Matthew 15:1-20--The Heart of the Matter

Matthew 15:1-20 English Standard Version (ESV)
Listen:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.15.1-Matt.15.20
Traditions and Commandments
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.’”

What Defiles a Person
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.”

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Jesus starts to take aim at the Pharisees--this time about their hypocrisy about obeying and making tradition and in a way teaching others to disobey God's commandments.  The example given here would be that part of honoring your father and mother would be helping to take care of them when they are old.  True that they should be saving for their retire and leave an inheritance for their children, but even with the best intentions, sometimes it doesn't work out that way and these rich, well-to-do, politically connected upper-class members found a way to skirt their responsibilities by saying they had donated all of their money to the temple so that they technically wouldn't have any money.  Jesus asks a two-part question:
1) How does this honor your parents?
2) Is this really honoring to God?

His rebuke is blistering and unmistakable,
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.’”

Next Jesus moved onto teaching the people about what makes someone "unclean" or defiles them.  The Mosaic Law was full of laws that had to do with purification to be ceremonially clean so that you were able to enter God's presence and things to not do so that you would not become ceremonially unclean as those who attempted to enter God's presence while in a state of being unclean may have been killed for approaching God in an unworthy manner that was something other than what He had prescribed as He was holy and could not allow sin to contaminate His presence.

However, God had already made a way through Jesus for God to enter our presence since we could not approach Him and therefore there was no longer any special ceremony needed to be in the presence of God.  The people that were right there in front of Him where in the presence of God whether they knew it or not.  However, we could still do things that would cut off our fellowship with God as sin will make us not want to approach Christ.  Jesus says it is not what goes into a man (food he eats) that makes him unclean but the words that come out of his mouth, because the mouth speak whatever is in the heart and exposes what is truly there.  If a man stores up good things in his heart his mouth will overflow with the goodness that is stored inside and speak healing and life and wisdom and truth, but if the man has stored up even and fleshly desires in his heart then out of that abundance of evil, his mouth will overflow with evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander--see the contrast given bey Paul between those that walk according to the flesh and those that walk according to the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5.

The disciples came to Jesus concerned that He somehow didn't know that the things He said upset the Pharisees.  Jesus made it clear to them He knew exactly what He was doing and that He was doing it out of concern for the people.  He called the Pharisees "blind guides" who were going to lead the people to destruction, not salvation and that they were marked for destruction because they were part of the "weeds" and not the grain that God planted.

It is the sin that is within us that defiles us and keeps us from approaching God, not what we eat or what clothes we wear.  Jesus was and is concerned about the heart of the matter.  Here are couple more verses from the Old Testament to show that God has always desired for man's heart to be right, not just his outward obedience and adherence to the ceremonial and sacrificial system of the Mosaic Law.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)

He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)