Matthew 15:1-20
Clean and Unclean
1Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2"Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"
3Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 5But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"
10Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. 11What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "
12Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
13He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
15Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
16"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' "
The educated religious Pharisees and other teachers opposed Jesus...They followed the traditions they had been taught...On the laws of cleanliness, the Pharisees thought that Jesus' disciples should follow Leviticus 5:2-3...These are Moses Laws of cleanliness for the Hebrew people... This washing of the hands made sure that if anyone had touched anything unclean, the washing would cleanse the hands and make their hands (and themselves) ceremonially clean...When the Pharisees ask Jesus about why doesn't the disciples wash their hands, Jesus asks them about the fifth commandment, of honoring your father and mother...
Jesus asks the question about honoring your father and mother, because Leviticus 5:2-3 is about contact with unclean things...The disciples would have to come in contact with an unclean animal or an unclean human and have touched it (even though they may or may not noticed the touching)...The hand washing was more of a tradition than specific Law of Moses...The tradition of washing one's hands can get in the way of the moral and sincere faith toward the Father...Jesus knew this just could not be answered with a couple of words...Some of our old traditions, can become commonplace and we can confuse them with faith...Jesus followed God and the Law of Moses...
Jesus wanted to show His followers how traditions can conflict with one's faith toward the Father...His questions about the honoring of your parents, get into moral and deep thought...The Hebrews thought that their older parents should be helped and honored...Parents are usually in a position to help their children, but the fifth commandment is about the helping and honoring of the parents (by the children)...The obligation, help, and duty to support our older parents could be discussed and debated as parents age (just like it could be today)...This was a subject Jesus knew would require much thought for the Pharisees...
Jesus quotes Isaiah and tells the crowd that they are following the less important rules of man, and are forgetting the important relationship with God...
He further tells us it is not what goes in our mouths (from our supposedly unclean hands) that make us unclean, but it is what comes out of our mouths and what we say, that make us unclean...The disciples tell Jesus that what He said offended the Pharisees...The truth can often upset us and others...
Jesus then tells us that some blind leaders try to lead the blind...We sometimes think, act, and say things like we know what is going on, but in all actually we don't...The Pharisees were not always leading the people down the right paths...The Pharisees, in some instances, such as tradition verses the law, were blind to the truth, but would not admit it...
Jesus shows all of us by His teachings, who we really are...What we eat, does not make us unclean...What we say and do, and what comes from our heart does make us clean or unclean toward God...Jesus wants us to have pure heart and have an intimate relationship with God, and not just a ritual we do every morning or everyday...Jesus was resurrected, and still lives...God IS the Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...He is the living God...He wants us to follow His Word...He wants us to trust Him and have our rituals follow His Word, because His Word is Truth...