Mark 7:21-23 — For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Sometimes the idea behind these pieces comes out of nowhere. Sometimes they come from the events of the day. Sometimes, like this one, they come from the day’s Bible reading. I read Mark 7 today, and I was reminded of something that I think it’s worth understanding.
Jesus has just said something that for the Jews turns right and wrong on their head. Uncleanness is from the inside … Not the outside. Hundreds of years of law and tradition set aside.
In His revolutionary statement, Jesus provides a list of the pollution that spews out of a man’s heart. In that list there are two that you might think seem rather innocuous — covetousness (Desiring to possess something at the expense of the legitimate owner) and “an evil eye” (envy, a desire for another’s gifts, possessions, position or achievements, closely associated with jealousy).
These two closely related sins are subtly different but, be very sure, they are wicked.
The Greek word for covetousness is “Pleonexia, which William Barclay describes as “that lust for having which is in the heart of the person who sees happiness in things instead of in God”. That is, it amounts to idolatry. Jesus calls it out for just the same reason that it is forbidden in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:17).
Jesus used the idea of the evil eye when He told the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. When those who arrived early and worked all day complained about the full payment given to late arrivals the owner said “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? (Matthew 20:15). It makes the sin clear — it amounts to questioning God’s decisions about who gets what …
There’s another reason, I believe, for Jesus to make such a big deal of these two sins. I see them as “root” sins — sins from which many others can grow. Covetousness and envy both take God off the throne and replace Him with our own selfish selves.when we see something we want, we steal it, with not a moment’s delay. If we envy someone else’s good fortune, we don’t hesitate to undermine it. Envy and covetousness are terrible diseases.