jesus explains with a plain example. Food enters the body, but it does not enter the heart. It goes to the stomach and then passes out (Mk 7:18-19). The point is that external food cannot reach the inner center of the person where moral decisions are made.

Mark then adds a brief comment: “Thus he declared all foods clean” (Mk 7:19). In the life of the early Church, questions about food and table-fellowship became important as Gentiles were welcomed into the people of God (Acts 10:9-16; 11:1-18; 15:19-20; Rom 14:14-20). Because many Jewish believers still kept the Old Covenant food rules, and Gentile believers did not, shared meals could quickly become a point of tension and division (Lev 11; Deut 14). Mark’s wording, as written, signals that the old ceremonial food boundaries no longer define purity in the kingdom Jesus announces. The parallel passage in Matthew makes the same central moral point by focusing on what comes from the heart (Mt 15:10-20).

Jesus then restates his main conclusion in direct terms: what comes out of a person is what defiles (Mk 7:20). He follows this with a list of evils that arise “from within people, from their hearts” (Mk 7:21). Mark’s list mixes interior vices and outward acts because the two belong together. Evil thoughts do not stay hidden. They shape choices, words, and actions. Scripture often speaks of the heart as the center of a person’s life—thoughts, desires, conscience, and will—and therefore as the place where fidelity to God is decided (Jer 17:9-10). Other New Testament writers also use similar catalogues of sins to show what a life turned away from God produces (Rom 1:28-31; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Pt 4:3).

The passage ends where it began. The problem Jesus names is not an external substance entering the body. The problem is the interior source that sends evil outward into life. “All these evils come from within and they defile” (Mk 7:23).

Lord Jesus, give me a clean heart. Teach me to see where sin begins within me, and to turn to you with a truthful conscience and a steady will. Amen.

________________________

Sources and References

• The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Mk 7:14-23.
• Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, Mark 7:14-23, p. 78.
• The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990), Mark 7:14-23, p. 612, para. 47.
• Navarre Bible: St. Mark, Mark 7:14-23, pp. 187-188.
• Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018), Mark 7:14-23, p. 995.
• The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century (3rd rev. ed., 2020), Mark 7:14-23, pp. 1259-1260.