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THE GOSPEL OF MARK – DEFILED FROM INSIDE

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DEFILED FROM INSIDE

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” [ 16 ] Mark 7:14-16

These words of Jesus cut right across the practices of man-made religion. Why did God give the Jews dietary laws in the first place? The nation of Israel was nurtured in the cradle of Egypt – a pagan nation which had no notion of clean and unclean foods, i.e., foods which were good for the body, or health risks because they were unhealthy or not prepared properly.

God built His health laws into His religious system to ensure that the people would obey them for their own sake. But, as in all religious systems, they began to interpret the prohibition of certain creatures for food as religious taboos, and they built an entire religious superstructure on these taboos. This became part of the heavy religious yoke they were wearing that weighed them down.

Jesus exposed their foolish thinking and lifted the yoke in one sentence. “It’s not what goes in that pollutes but what comes out of the ‘belly’ – the inner being.” How does this work? What one eats has no effect upon one’s spirit unless it is the expression of the “yetzer harah” as in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The evil and corruption of sin is already in the heart, and the mouth becomes the instrument which reveals what is inside.

Surely this makes a whole lot more sense than believing that what a person puts in his mouth defiles him. It is only the foolishness of men’s hearts and the blindness caused by sin that distorts the understanding, producing a senseless belief that something amoral and neutral, as food, can somehow pollute a person’s soul.

By declaring all food clean, Jesus pulled the rug from under the Pharisees’ feet. Much of their ammunition against Him and His disciples was based on their food taboos and their scrupulous washing of hands and cooking utensils. Jesus made it clear that human need took precedence over religious food taboos and the Pharisees hated Him for exposing their hypocrisy.

Inside Out

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INSIDE OUT

Again Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’ After He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples asked Him about this parable. ‘Are you so dull?’ He asked. ’Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean). He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.’ (Mark 7: 14-23).

What was the issue? The Pharisees had accused Jesus’ disciples of eating with ceremonially unclean hands because they had not done their ritual washing before a meal. It was much more than washing their hands before lunch. It was about failing to observe the tradition of the elders. They attacked their lifestyle – they were not following what was proper according to the religious traditions added on to the Law of Moses.

Jesus had responded by showing them how they had twisted the Law of Moses by declaring what should rightfully have been used to support elderly parents as corban, that is, dedicated to God so that it could not be used for anything else.

Without explanation, Jesus taught the listening crowd that it is not food that defiles a person but what comes from within the person himself. Once again His disciples didn’t get it. He had to spell it out to them so that they would understand that evil thoughts and actions defile a person rather than food eaten with unwashed hands, or even food that was so-called unclean according to the Torah. How can food which passes through the digestive system, contribute to the sinfulness of the heart? Of course, certain foods are bad for a person’s health, but food cannot affect the state of one’s heart.

If what comes from within defiles a person; thoughts, words and actions, then it stands to reason that those thoughts, words and actions are a mirror of the person’s heart. Every time someone opens his mouth or does something, he is giving others a glimpse of what is inside him. This had implications for interpersonal relationships.

How many hurtful words are spoken from the mouth of a person who is full of hate and bitterness? Instead of the hearer recognising that the attack from the speaker is merely a revelation of what is in his or her heart rather than a criticism of the hearer and instead of reacting with hurt and carrying an offence against the other person, the one who was judged or criticised should realise that the real issue comes from the heart of the attacker.

The conflict will end and there will be no offense taken if the criticism is dismissed right there. How important it is to realise this and to step back and brush off the offense. Instead of anger and retaliation, the offender’s words can be ignored as irrelevant because the real issue in his heart rather than the person he is attacking. How liberating to walk away from such a person knowing that the criticism can’t stick because it’s not your “stuff” – it’s his or her “stuff”.

This is also a warning to all of us that we give ourselves away by what we say or do. Angry words reveal unresolved hurts. A controlling person gives away his insecurity. Even addictions say something. People who struggle with addictions use substances or behaviour patterns to manage unresolved pain or guilt in their lives. When we understand this, it does not take a psychologist or psychiatrist who put people into diagnostic “boxes” which they call “disorders” to realise what the real problem. Jesus called our “disorders” sin. There is only one effective answer for sin – the blood of Jesus which forgives sin and cleanses us of all our unrighteousness.

When Jesus come in to cleanse us and give us a new heart, everything changes.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old had gone, the new is here! (2 Cor. 5: 17).

Don’t be fooled by those who think they are cleaning up their hearts by eating the right food. Jesus said, ‘Listen to me.’ He has the answer for the problem of defiled hearts. His death paid our debt of sin so that we can be forgiven and made new. He changes us from the inside. What comes out then will God-stuff, not our stuff!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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