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Gospel Reading - Battle of the Mind

¹⁴Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. ^15-16aYour souls aren’t harmed by what you eat, but by what you think and say!”*

¹⁷Then he went into a house to get away from the crowds, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the statement he had just made.

¹⁸“Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that what you eat won’t harm your soul? ¹⁹For food doesn’t come in contact with your heart, but only passes through the digestive system.” (By saying this he showed that every kind of food is kosher.)

²⁰And then he added, “It is the thought-life that pollutes. ²¹For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery, ²²wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly. ²³All these vile things come from within; they are what pollute you and make you unfit for God.”

1. Many of the ancient manuscripts add v. 16: “If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.” Your souls aren’t harmed by what you eat, but by what you think and say, literally, “What proceeds out of the man defiles the man.”