on the body and the spirit‏

^{Mark 7: 14} Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone,  ¹⁵ Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a man defiles him.^16] [f]
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ¹⁸ “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
²⁰ He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

If you touch a turtle and then eat a piece of cheese you might get “salmonella poisoning."

Keep your turtle out of your mouth. And remember to wash your hands

Did Jesus understand the risk of infection by bacteria entering the body?

The creator of the body must understand how it works and it’s limits. But Jesus is speaking about something more than the body. He is concerned about you as a person with eternity in the equation. In this equation what you say and think and your emotions are of more importance than what you eat. If you die with your heart at peace with God you live forever, even if your life in the body is cut short by disease. But if you have a healthy body and don’t thank God , your life in the body may be long but it comes to nothing in the end.

If we are good stewards we will feed and care for the body as a gift, but we are more concerned about our actions and attitudes. We ought to have a healthy mind and spirit with a capacity to give and receive the love of God. Then you are truly fit to live.

Amen.