Clean Hearts

Mk 7:14-23: “It is from within, from the human heart.”

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark gives us a haunting glimpse into the depths of the human heart.  Jesus reveals that we are defiled not by what we touch or eat, but by what comes out of us.  There is a secret inwardness in each person, what we call the heart, from which flows all that is good or bad in our actions.   As we read the lines of this passage, we realize that Jesus is intensely interested in that which is most hidden within us, hidden even to ourselves at times:  the human heart.  He has come to cleanse us not from the outside, but from deep within.

Yet what does that really mean?

A recent incident in my kitchen revealed to me quite vividly what it means to clean from within.  One day I had heated a large pot of milk on my stove, but after stepping away, returned to find that all the milk had boiled over.  I cleaned the spill several hours later, and to outward view the stove looked fine.  Yet as the days passed, I began to notice a strong stench of rancid milk.  No matter how much I scrubbed at the surface of the cooktop, the putrid smell remained.  More days passed, and the smell began to permeate the home; I could even smell it while at work. 

Cleaning the various pieces of the stove did nothing to remove the smell.  I realized that the stench was coming from within.  Somehow I had to dismantle the whole cooktop and get to its innermost parts—the heart of the stove.  Was that even possible? I wondered.

I called up a friend and together we opened up the stove.  I held my breath as we peered inside.  There indeed was the source of the stench.  The milk had pooled and congealed throughout the inner chamber of the stove, forming a sticky layer around the wires.  Indeed, no amount of cleaning on the outside would have done any good.

Two hours later, after carefully scraping away all the sticky residue of milk, we had finally cleaned the stove completely.  I took a deep whiff of the air; no more stench.  The transformation seemed almost miraculous. 

So too the cleansing of the human heart.  We each bear secret sins hidden to the world and often even to ourselves, yet if left untreated they fester within us, breeding a foul smell which can permeate our lives.  Over time, one can begin to feel oppressed; and we find that no matter how much we try to fix what is on the outside, the sense of something deeply disordered persists.  How, then, to find rest?  How then can we cleanse what we cannot even see?

Herein lies the power of grace in the Christian life.  Not only does Our Lord not turn away from the sins in our heart, but he joyfully embraces the work of rendering us clean.  Indeed, there are no sins too foul for him to face, no heart too wounded for his healing.  Even if we feel dread toward whatever is festering in our heart, we may trust that Jesus delights in meeting us right there in the very darkest and ugliest parts of the heart.  He asks only that we open ourselves completely to Him.  He cannot force his cleansing grace upon us; ultimately we must allow Him. 

Yet what wonders unfold when we let the Lord in!  Once cleansed, our heart becomes the “good tree which bears good fruit,” a secret and holy abundance “out of which the mouth speaks.”  May we strive each day to open our hearts to the Lord!

[Readings: Gn 2:4b-9; 15-17; Mk 7:14-23]