August 29th 2021 – 14th Sunday After Pentecost
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
In this text, Jesus addresses three different audiences: a group of Pharisees and scribes who raise the question of defilement, the crowd that is perpetually present, and the disciples who, true to character in Mark’s Gospel, don’t understand. The message is delivered differently to each of these groups, but its essence is the same: our very selves are defiled, made unholy, not by what we take in, but by the corrosion of the human heart.