- “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) The writer draws the conclusion that Jesus declared all foods clean. What about other ways in which external material may enter into us: books we read, movies we watch, nudity or even pornography, someone who smells bad, holding hands or hugging or kissing—would you say that in and of themselves, these are also perfectly permissible? Explain your thinking.
I think so. Perhaps they intend to draw out unsavoury responses from us and even lead us to evil thoughts and conclusions but we live in a world of evil and we cannot think that only these materials are evil and not the mind and view of this world. We still have to eat food, we still have to breathe in the air, we still have to engage with the evil around us. Set your minds on things that are above, where Christ is, says Paul. What we need to do is shape our minds and hearts in God’s ways. Isolation is not God’s answer. Rather, our clear understanding of God’s will can shape the external world when we engage with it as Jesus did.
- “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” It would seem then that we should be very mindful of our inner self, our thoughts, emotions, values and desires. How do you think we can take charge of our inner self as much as we have been taught to take care of our outer behaviour and activities?
Here is Paul’s answer: Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
It is a daily choosing to follow the Spirit, a daily choosing to value what the Spirit values, a daily choosing to submit to God’s laws. In other words we are not focusing on evil and rejecting it; we are focusing on the Spirit and embracing it.
How do we know what the Spirit desires? How do we know the mind of the Spirit? By daily interacting with the Word of the Spirit.
- Human religion tends to make much of the external while saying little of the internal (perhaps because we cannot see the internal). Rules (dos and don’ts) govern the external but have little effect on the internal. In the way you view one another, how can you take to heart what Jesus taught in this week’s passage?
Guard the mind and heart; shape it to walk God’s ways. Pray and interact with God. Work on integrity but let the mind and heart lead the actions and lifestyle. Don’t be distracted by the externals.