Ever since Peter was quite a little boy he had been taught that there were certain kinds of food that he might eat, while there were other kinds which he must not touch, because they were unclean. This was right, for Peter was a Jew, and this was part of the law which God gave to Moses for the Jews.
But one day Jesus called the multitude together, and taught them that the things that make men unclean in God’s sight are not the things that they put into their mouths, but those that come out of their mouths.
Some of those who heard what Jesus was saying were offended; they were people who were very particular about what they ate, and they would not eat at all unless they first washed their hands, but they were not particular about having clean hearts.
Now it is a very nice clean habit to wash one’s hands before a meal, but washing our hands or not washing them, does not make us clean or unclean in God’s sight. He looks at our hearts first of all, and sometimes, though our hands may look clean, our hearts may be very black and dirty.
So when the disciples came to Jesus and told Him that these people were offended, He said very solemn words about them. He said, “Let them alone: they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
Peter did not understand this lesson about the things that make men unclean, but he was not offended, he asked Jesus to explain it to them. “Declare unto us this parable,” he said.
And then Jesus told them very plainly why it is not the things we put into our mouths that make us unclean, but the things that come out of them. It is because the things that proceed out of our mouths come forth from our hearts. Naughty thoughts, lies, thefts, unkind, angry words, words spoken against God, all these and things like them come forth from our hearts, and these are the things that make us unclean in God’s holy sight.
How very much we all need to pray David’s prayer, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” God delights to hear and answer that prayer, He delights to wash away all our sins and create a clean heart within us, for the sake of His dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).