…Mark 7:20-23 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Here Jesus states plainly what was implied previously. You cannot be defiled before God by not washing your hands or by eating a certain food. What defiles is actual unrighteousness. And unrighteousness starts from within. Things like evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. Some of these sound quite easy to discount. Murder. No one here has murdered anyone. But what about envy? Pride? Wickedness? Foolishness? Just being a fool in the things of God. And of course, Jesus tells us that even the attitude of heart that leads to these things is wicked. So even the person who hates is brother is guilty before God because murder stems from hate. And all these things come from the heart of man. The inside, the core, the very DNA of his existence.
Which means that external forms of purity cannot do anything to change the heart. Washing your hands cannot cure your deceit. Not eating pork cannot cure your evil thoughts. No, when the defilement is in your heart, you need a cure that actually deals with that defilement.
Now, consider what all has happened recently in this letter from Mark. Jesus fed the massive crowds with but a couple loaves and fish. Jesus walked on water like Yahweh treading the waves of the sea. So when Jesus now presents this problem of wickedness to men, who is he implying is the solution?…
