Category: Matthew 15

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Mark Mark 8 Matthew Matthew 15 Matthew 16

Legalism and worldliness

The gospels

I’ve mentioned more than once in this blog the need to test everything that we hear, whether it’s from the pulpit, from the radio or a podcast, from a book, or from wherever you hear people teaching the Word of God.

For that matter, you should be testing everything I say as well.

In these passages we see why.

We see in the first part of these accounts a near repeat of Jesus’ miracle of feeding the 5000. The details are different, however, in terms of the number of people fed, the amount of fish and bread used, as well as the amount of leftovers.

After this event, the Pharisees and Sadducees came to see Jesus.

(It’s not clear whether the Herodians were also there as a separate group, or the Herodians mentioned in Mark were the Sadducees, who were well known as collaborators with the Romans. I take it as the latter).

After arguing with them and rebuffing yet another request for a sign, he told his disciples, “Be careful…Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:6).

(Again, it’s possible that when he referred to the leaven of Herod in Mark 8, he was talking about the Sadducees).

The disciples, as usual, were confused and were perhaps wondering if Jesus was forbidding them from getting actual bread from these two groups.

But Jesus quickly corrected them, saying, “Why are you worrying about bread? Don’t you remember how I provided for the 5000 and the 4000? I’m not talking about that at all.”

At which point, Matthew says,

“Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:12)

What was the teaching of these two groups? For the Pharisees, it was a very devout legalism. They thought that they could earn their way to heaven by their works.

Because of this, they devoted themselves to studying God’s law and keeping it. There were a few problems, however.

First, they added things to God’s law that God never taught. And in doing so, they put burdens on the people that God never intended. What’s more, they criticized and looked down on anyone who didn’t keep those rules.

Furthermore, as we saw earlier, some of their rules based on tradition flat out contradicted God’s word.

In addition, in focusing on the minutia of the law, they missed its spirit completely, causing them to condemn people unjustly. They forgot things like justice and mercy in their pursuit of legalistic perfection.

All these things, we have already seen or will see in later passages.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, tended to be focused more on wealth and power, thus their collaboration with the Romans. They also didn’t believe in a resurrection, which made it easier for them to focus on the things of this earth, rather than on eternal things.

Thus Jesus warns against both legalistic religiosity and worldliness. Both of them, like leaven, can spread throughout a church, and make it useless to the kingdom of God.

Unfortunately, many people in Jesus’ day didn’t test what they were taught, and as a result, they either lived their lives feeling weighed down and condemned, or they put all their efforts into temporal things, rather than eternal ones.

How about you? Have you fallen into either of these traps?

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Mark Mark 7 Matthew Matthew 15

Bringing people to Jesus

The gospels

In these two passages, we see the great popularity of Jesus because of his healing ministry.

What strikes me as I read them is that most people didn’t come to Jesus on their own for healing. Rather, it was others that brought them to Jesus. And when people brought those who needed healing to Jesus, Jesus healed them.

Just as Jesus opened people’s physical eyes and ears back then, so he does now to those who are spiritually blind and deaf. Just as he healed those who were physically hurting, so he does now to those who are emotionally hurting.

I do believe in physical healing for today as well, but it is people’s souls and spirits that Jesus cares for most, even more than their bodies, as we saw in the case of the paralyzed man and his four friends. (Mark 2:1-12)

So in the same way that these people brought the sick and the hurting to Jesus, we too are called to bring those who are hurting spiritually and emotionally to Jesus.

We in ourselves don’t have the power to heal them, but Jesus can. And we need to go out and bring them to him, rather than just wait for them to come to him on their own.

That said, Jesus always asked the people he healed, “What do you want of me?” or “Do you desire to be healed?”

And only those who were open to his healing touch did he heal.

The same can be said of those we bring to Jesus. Once we’ve brought them face to face with Jesus, they have to make a choice. Do they desire healing or not? Do they desire what Jesus has to offer or not?

