The Jewish faith, especially in the time of Jesus, was a religion built on the perfect observance of laws, the Law of Moses. In today's Gospel the Pharisees, who prided themselves on their perfect observance of the law, accused some disciples of Jesus of not observing the laws about washing on returning home. Mark tells us that there were many other regulations about the purification of dishes. Jesus replies to the criticism by pointing out that such observances were purely external and said nothing of what was going on in people's hearts. The law was even manipulated to cheat people of what were their rights. (We hear the same fallacy today: if it is legal, it must be right.) And Jesus goes on to assert that it is not the food that goes into a person that makes one unclean but rather the filth that comes out of evil intentions leading to greed, deceit, indecency, theft, murder and adultery, to name just a few. The emphasis of Jesus is totally on the inner intention of the person. Later he will sum that up with the command to universal and unconditional love. Anything done from a genuine desire for the well-being of a person cannot be wrong, even if it objectively breaks a law or commandment. It is easy for Christians to become focused only on commandments and rules and to forget the law of love. It is a weakness in our Church of which we need to be aware.