My Thoughts Play Around About What Is Purity?

It’s afternoon, and I’m still sitting on my couch with my tablet in hand—the screen dimly lit as I scroll through the ChosenTV app I downloaded from Google Play just last week. The app is free to watch, though they ask for small donations to keep making episodes, and I’d sent what I could afford last night because what I’ve been watching has stuck with me more than any other show I’ve seen about Jesus and His teachings. Tonight, I rewatched the scene where Jesus talks about purity with the Pharisees, and my mind has been spinning ever since, turning over the question: What does it really mean to be pure?

The scene starts with a group of Pharisees saw Jesus heal a blind man with a mud and his spit of saliva. One of them speaks up, pointing out that it not allow during sabbath day —following the tradition of cleansing rituals that the religious leaders had upheld for generations. He says something that hit close to home: “Purity is about cleanliness—about what touches your body, what goes into your mouth, how you prepare yourself before you come before God.” As he spoke, I felt my face warm a little because I know I’ve fallen into that same way of thinking more times than I can count.

Just last week, I spent three days feeling guilty because I’d been so busy with work that I forgot to shower one morning and skipped brushing my teeth twice. I kept telling myself that I wasn’t “pure enough” to pray, that I needed to be clean on the outside first before I could even think about talking to God. I’d even avoided going to church for Sunday Mass because I felt messy and unkempt, like I’d be disrespecting the Lord by showing up that way. And I know I’m not the only one—how many times have we heard people say you need to dress a certain way, or fast for a certain amount of time, or perform specific rituals before you can be considered “pure” in God’s eyes?

But then Jesus responds in the scene, and His words cut through all those thoughts I’ve held onto for so long. He says something along the lines of: “You worry about washing cups and plates, about making sure what goes into your mouth is clean—but the food you eat doesn’t make you impure. It passes through your body and is gone. What makes you impure comes from inside—from your heart and your soul.” He lists out things like anger, greed, jealousy, lies, and selfishness—things that take root within us and shape how we treat others and how we see God.

" Indeed, our body is flesh. Whatever we consume is flesh, but whatever the heart consumes, e.g, the purity that you feel inside your heart that you cannot see is for the soul, and that is what the divine/god mercy teaches us to trust the heart/soul and have peace of mind. "

Watching that, I had to stop the episode and just sit in silence for a while. It hit me that I’ve been focusing all my energy on keeping the outside clean while letting things build up inside that are far more harmful. Just days ago, I’d held onto slightly anger toward my neighbor for weeks because her dog always poof at the balcony and i stepped in on it—keeping it myself inside my heart was bitter and resentful. I’d kept my hands clean and my clothes neat, but my soul was anything but pure.

I started thinking about all the times I’ve judged others based on their appearance or their habits—assuming someone isn’t a good person because they don’t dress nicely for church, or because they eat food that’s not “proper” according to certain rules. I’ve worried about whether my home is clean enough when guests come over, but I’ve rarely stopped to check if my heart is clean enough to welcome others with genuine love and kindness.

The Chosen does such a beautiful job of bringing these ancient words to life—you can see the confusion on the disciples’ faces, just like the confusion I feel sometimes, and you can see how Jesus speaks with such patience and love, not to shame anyone but to help them understand what truly matters. After I finished the episode, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth—not because I felt I had to to be “worthy” of prayer, but because taking care of my body is a way to honor the temple God has given me. Then I took a shower, not out of guilt, but as a way to symbolically wash away the negative thoughts I’d been holding onto.

I sat down beside my bed and prayed—not a long, formal prayer, but just talking to God like I would to a friend. I told Him about how I’ve been getting purity all wrong, about the anger I’d been holding onto, and about how I want to start focusing on cleaning up my heart instead of just my body. I asked for the grace to see others the way He sees them—looking past their outward appearance to the soul beneath—and to work on rooting out the things inside me that keep me from being truly pure.

As I write this now, I’m still processing everything. I know changing the way I think won’t happen overnight—I’ll probably still catch myself worrying about being clean on the outside first. But I also know that every time I do, I can remember Jesus’ words from that scene in The Chosen. Purity isn’t about having spotless clothes or a perfectly clean house or following every external rule—it’s about having a heart that’s open to love, a soul that’s willing to forgive, and a spirit that seeks to honor God in everything we do, from the smallest thought to the biggest action.

"According to my research through Google,"

Jesus says about purity, "You were drinking and eating from a cup or plate; when you consume it inside of your body, your soul is not pure."

Jesus emphasized that true purity comes from within, not through external rituals. In Matthew 23:25-26, He criticizes cleaning the "outside of the cup and plate" while the inside is full of greed and self-indulgence, teaching that inner repentance must precede external righteousness. Purity is a matter of the heart and soul, not just physical cleanliness or rituals.

Key aspects of Jesus' teaching on purity:

• Inner vs. Outer Purity: Jesus tells the Pharisees to "first clean the inside of the cup and the plate" so that the outside may also be clean. This means true righteousness stems from a changed heart, not just outward appearances.

• The Metaphor of the Cup: The "outside of the cup" represents superficial adherence to laws or traditions, while the "inside" represents a person's inner life, thoughts, and intentions.

• Heart over Rituals: Jesus warns against being like "whitewashed tombs"—outwardly clean but inwardly full of hypocrisy and uncleanness.

  
  

• Internal Corruption: When inner actions are corrupt, physical actions (such as eating or drinking) do not make a person truly clean, as the impurity is already present in their soul.

  
  

In a different context, John 6:53-55 addresses spiritual nourishment, where eating Jesus' flesh and drinking his blood means accepting Him, which leads to internal spiritual life and purification.

Until Next Time,

Yuna