Being Good (Mark 7:14-23)

It’s easier to claim to be virtuous, than be virtuous. It’s easier to talk the talk than walk the walk. And that's what Jesus was talking about in this passage—the discrepancy between what we project on the outside and what’s actually going on in our hearts. Jesus was highlighting one of the big problems with rules that govern external behavior. It gives you, and everyone around you, the feeling that you are doing all the right things but your heart can still be far from God. Jesus was constantly drawing people back to the heart of the law. He wasn’t diminishing God’s requirements, but sharpening them so that people’s hearts were aligned with their actions. He doesn’t want us to settle for superficial compliance, he wants our hearts to be healed and whole. We don’t have to be perfect, and we don’t have to pretend that we’re perfect either—pretending to be what we’re not makes our mistakes even worse. We can choose a better way.