Lets take a look at the parable of Jesus as referred to in two posts up. We will look at Matthew and Marks rendition.
Note: I am not telling people what they can and cannot eat. I'm merely wanting to show the scriptures for what they actually say vs what we've been taught in our churches that they say. What one concludes after reading and understanding is between them and God.
Matthew 15 Common English Bible (CEB)
15 Then Pharisees and legal experts came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 Why are your disciples breaking the elders rules handed down to us? They dont ritually purify their hands by washing before they eat.
3 Jesus replied, Why do you break the command of God by keeping the rules handed down to you? 4 For God said, Honor your father and your mother,[a] and The person who speaks against father or mother will certainly be put to death. 5 But you say, If you tell your father or mother, Everything Im expected to contribute to you Im giving to God as a gift, then you dont have to honor your father. 6 So you do away with Gods Law for the sake of the rules that have been handed down to you. 7 Hypocrites! Isaiah really knew what he was talking about when he prophesied about you, 8 This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. 9 Their worship of me is empty since they teach instructions that are human rules.[c]
10 Jesus called the crowd near and said to them, Listen and understand. 11 Its not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in Gods sight. Its what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person.
12 Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended by what you just said?
13 Jesus replied, Every plant that my heavenly Father didnt plant will be pulled up. 14 Leave the Pharisees alone. They are blind people who are guides to blind people. But if a blind person leads another blind person, they will both fall into a ditch.
15 Then Peter spoke up, Explain this riddle to us.
16 Jesus said, Dont you understand yet? 17 Dont you know that everything that goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what goes out of the mouth comes from the heart. And thats what contaminates a person in Gods sight. 19 Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adultery, sexual sins, thefts, false testimonies, and insults. 20 These contaminate a person in Gods sight. But eating without washing hands doesnt contaminate in Gods sight.
Mark 7
7 The Pharisees and some legal experts from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. 2 They saw some of his disciples eating food with unclean hands. (They were eating without first ritually purifying their hands through washing. 3 The Pharisees and all the Jews dont eat without first washing their hands carefully. This is a way of observing the rules handed down by the elders. 4 Upon returning from the marketplace, they dont eat without first immersing themselves. They observe many other rules that have been handed down, such as the washing of cups, jugs, pans, and sleeping mats.) 5 So the Pharisees and legal experts asked Jesus, Why are your disciples not living according to the rules handed down by the elders but instead eat food with ritually unclean hands?
6 He replied, Isaiah really knew what he was talking about when he prophesied about you hypocrites. He wrote,
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far away from me.
7 Their worship of me is empty
since they teach instructions that are human words.[a]
8 You ignore Gods commandment while holding on to rules created by humans and handed down to you. 9 Jesus continued, Clearly, you are experts at rejecting Gods commandment in order to establish these rules. 10 Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and The person who speaks against father or mother will certainly be put to death.[c] 11 But you say, If you tell your father or mother, Everything Im expected to contribute to you is corban (that is, a gift Im giving to God), 12 then you are no longer required to care for your father or mother. 13 In this way you do away with Gods word in favor of the rules handed down to you, which you pass on to others. And you do a lot of other things just like that.
14 Then Jesus called the crowd again and said, Listen to me, all of you, and understand. 15 Nothing outside of a person can enter and contaminate a person in Gods sight; rather, the things that come out of a person contaminate the person.[d]
17 After leaving the crowd, he entered a house where his disciples asked him about that riddle. 18 He said to them, Dont you understand either? Dont you know that nothing from the outside that enters a person has the power to contaminate? 19 Thats because it doesnt enter into the heart but into the stomach, and it goes out into the sewer. By saying this, Jesus declared that no food could contaminate a person in Gods sight. 20 Its what comes out of a person that contaminates someone in Gods sight, he said. 21 Its from the inside, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come: sexual sins, thefts, murders, 22 adultery, greed, evil actions, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, insults, arrogance, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from the inside and contaminate a person in Gods sight.
First off, what has brought about the conversation? The elders have approached Jesus and asked him "why don't your disciples obey the rules handed down to us by the elders by washing their hands before they eat?" (Matt 15:2 and Mark 7:2) Notice Marks is a little more commentary...he explains the ritual and the reason.
Jesus replies basically with "Moses said, but you say and that means that you no longer have to obey God...and you do a lot of God's other laws that way.
Then Jesus calls the crowd around him and says, "listen, nothing outside of a person can enter and contaminate a person in God's sight; rather, the things that come out of a person contaminate the person. IOW it's not what you do or don't do on the outside that makes you unclean before God, it's what comes out of the heart that is contaminating. It was not about food...even Mark seems to have misunderstood. Matthew did not make that same commentary. He just wrote what Jesus said.
It's true, our hearts are not contaminated in God's sight by what we eat. It's from the inside, from the human heart, that unrestrained immorality, envy, insults, arrogance, and foolishness come. All these evil things come from the inside and contaminate a person in God's sight. The bottom line of the parable was not about food but about ones heart condition.