Gospel Reading: Mk 7:14-23
Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. 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, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”
HEAR ME… AND UNDERSTAND
The Gospel continues yesterday’s discourse. The issue now is what defiles a person. It is a Jewish tradition to eat only kosher, clean food, as prescribed in the Mosaic law.
Jesus gives a new interpretation to the law. This is a solemn teaching because it is introduced by “Hear me… and understand.” He goes to the core of the problem – the misinterpretation of the Mosaic law because the religious leaders do not listen very well.
It is not the food intake that makes a person unclean but evil words that emanate from wicked intentions and desires.
Jesus instructs them that moral cleanliness is more important than ritual purity.
A good moral life is more important than ceremonial cleaning.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
