MDB 24: Mark 7

Mark 7: 15
"There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."

The Pharisees have once again picked a fight with Jesus over the conduct of his disciples. Their charge: that Peter and John and the rest do not wash up before dinner. Of course, the issue had nothing to do with germs and hygiene and everything to do with the "traditions of men." Such traditions included elaborate ceremonial washing rituals before eating intended to make the person "clean."

Jesus' answer is that these Pharisees have done a great job in concocting and obeying their own regulations, ostensibly in the name of religious fervor, but have in fact ignored the actual commandments. They have dictated hand washing at the expense of true piety. They have exchanged the commandments of God for the teachings of men.

Thus Jesus' famous words about what makes one "unclean" follow. In this way, Christianity can be seen as fundamentally different in both its analysis and its solution to the problem. As Al Mohler has observed, every other institution and movement identifies some external cause that creates the problems for man and then prescribes an internal solution. Your mother didn't love you, so you need to first love yourself. Economic injustice has robbed your self-worth, so you must begin by finding your own intrinsic value. Tradition has told you how to live, but the essence of humanity is to  be the best you. You have done bad things, so you need to do good ones to balance out karma.

 But here Jesus tells us that the heart of the problem with man is the heart of man. Man has an "in here" problem that needs an "out there" solution.