disciples asked him about this saying, and he replied, “So even you are dull? Do you not see that whatever comes
from outside cannot make a person unclean, since it enters not the heart but the stomach, and is finally passed out?”
Thus Jesus declared that all foods are clean. And he went on, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him, for
evil designs come out of the heart: theft, murder, adultery, jealousy, greed, maliciousness, deceit, indecency, slander,
pride and folly. All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.”
Reflection:
What Jesus tells us today should give us pause and make
us think about our system of education. Do we really educate
our children in the culture of the heart, in the language of the
Spirit? Do we teach them that it is what comes out of them
– in terms of their thoughts, words, and actions – that define
their true self? Listen to Evelyn Underhill (The Essentials of
Mysticism): “The values at which [our education] aims are too
often relative and self-interested… Its intelligent gaze is fixed
too steadily on earthly society, earthly happiness.
We encourage our young people to do the best things,
but not always from the best motives…. We forget that
our duties ought to include the awakening of that clear
consciousness of eternity which should be normal in
every human being, and without which it is impossible
for anyone to grasp the true values and true proportion of life.”
© Copyright Bible Diary 2022