Matthew Chapter 15

¹ Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,

² Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

• The scribes and Pharisees are asking Jesus why his disciples don’t follow the traditions that the holy men keep….these traditions were things the priest and rabbis came up with that were treated like scripture though they weren’t.

³ But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

• Jesus points out that the traditions they follow transgress the commandment God gave them. From these verses it looks like the scribes and Pharisees were caught up in the traditions of men and had departed from the commandments of God without being convicted for it. They were committed to keeping the religion pure, but were also ignorant of the actual commandments of God and the fact that their system of traditions were contrary to them. What Jesus is about to point out in the next couple of verses is an exemption they created in their traditions that gives them permission to disobey the commandments of God. It seems they created it by twisting the word.

⁴ For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

• Jesus recites what the command of God is about Honoring your parents. To honor your parents is to care for them in their old age. If a child were to walk away from his parents and leave them struggle the commandment says ‘LET THEM DIE THE DEATH” meaning let them get the death they deserve for dishonoring their parents this way…which will be harsh and very humbling.

⁵ But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;

• The traditions created by the priest and rabbis allowed those who were serving the Lord to ignore their parents needs and neglect them saying that their money and time were in service to the Lord and this exempted them from caring for their parents. So much so they would tell their parents that their service to the Lord was a gift….indicating the parents shouldn’t even ask for them to stop working for the Lord to look after them but instead be grateful. These traditions of men were in defiance of God’s commandments.
• This is a good example of the two groups of professing Christian today. There are the real Christians and the false Christians who may have said the sinners’ prayer, but they came to Jesus with a preconceived idea that the conditions of their salvation were negotiable. For example, they don’t repent for their sins nor do they have any desire to stop practicing sin. This means there is no discipleship. Salvation doesn’t work this way though. When we come to Jesus for salvation, it’s with a repentant heart that acknowledges that we are a sinner worthy of hell. We understand that God hates sin and can’t be in the presence of it, so he sent his only Son Jesus to this earth to be born of a virgin and to died on the cross in our place…paying the demands and price that our sin created so that we could be saved by accepting Jesus’s payment for our sins. There are some who think that we can accept the payment for sin without repentance for sin, but the word of God does not teach this. 2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. If a person thinks they can obtain salvation without letting go of their worldly aspirations, they’re mistaken. In order to even have an understanding of salvation …..and you must have an understanding… you have to understand that your sins offend God…so if you approach God knowing your sins are offensive and have no desire or plans to stop engaging, then you aren’t saved because repentance in not optional, it’s the starting point of receiving Jesus as your savior. A person who thinks they can accept Jesus to skip hell and continue their ungodly, sinful practices is not repenting…they are trying to serve 2 masters…they’re using Jesus to get them out of hell and following Satan with their heart…Jesus doesn’t make deals like that. We will all continue to sin, but when we repent we acknowledge that the sin is wrong and agree to stop willingly giving ourselves over to it. We will never be sinless until we are changed incorruptible….but sin is no longer our master. A regenerated heart can not ever feel comfortable practicing sin. When a person truly repents of their sin, makes Jesus their Lord and Savior and are regenerated…then they are saved.

⁶ And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

• These manmade traditions invalidate the commandments of God that instruct us on how we should live our lives. They instead replace Gods commands with man’s commands.

⁷ Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

⁸ This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

• ON THE OUTSIDE they seem to serve God… they say the right things…. but their heart is not in it. They are hypocrites.

⁹ But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

• They vainly teach their own traditions as the doctrine God.

¹⁰ And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:

¹¹ Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

• The scribes and Pharisees were promoting the idea that keeping the traditions of the priest and rabbis was the same as being compliant to the commandments of God… they were teaching adherence to tradition and anything short of that was a defilement , but Jesus says it isn’t breaking those manmade traditions that cause a person to be defiled with sin, but what they speak from their heart.

¹² Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?

¹³ But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

¹⁴ Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

• The blindness here is voluntary…these people are all shutting their eyes to the truth. The people that follow these blind leaders have the same self-induced blindness. Leave them alone, their blindness is voluntary and eventually they will fall into a ditch.

¹⁵ Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.

¹⁶ And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?

¹⁷ Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?

• Failing to do these religious actions of keeping manmade traditions like handwashing aren’t going to cause you to be defiled.

¹⁸ But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

• It’s the content of a man’s heart that causes his defilement.

¹⁹ For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

• The heart is used here as the control center of a persons actions. It’s from the heart/control center that sin is conceived of and committed. You can wash your hands before you eat in keeping with the religious traditions while plotting sinful things like murder or lusting after another persons’ spouse…so religious rituals do not have the power to clean away sin.

²⁰ These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

²¹ Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

²² And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

²³ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

²⁴ But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

²⁵ Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

²⁶ But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.

²⁷ And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

²⁸ Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

• Jesus was sent to Israel, though the plan was that salvation through Jesus would come to all men, Jesus first had to go to Israel and the things that had to happen there before salvation was offered to the world had to occur first. The compassion of Jesus is clear as he healed this woman’s daughter anyway.

²⁹ And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.

³⁰ And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:

³¹ Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.

³² Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.

³³ And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?

³⁴ And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.

³⁵ And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.

³⁶ And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

³⁷ And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.

³⁸ And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.

³⁹ And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.