“Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:”
Adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly — the catalog continues: the twelve items in verses 21–22 cover the full range of moral failure available to human beings. The list is not exhaustive but representative; the point is not the specific list but the source: all of these come from within, from the heart. The Pharisees' concern is handwashing; Jesus' concern is the condition of the heart that produces murder, theft, adultery, and deceit.
Church Fathers on Mark 7:22
But the intention of the Lord in saying this was to teach men, that the observing of meats, which the law commands, should not be taken in a carnal sense, and from this He began to unfold to them the intent of the law.
For that man is a faulty hearer who considers what is obscure to be a clear speech, or what is clear to be obscurely spoken.
For some things are joined to others in such a way as both to change and be changed, just as food, losing its former appearance, is both itself turned into our body, and we too are changed, and our strength is refreshed by it.
Read all 10 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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