Context No. 3139 of 4322 · Mark

Mark 7:14-23: in context

14He called all the multitude to himself and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15There is nothing from outside of the man that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. 16If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!” 17When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him, 19because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, making all foods clean?” 20He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. 21For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, 22covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23All these evil things come from within and defile the man.”

Jesus calls the crowd and tells them plainly: nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him; it is what comes out of a person that defiles him. Privately he explains to the puzzled disciples: food passes through the stomach, not the heart; but out of the human heart come evil thoughts, immorality, theft, murder, deceit, envy, pride, folly. All these come from within, and these defile a person.

Jesus relocates the source of defilement. The Pharisees fixed on external purity, clean hands, the right foods, but Jesus says the real problem is not outside us but inside, in the heart. It is not what goes in but what comes out, the evil thoughts and desires that spring up from within, that defile us. This is deeply humbling: we cannot cleanse ourselves by managing our externals, because the pollution is internal, at the level of the heart. And it points straight to our need for the deeper cleansing only God can give, a new heart, not merely clean hands.

Do I focus on managing my external appearance of goodness, when the real defilement is in my heart and needs God's inner cleansing?

Sources

Mark 7:21: "For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts."
Mark 7:15: "There is nothing from outside of the man that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man."
Psalm 51:10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me."