Evil Ingested Is What Defiles

𝐅𝐄𝐁. 𝟏𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐊𝐠𝐬 𝟏𝟎:𝟏-𝟏𝟎

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟑𝟕:𝟓-𝟔, 𝟑𝟎-𝟑𝟏, 𝟑𝟗-𝟒𝟎 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐊 𝟕:𝟏𝟒-𝟐𝟑

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “..𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧.” (𝐯.𝟏𝟓) 

        Parables are intended to illuminate certain truths but there are times when man can be so filled by the world that he fails to grasp the truth behind the parable. Even at this time when information is readily available, the truth of God’s spoken word may remain hazy and unclear. There are many factors why this is so and the most plausible is man cannot understand what he doesn’t want to understand.   

         Just as the parable in today’s Gospel that we read in 𝐌𝐤 𝟕:𝟏𝟒-𝟐𝟑 where we find the crowd and even the disciples of Jesus in a state of perplexity at the parable. And even today, many of us may be driven to ask if man can be defiled by the food that he eats?

        This question may surprise the modern man especially nowadays when good and quality food are made available to all. What fine dining was years ago has become ordinary fare and the advent of culinary expertise has something to with this trend.

         This was, however, not the case in the time of Jesus when the Scribes and Pharisees forbade the people from eating or taking in certain kinds of food. As we have read in the previous gospel passages, Jesus has contradicted many of the teachings of the Pharisees and this raised the bar of their opposition to his presence in the synagogues.

         And in this passage today, Jesus shocked those listening to him when he said that they understood wrongly the instruction or tradition that has been handed down to them. The point of the matter was the contention of the religious leaders that man was defiled by even the kind of food that he eats.

         In this regard, the Jews are guided by a set of instruction from the Pentateuch that refers to what type of animal or living thing the people can eat without defiling their bodies and Moses in the book of 𝐋𝐞𝐯 𝟏𝟏 ruled that Jews can only eat four-legged animals that have split hooves and which chew the cud. Pigs are forbidden even if it has split hooves, but it doesn’t chew the cud. Insects that jump with their hind legs such as locusts, grasshoppers, cricket may be eaten but not those that crawl.

         Certain types of birds like owl, stork, heron, eagle, vulture, seagull and raven cannot also be eaten as well as fish without fins and or scales. This was the condition in which the Jews lived in those times as their lives were guided by what they can do and can’t do, what they can eat and can’t eat.

         And the ancient Jews that these unclean animals when ingested can also make the person unclean and thus unfit to worship God. To be able to understand the whys and the wherefores of these provisions the Jews have to follow we must look at the underlying objective of why these instructions were given.

         God wanted his people to be holy which was why he separated them by leading them out of the idolatry pervading in Egypt and set the Israelites as a separate nation dedicated to worshiping him alone and leading moral lives. This was the basis why laws were designed to keep the people separate socially and spiritually.

         We may look at these instructions as irrelevant to the present times and age we live in, but we can also look at these prohibitions in the context of what Jesus is saying in this passage today. What Jesus did in this passage was he practically revised the law by saying all food is good because food is received by the body and removed also through the normal digestive process.

         In effect, what Jesus was saying was that man cannot be defiled by the food that he eats but what comes out of his heart which is the wellspring of life (𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝟒:𝟐𝟑). Solomon in fact says that “𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞” (𝐄𝐜𝐜 𝟗:𝟑). And Jesus listed down some of the things that can defile man because these will have become the source of evil that men do and that was what will defile man.

         And Jesus went on to say that: “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧, 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐟𝐭, 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲, 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐭, 𝐥𝐞𝐰𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐲, 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧.” (𝐯𝐯.𝟐𝟎-𝟐𝟑)        

        The fact that Jesus mentioned “evil thoughts” at the beginning means that many of these sins begin and end from the evil thoughts that enter our minds and which linger in our hearts until it moves us to commit these sins, and these are what will defile us.

         Many times, we play around with temptation moved perhaps by the thought that we are in control of our lives and our faculties and we rationalize that we can remain in the temptation stage and not cross over to committing sin. But this is not what God wants. God wants us to move out and be separate from the Egypt of our lives and live away from all forms of sin and tempting

situations.

         And we are blessed because we have a God who is persistently faithful and will not abandon us to wallow in our struggles and sinful tendencies. Finding us in our sinful state, God will also give us the grace and strength we need to resist and overcome sin.

        Since God himself created us, Our Lord has sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in us so that we may avail of the strength and power to step out of the darkness we may have found ourselves in because of sin and into the marvelous light.

        This is why we have the Apostolic Traditions that have been handed down to us from generations past so that we will properly be guided as we go through our journey of faith. And one of the ways we can avoid sin is by remaining rooted in the Word of God and it begins now with 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝟐:𝟑𝟖. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘍𝘦𝘣. 11, 2026)