Legal observance has its dangers, for it is sometimes easy to obey the law exactly while forgetting its purpose. It is no good driving doggedly just below the speed-limit while endangering life and limb. The more exact the law, the greater is the temptation to manipulate it to evade its purpose. The Pharisees were as aware of this danger of distortion as is the modern stickler for exact observance. The Pharisees have a bad press in the gospels because, at the time the gospels were written, hostility between Christians and Pharisaic Judaism was at its height. During Jesus’ own lifetime their opposition was not so obvious. For instance, they had no share in the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus. In any case, Jesus’ own final saying here, while it may apply to the Jewish ritual Law, has much wider application than the observance of Jewish rules for clean food. It is more akin to the saying in Matthew: ‘A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. By their fruits you shall know them’. A person’s true qualities are seen by that person’s actions; their true intentions and character, which comes from the heart, become visible in their words and actions. What sort of things would manifest a heart centred on Christ?