Ritually clean? Tidbits 6 from the Gospel of Mark.

In this tidbit, introducing the Gospel of Mark, we have reached chapters 7 and 8. Here Jesus defends the law against the perversions of the oral tradition and attacks external religion in defense of internal and ethical values. Subsequently, Jesus has a tough encounter with a pagan woman, and bread becomes significant: crumbs for the Gentiles, the feeding of a Gentile multitude, the warning against the yeast of the Pharisees, and the lack of understanding among the disciples of what all the talk about bread signifies.