We can’t make that choice for them. They have to make it themselves.

How about you? Are you bringing people to Jesus?

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Mark Mark 7 Matthew Matthew 15

Persistence, humility, and faith

The gospels

One wonders exactly what Jesus was thinking throughout this conversation with this woman, and in what kind of tone did he speak to her.

Jesus, after his confrontation with the Jews, actually left the confines of Israel and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon which was north of Israel along the coast.

And while he tried to keep his presence there secret, people in the area heard about it, including this Greek woman born in that area.

Her daughter was demon-possessed, and she no doubt had heard about Jesus, and so she came to him, begging for help, saying,

Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession. (Matthew 15:22)

For all the compassion that Jesus generally showed people, he did not do so here, at least at first. Though he heard her cry, he ignored her.

Undiscouraged (and probably desperate), she continued to plead for his attention until his disciples finally said in short, “If you’re not going to help her, at least send her away. She’s bothering us.” (Matthew 15:23)

At which point, Jesus gave her what seems a very curt answer,

I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. (Matthew 15:24)

How did he say this, however? Did he say it as curtly as it sounds? Or did he say it almost with a tinge of regret that said, “I wish I could help. But I’m only here for the Jews.”

However, he said it, it only caused her to keep crying out, “Lord, help me,” as she fell at his feet.

Again, Jesus rebuffs her, with what seems to be very harsh words,

It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their (little — YLT) dogs. (Matthew 15:26)

The word “dogs” were generally used in a pejorative sense in Israel, but Jesus softens it with the word, “little,” which was often used in a very affectionate way in their language.

Even so, to be compared to a dog, even in an affectionate way is not the way most people want to be referred to.

But instead of being offended, she turned Jesus own words in her favor, saying,

Yes, Lord…but even the (little) dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. (Matthew 15:27)

In other words, “I know that you came for the Jews. And I know that because of that they have priority. But can’t I at least have the crumbs they don’t want?”

At which point Jesus praises her like he praised few others.

Woman, you have great faith! (Matthew 15:28)

There is only one other person that he praises for their faith, and it was another Gentile, a Roman centurion.

And because of her faith, he healed her daughter.

What can we get from this?

Sometimes, we pray and it seems like God is silent. Like he is ignoring us. But as this woman, we should be persistent in our prayer.

This is not to say that we have the right to order Jesus to do something, as some people would have you believe.

But as with this woman, if we come with humility and keep believing that he can do what we ask, more often than not, he will reward that faith.

The key questions we need to ask ourselves are:

  1. Do we trust that he is good and that he truly cares for us?
  2. Do we trust his answers to be good, whether he says yes or no?
  3. Will we persist in prayer until he does answer?

How about you? Are you persistent in prayer? Do you truly trust in him? And are you humble enough to accept whatever answer he gives?

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Mark Mark 7 Matthew Matthew 15

What is truly unclean

The gospels

I think a lot of times, when people look at the laws of Moses, they wonder about why the Jews had all these laws about what is clean and unclean.

For the most part, from a practical standpoint, they seemed to be for health and sanitary reasons.

But I think there was something beyond that which God wanted to make clear to the people: There are things that make you unclean.

And by fixing this idea of clean and unclean in their minds from the physical aspect, he was drawing a picture for them of what it meant to be clean and unclean from a spiritual aspect.

He was impressing the idea to them that they needed to be a people that were completely pure. Not just in body, but in spirit.

Unfortunately, the Jews put so much focus on the physical aspect of the law, that they missed the true point God was trying to get across to them.

And so when Jesus told the people that what goes into the mouth doesn’t make people unclean, it’s what comes out of the mouth that does, his disciples got confused.

All their lives, they had been told, “Don’t eat this. Don’t eat that. If you do, you’ll become unclean.”

And so basically they asked Jesus, “What do you mean? We always thought that certain foods would make us unclean.”

