Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man

 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."  He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?  For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'  But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God" -- then he need not honor his father or mother.'  Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.  Hypocrites!  Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

'These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear and understand:  Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man;  but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."  Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"  But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.  Let them alone.  They are blind leaders of the blind.  And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."    Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Explain this parable to us."  So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding?  Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.  These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."

- Matthew 15:1-20

On Saturday, we read that Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away who had been fed from five loaves and two fish.  And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.  Now when evening came, He was alone there.  But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.  Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.  And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!"  And they cried out for fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."  And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."  So He said, "Come."  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"  And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."  When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret.  And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment.  And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."  The tradition of the elders refers to interpretations of the Law by Jewish teachers.  My study bible tells us that Jesus refutes their views that ritual purity depends on outward actions.  Rather, His emphasis is on the state of the heart as that which determines a person's purity.

He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?  For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'  But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God" -- then he need not honor his father or mother.'  Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition."  So here is the thing that outweighs all else:  commandments of God  can't be superseded by religious traditions (in this case, traditions built up around the Law).  My study bible tells us that devotion to God includes obedience to His commandments and service to others -- one can't be separated from the other.   Here in particular, Jesus names two commands from Scripture regarding honoring parents (see Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16, Exodus 21:17).   But the tradition indicated that wealth could be consigned as gift to the temple, while still in use by the living owner.  However, it meant it could not be transferred to others such as elderly parents.

"Hypocrites!  Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.  And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"  Again, Jesus quotes from Scripture (Isaiah 29:13).  This time, Isaiah captures Jesus' expression of the difference between loving God with the heart and traditions that come down far away from the word of God.  It's important that we see this thought already expressed in the existing spiritual literature, in which these men are supposed to be experts.  But these men hardly expected these words to be directed at them.  Christ has the authority to do so.  In a Christian context, the Son as Lord and Word is the giver of the Scripture.

When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear and understand:  Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man;  but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."  Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"  But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.  Let them alone.  They are blind leaders of the blind.  And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."    Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Explain this parable to us."  So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding?  Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.  These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."  Peter requests an explanation of the parable:  Jesus' saying about plants which will be uprooted if they haven't been planted by the Father.  The emphasis is once again on the word of God versus the traditions of men.  Jesus isn't condemning religious tradition.   Rather He's condemning that which effectively contradicts and obscures the word of God.  Too much emphasis on the external distracts from the truth:  that where we are pure is in our love of God and of neighbor, what we love in our heart and seek to grow into through a life of devotion and faith.  Too much emphasis on the external is a temptation to do away with that which is most important, essential.  In the case of the Pharisees who criticize both Jesus and John the Baptist, such an imbalance has led to their condemnation of great works of the Spirit, revelations of God.  Jesus elaborates the "dirt" or corruption which may hide in the heart where only the external is emphasized.

If we look closely at Jesus' words about what defile a person, we get some good hints about His repeated teachings in His ministry.  He tells Peter, "Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.  These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."   We have had repeated encounters, in Jesus' ministry, with teachings about the importance of our words (see for example here, here, and here).  In today's reading, He gives us a very clear indication that the words that come out of our mouths reflect the things of the heart -- and as such reveal what defiles:  "evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies."  Watching our speech can be a real clue as to the things that we need to deal with which are within ourselves!  Jesus' emphasis on purity is clearly on the state of our internal lives, as reflected by what comes out of the mouth, and the spiritual fruits we bear in the world.  It's kind of an amazing psychological insight, as He is the Word -- and He connects the words we use in encountering others to the state of our being and relationship to God (including the kinds of sin He names here) and the state of our relationships in the world, with community.  In this angle, words indicate a kind of union between spirit, soul, body -- and God and community.  They link all together, and they have the power to reveal a break within every aspect of self and relationships.  This is a very powerful spiritual and psychological revelation for us, and I wonder nowadays how much we take this seriously.  All one has to do is look around at the state of the world and what is reflected in the media, over the internet, in popular culture via media of all kinds including entertainment, politics, and all forms of public speech.  We know very well that abuse of the type Jesus describes in calling a "brother" a name (Matthew 5:22) is something we see as bullying in certain contexts, as domestic abuse, or child abuse.  Jesus teaches it as being akin to a violation of the law against murder, and if we think about how words can have lasting destructive effects on both persons and relationships, He's quite right and leaves us with an early understanding of the power of psychology and its effects on everything else we experience and produce.  He speaks of how carefully we must choose our words when teaching against swearing oaths ("Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No,' 'No'" - see Matthew 5:33-37) and we can see the effects of such speech in everything from political sloganeering, to false promises, to persuasive speech that stirs crowds to all sorts of actions.  That would include things Jesus names here such as false witnessing, adultery and other types of betrayal (as well as facile "intimate" relationships), even thefts in concealed clauses or duplicitous words, blasphemy, and murder in many forms such as through policies that slip under the radar concealed in phony intentions and bad social policies.  And do we have to mention movements couched in words of religion that are excuses for murder, slavery, genocide?  If we but look around, we can see all kinds of ill effects and evils manifest in the world through the ways in which we use words, revealing the ills of the heart, the things that break societies and communities, those things that indicate a false "bottom" in our relationship to God and conceal even from ourselves the reality of the heart.  Here's the great foundation of faith, its underpinning of spiritual and psychological reality, its depth in the trueness of relationship to God in the heart first and by extension to others.  This purity is the definition of integrity and wholeness.  And Jesus gives us this, whether we want to realize it or not.  It all starts in the heart, that great spiritual summing up of what it is to have depth of center, the place where we make or break all else, from which we take true identity and that produces whatever it is we are going to produce.  Let us pay attention!