This Biblical verse, spoken by Jesus, shows clearly the uselessness of ritualistic practices even in those times. The argument is about being unclean due to the disciples’ not washing their hands before taking food. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were always trying to question Jesus on everything that He did.
Even when they were hypocrites in what they said or did, the Pharisees would pick on insignificant things.That is when Jesus tells them that eating without washing hands or what goes into the stomach as food does not make anyone unclean…it is only what comes out of a man’s mouth that defiles him.
“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’: but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean’.
Pretensions and customary rituals will not cover up the multitude of vices that come straight from the heart. So it is up to us to watch every word we speak. Once out of the mouth, no word can be retracted or withdrawn.
We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. – James 3:2
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”