Jesus responded,

Are you so dull? Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body…

What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.

All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ (Mark 7:18-23)

I think this passage is fairly self-explanatory, and doesn’t need any further commentary as to what Jesus meant.

The question then becomes, how about you? What is in your heart? Is it love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control? Then these things will flow out of your mouth and out of your life.

But if it’s evil thoughts, sexual immorality, and all the rest, those things too will flow out of your mouth and your life. These are the things that make you pure or impure.

As you examine your life today, what’s coming out of your mouth? What’s coming out of your life?

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Mark Mark 7 Matthew Matthew 15

The standard for our lives

The gospels

On what do you base your values? This is an important question because your values will influence your decisions.

For the Pharisees, the Law of Moses and the words of the prophets were very important.

But for them, something else superseded even these, though they might not have admitted it. That thing was their tradition.

And in some cases, they completely let go of the commandments of God in order to follow their religious traditions, as we saw in the last blog. Jesus condemned them for this, saying,

You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. (Matthew 15:6)

Unfortunately, there are a lot of Christians who live that way today. They let go of the commands of God in their lives in favor of something else.

For some people, it’s their culture and traditions.

I know of some Japanese Christians that still offer incense at the Buddhist altar. Some make the excuse, “Well, it’s just a cultural thing. It really doesn’t mean anything. It’s just something we Japanese do.”

But in doing so, they are letting go of the commands of God for the sake of tradition, much as the Pharisees did.

But culture can shape us in other ways.

Nowadays, we see a strong homosexual movement in the United States, where even people who say they believe in Christ say it’s okay.

What’s happened? They are bowing to a culture that is becoming more and more godless every day. They are conforming their values to meet the standards of the culture, and in doing so, they again let go of the commands of God.

Other people let go of the commands of God for their own personal opinions.

They know, for example, that God has said Christians should not marry unbelievers. But they think, “How bad can it be? I love this guy. I’m sure it will work out.”

But by marrying the unbeliever, they let go of the clear teaching of God.

How about you? What is the standard for your life? Culture? Traditions? Your own personal opinion?

There can only be one standard for our lives, and that is the Word of God. Cultures change. Traditions change. Opinions change. But God’s word never changes.

As Isaiah said,

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

So let us not base our values on things that change. Let us base our values on the word of God which never changes. And if we do, we will find blessing.

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Mark Mark 7 Matthew Matthew 15

Leaving behind blind guides

The gospels

Here we see another confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees.

Because Jesus’ disciples did not wash their hands in the ceremonial way prescribed by Jewish tradition, the Pharisees criticized them and Jesus as well for letting his disciples get away with such a “travesty.”

But Jesus tears into the Pharisees because they put their own traditions over God’s law.

He then gave them an example of this. The Pharisees taught that a person could say to his needy parents, “I’ve devoted this money to God, so I can’t help you out financially.”

But they taught this at the expense of breaking God’s law concerning honoring your parents.

He then applied Isaiah’s words to them when he said,

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. (Matthew 15:8-9)

When Jesus’s disciples noted that his words offended the Pharisees, Jesus replied,

Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.

Leave them; they are blind guides.

If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit. (Matthew 15:13-14)

What can we get from all of this?

Be very careful about who you listen to. A lot of people sound good when they speak. They may sound very authoritative and speak with great power.

But if what they’re teaching contradicts God’s word, eventually their ministry will be exposed for what it truly is, and it will be pulled out. If not in this world, then come judgment day when God will burn all works whose foundation is faulty.

If they are Christians, they themselves will be saved, but all that they “accomplished” will be burned. (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)

So test everything you hear. From your pastor. From any Christian book that you read. From any speaker you hear on a podcast or on the radio.

If what they are teaching is consistent with God’s word, listen and obey. If it isn’t, don’t.

And if they consistently teach things contrary to the Word of God, walk away from them completely. Because if you don’t, you’ll walk straight into the pit they’re headed for.