Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.
This was a radical statement. The Pharisees were concerned precisely with things that came from outside of themselves. They fastidiously kept kosher food laws, avoided the ritually impure such as lepers, and performed all sorts of other ceremonial acts. In some ways this made sense, since most of it was what the Torah had enjoined. But even when their practice was more than their own additions and interpretation it still wasn't hitting the mark because it failed to remind them of the inner purification of which they were all still in need.
But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
The Pharisees, and indeed all of us, actually struggle much more with what comes from the heart. It is tempting to ignore these unpleasant actions and impulses since they are so hard to regulate. But until we acknowledge the problem we can't be cured. Rituals were meant to be reminders of the problem and point to our need for a savior. But now the savior had come and the rituals were no longer necessary, which was why Mark parenthetically stated, "Thus he declared all foods clean".
People can wash their hands and eat the right foods and yet still struggle with evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, and folly. Most of us Christians probably aren't committing the full-fledged mortal sin version of these vices. And yet our hearts are probably not yet entirely free from any of them. Even Paul struggled with this:
Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]? (see Romans 7:24).
Jesus is the one who will deliver us from all evils for which the law on its own was insufficient. Just as God breathed life into Adam, the first man, so too did Jesus breathe new life, empowered for genuine holiness, into the body of his Church.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit (see John 20:22).
This is why Paul told the Galatians, "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation" (see Galatians 6:15).
Jesus is still breathing out the Holy Spirit on his Church. The way we breathe it in is by expectant faith, leading to firm hope and steadfast love.
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