Matthew 15
February 23
Reading: Matthew 15
1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat."
3 He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' 5 But you say, 'If anyone tells his father or his mother, "What you would have gained from me is given to God," 6 he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 'This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
10 And he called the people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person."
12 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"
13 He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
15 But Peter said to him, "Explain the parable to us."
16 And he said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."
21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon."
23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us."
24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."
26 And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
28 Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.
29 Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.
32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."
33 And the disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?"
34 And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"
They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."
35 And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 38 Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
Matthew 15 begins with another attack upon Jesus by the Pharisees. They are upset that Jesus’ disciples are not following the laws of ceremonial washings prescribed by their traditions. This is not an issue with Torah, but rather with man-made rules.
Jesus responds by explaining how those very rules that they have made help them to find ways to disobey the commandment of God to “honor your father and mother.” It is their hypocrisy that Jesus is pointing out. This hypocrisy is typical of human beings. Even today people will try to look and sound spiritual and righteous, while they are really trying to win arguments and get their way. They are not really interested in God’s way. They want their own way.
When asked by His disciples to explain Himself, Jesus makes it clear that what makes a person a sinner is not what or how they eat, but instead the condition of their heart revealed by their words. Consider the list Jesus gives, “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, immoralities, thefts, false witness, slander.” All of these have to do with how we treat others. Are you guilty of any of them?
Then Jesus takes a trip to Tyre and Sidon and back. (vss. 21-29) Well-behaved Jewish people did not go there. This would be at least a week-long hard walk, probably longer. The only thing we know that He did on the journey was to meet this Canaanite woman. It is an amazing encounter, and entirely unappreciated by the disciples. It is an illustration of what Jesus teaches in Matthew 5.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)
This woman truly believes in Jesus and that she has nothing to offer Him but her need.
After this, we read of the feeding of the four thousand, a different event from Matthew 14:13-21, but with much the same lesson.