WHAT DEFILES A MAN.
WHEN some of the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem saw some of the disciples of Jesus eat bread with unwashed hands, they found fault. "For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they washed their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from market, except they wash, they eat not.
And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables." When these caviler asked Jesus why his disciples did not, in these things, walk according to the tradition of the elders, he referred them to Isaiah 29:13, saying, "Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." He told them furthermore that they were so zealous for their own traditions that in order to keep them they often set aside the commandments of God. As an example, he cited them to their violation of the fifth commandment, as follows: "For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother, and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest; be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."
"And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But Jesus answered and said, Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?" He then showed them that whatever is eaten passes through the process of digestion, and cannot affect the character. "But," said he, "those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the 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 defileth not a man."
"Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David! My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us." Now the woman was a Greek, a Syro Phoenician by nation. So Jesus said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs, which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.