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From: Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14

True Cleanness

[1] Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, [2]
“Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not
wash their hands when they eat.”

[10] And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand:
[11] “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the
mouth, this defiles a man.” [12] Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do
you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” [13]
He answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be
rooted up. [14] Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads
a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

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Commentary:

10-20. Our Lord proclaims the true meaning of moral precepts and makes it clear
that man has to answer to God for his actions. The scribes’ mistake consisted in
concentrating on externals and not giving pride of place to interior purity of heart.
For example, they saw prayer in terms of exact recital of fixed forms of words ra-
ther than as a raising of the soul to God (cf. Mt 6:5-6). The same thing happened
in the case of dietary regulations.

Jesus avails of the particular cases dealt with in this passage to teach us where
to find the true center of moral action: it lies in man’s personal decision, good or
evil, a decision which is shaped in his heart and which then is expressed in the
form of action. For example, the sins which our Lord lists are sins committed in
the human heart prior to being acted out. In the Sermon on the Mount he already
said this: “Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adul-
tery with her in his heart” (Mt 5:28).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.