Jesus gathered the crowd around him and asked them to listen carefully to what he was about to say. “It isn’t what you put into your mouth that makes you defiled. Instead it’s what comes out of your mouth that gets you into trouble.”

Then he went into the house and away from the crowd. The disciples asked him if he knew that the Pharisees were offended by his remarks. Jesus answered “Every plant not planted by my Father will be uprooted, so don’t worry about them. They are blind leaders, and they are guiding blind people. Both they and who follow them will fall into a pit.”

Then Peter and the other disciples asked him to explain the parable to them. He said “Do you also not understand? Don’t you yet understand that nothing a man puts into himself can make him unclean? It doesn’t go into his heart. Instead it goes into his stomach and then passes out of him. But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart and that makes him unclean. Deep within people’s hearts come evil thoughts, inappropriate sexual practices, murders, theft, pride, deceit, lying and blasphemy. All these things cause defilement, but eating without ceremonially washing your hands doesn’t harm you at all.”

MT 15:10-20, MK 7:14-23