We sometimes come across people who have taken certain God's laws such as dietary laws to the extreme. Such people begin to focus more on whether it is "kosher or not" to eat something, or whether it is "halal or haram" (Malay for 'allowed or forbidden to be eaten.') But what some of these people may fail to realise is that by focusing so much on such dietary laws, they may neglect, ignore or fail to observe more important aspects of God's laws such as love, mercy, compassion, justice, fairness and many others. They may appear to be pious in what can or cannot be consumed, or even how they look in public, only to be hypocritical in their behaviour and conduct.
In today's Gospel, Jesus reminds us: "Can you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot make him unclean, because it does not go into his heart but through his stomach and passes out into the sewer? It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean." Are some of us only concerned about the externals and choose to behave as we please? Some of us may appear to be holy, but our hearts may be twisted or hide nasty or cruel intentions. Let us take heed and be honest with ourselves, and make every effort to shy away from all that drives us away from our relationship with our loving God.
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