Mark 7:14-23
Chapter 7
On True Purity
Jesus then called the crowd to him again and said: “Listen to me, everyone, and understand.Nothing that enters a person from outside can defile them. It is what comes from within that makes a person unclean.
Let everyone with ears listen.”
When Jesus got home and was away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about this saying
he replied:
“So even you are dull? Do you not see that whatever comes from outside cannot make a person unclean,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach and is finally passed out?”
Therefore, Jesus declared that all foods are clean.
And he continued:
“What comes out of a person is what defiles him,
for evil intentions originate in the heart: theft, murder,
adultery, jealousy, greed, maliciousness, deceit, indecency, slander, pride, and folly.
All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.”
Commentaries
On Tradition – On True Purity.
Jesus does not dismiss the traditions of his people, but he challenges the legalistic attitude of those who judge, discriminate, and exclude. He responds to the criticism of the scribes and Pharisees primarily with the Scriptures (6-8): prophetic tradition condemns the hypocrisy of worship without justice and of believers in the Word without consistency in their lives (cf. Is 1:10-18; 29:13; 58:1-12; Jr 7:1-28; Am 5:18-25; Zec 7). Secondly, he exposes their misuse of the Word of God for personal gain (9-13). Then, calling the crowd to him, he states that nothing in creation (external things) can defile a person; what defiles or purifies is what comes from within (14-23).