Matthew 15

 

Breaking Human Traditions

1Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said, 

 

The Pharisees were concerned about the popularity of Jesus. They traveled down from Jerusalem all the way into the desert area of the Sea of Galilee in order to challenge the authority of Jesus. The experts of the Law were called in an attempt to discredit the Biblical knowledge of Jesus.

 

2“Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.” 

 

The tradition of the elders was not the written Word of God. It was the man-made Oral Law of the rabbi. The rabbi believed that the Oral Law had even more authority than the written law.

 

3He answered them, “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 

 

Jesus answered a question with a question. This was a typical rabbi debating tactic. The purpose of this question was to show that the Oral Law was not only adding to Scripture, but it taught the opposite of Scripture. The Oral Law is similar to the modern charismatics falsely claiming that their tongues and prophecies are divine revelations from God.

 

4For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ 

 

Jesus quoted from the written Word of God.

 

5But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” 6he does not need to honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. 

 

The Oral Law of Judaism allowed a son to simply affirm that a particular item had been a gift devoted to God. Then, he would not have to give the item to his parents in need. 

 

7Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

 

Jesus was not a seeker-friendly teacher. He called these religious leaders hypocrites.

 

8‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, 9and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

 

This hypocrisy was a violation of the fifth commandment. Isaiah 29:13 predicted this kind of hypocrisy 700 years earlier.

 

True Defilement

10Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 

 

Jesus called the crowd together.

 

11What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.” 

 

The Oral Law added many additional dietary rules. Defilement is not what goes in the mouth, but what comes out of the mouth. 

 

12Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?” 

 

Jesus was not a seeker-friendly teacher. He offended those who were hypocritical. Often, modern pastor-teachers will expose evil and be condemned by baby Christians for not showing agape love in their presentation style. It is the responsibility of the pastor-teacher to teach the truth. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to correct the presentation style of the pastor. The sheep do not correct the shepherd’s presentation style. They are to become Bereans and check out his doctrine.

 

13And he replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 

 

God plants believers by the process of election and predestination.

 

14Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.” 

 

Jesus was not a seeker-friendly teacher. He called the Jewish leaders “blind guides leading the blind.”  Most Christians in modern churches today are blind, because they do not study the entire counsel of the Word of God. They are being led by blind pastors who do not study the entire counsel of the Word of God. No one should step into the pulpit until he has taken the time to study the entire counsel of the Word of God from the original languages. Without these language tools, pastors and students are blind. They are gaining all of their information second hand.

 

15But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 

 

Peter asked Jesus to explain the defilement parable.

 

16Jesus said, “Even after all this, are you still so foolish? 

 

The Greek word for “foolish” is ἀσύνετος (asunetos), meaning the failure to structure information in a meaningful way. The response of Jesus was not as harsh as many English translations make it out to be.

 

17Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. 

 

Jesus used earthy metaphors. What comes out of the mouth stinks a lot more than what goes in the toilet.

 

19For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 

 

The heart is the soul or the personality. Either Bible doctrine or doctrines of demons are fed into the soul. Whatever dog is fed the most wins.

 

20These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.”

 

The intake and outtake into the soul of ideas and philosophies from the satanic world system are what defiles the body. 

 

A Canaanite Woman’s Faith

21After going out from there, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 

 

Tyre and Sidon were two seaport cities which were established by the Phoenicians. 

 

22A Canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!” 

 

The Canaanites were a cursed race. God commanded Joshua to exterminate every Canaanite man, woman, and child. Israel refused to accomplish this task, so the Canaanites lured Israel into idolatry. 1500 years later, there were still Canaanites living in the Tyre and Sidon region. This Canaanite was a Gentile woman. She was despised and looked down upon by the Jews. She called Jesus “the Son of David,” meaning that she recognized Him as the Messiah. She reported to Jesus that her daughter was demon-possessed. 

 

23But he did not answer her a word. Then his disciples came and begged him, “Send her away, because she keeps on crying out after us.” 

 

Jesus did not answer her. The disciples begged Jesus to send her away.

 

24So he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 

 

The Son of David was predicted to establish an eternal Jewish throne. 

 

25But she came and bowed down before him and said, “Lord, help me!” 

 

Not only did she recognize Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, but she also recognized His deity. She could not recognize either of these attributes of Jesus unless the Holy Spirit revealed it to her. She was one of God’s elect. The Canaanites survived so that she could be saved.

 

26“It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” he said. 

 

Jesus reminded her that His first call was to the Jews. The Gentiles were called dogs by the Jews. The Jews considered dogs as unclean animals. Dogs were loathsome and detested scavengers at this time in history. They hunted in packs and tore their victims to shreds.

 

27“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 

 

This Canaanite woman knew the Scriptures better than the scribes, Pharisees, and local Jews. She reminded Jesus that the Gentile dogs had a place in the Messianic Kingdom.

 

28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

 

The Canaanite woman had great faith because she had great knowledge of Scripture. Jesus knew this, but He was teaching His disciples that God has a place in the Messianic Kingdom for even the Canaanite Gentiles.

 

Healing Many Others

29When he left there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up a mountain, where he sat down. 

 

Jesus sat down on a mountain. When a rabbi was ready to teach, he sat down. He chose a mountain so that large crowds could hear His voice traveling down the mountain. This mountain was created so that Jesus could teach this lesson.

 

30Then large crowds came to him bringing with them the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 

 

Unlike the modern faith healers of today, Jesus healed every one of them.

 

31As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.

 

Tyre and Sidon were Gentile territory. The God of Israel was praised, even though this was mostly a Gentile audience.

 

The Feeding of the Four Thousand

32Then Jesus called the disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days and they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry since they may faint on the way.” 

 

The people loved the teaching of Jesus so much that they did not eat for three days. 

 

33The disciples said to him, “Where can we get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy so great a crowd?” 

 

This was desert territory. There were no towns, cities, or villages around to purchase food.

 

34Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven – and a few small fish.” 

 

The disciples had seven loaves and a few small fish. They had witnessed Jesus feed the 5000 with less than this amount, so they should have known that Jesus would miraculously provide the food.

 

35After instructing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 

 

Jesus was orderly. He instructed the crowd to sit down.

 

36he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples, who then gave them to the crowds. 

 

Jesus is the omnipotent God. Just as He created the heavens and the earth, He created bread and fish out of nothing.

 

37They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 

 

Everyone had a feast and there were seven baskets left over.

 

38Not counting children and women, there were four thousand men who ate. 

 

Jesus fed over 12,000 starving people who were hungry for the Word of God.

 

39After sending away the crowd, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. 

 

Jesus sent away the crowd and headed to Magadan. Magadan was part of His Sea of Galilee ministry.