Responsibility

Mark 7:21-23 states:

²¹ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”

David commented on this passage already today, so I'll do my best not to repeat what he wrote. I'll begin with two brief comments:
1. This teaching (Mark 7:14-23) is referred to as a "parable" in v17, yet my list of parables from from the NIV Study Bible does NOT include this--go figure.
2. I have absolutely no recall of having ever encountered this passage before, which I find interesting since it makes the points I'm about to make so well.
  
When we view the list of shortcomings in verses 21-22, there is absolutely nothing we can do on our own for absolution or exoneration. Ceremonially washing our hands or following any other aspect of Levitic law is meaningless compared to these, and to think otherwise is the ultimate in hypocrisy. The Pharisees, in their 200 years of existence, lived to congratulate themselves on how good they were through observance of trivial laws, and yet completely blind to the hollowness of their observance.

Although we can't do anything to obtain salvation, we can do MUCH to deserve temporal and eternal punishment. Let these verses remind you of two simple facts:
1. God isn't impressed with what we know, but instead with what we DO
2. God isn't impressed with what we do if we don't do it with a servant's heart, intent on building up his kingdom. 
This is just another example of my repetitive message--the Pharisees were concerned with HOW things were done, and Jesus was teaching a different way, stating that WHAT was done (and with what intentions) was far more important. As we move through life, we would do well to keep that simple yet important distinction in mind.
Scott