He 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.” (Mk 7:14-23)
Jesus, once again, speaks a parable – a one sentence parable. To the people he always speaks in parables. In the parable he communicates something about defilement of persons. This parable has got some message about the religious practices of the times of Jesus. But it speaks about ‘inside’ and ‘outside’.
Purity rules are made specifically to make boundaries. These boundary rules deal with concerns of the society or a culture. Often these boundary rules get overstressed when a society is threatened by invasion or infiltration by another group. In short, these rules are to hold on to ones own identity.
Jesus, by speaking about the kingdom, talks about new way of life. He is not concerned about defilement or identity. He is interested in all and his interests are shown their spiritual life. His spirituality here is seen in fighting the evil. It is evil that defiles a person and contaminates him. So defilement comes from evil.
