Note 3 at Mr 7:1: Jesus' statements here once again reflect His divinity. Man looks on the outward appearance (this was what the scribes and Pharisees were concerned with), but the Lord looks on the heart (1Sa 16:7). Jesus looked on people's hearts.

The Old Testament laws concerning washing served a secondary purpose of hygiene; their real purpose was to shadow or illustrate spiritual truth (Col 2:16-17; Heb 9:1, and 9-10). Defiled food may hurt our bodies, but it cannot reach our spirits (Joh 3:6).

The scribes and Pharisees had missed the spiritual purity that the Old Testament ordinances taught and had become obsessed with the strict adherence to their rituals. While they relentlessly enforced the laws dealing with the physical realm, they had become completely corrupt in the spiritual realm. In Mt 23, Jesus revealed the thoughts and intents (Heb 4:12) of their hearts.