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 Pharisees thought that rituals and ceremonies were very important...When one acts religiously, or does ceremonial things, does proper sacrifices, does daily rituals, and what we think is right and getting us closer to God -that in itself, is not enough...Rituals and ceremonies can get out of hand, and we can lose the foundation of our faith...We can get so busy doing traditions and rituals they can take a life of their own...Jesus teaches us to get bad to the basics of Scripture and God...What is important is faith and belief...One has to believe in God...One has to have faith in God...Belief and faith in the Father and Son, have to be high on our priorities in life...
When we think like the Pharisees, and things that we think it are important like sacrifices, or faith in our own morals, or faith in our own self, or faith in our own deeds -we are not getting closer to God...To get closer to God, we have to faith in Jesus and belief in Jesus and His Father to receive eternal life...
Jesus seems to speak of the Pharisees' rituals and traditions as having grown out of the Bible, and these rituals were not in the Bible...The tradition has become more important than the things that are important...Jesus summed up the law as love your God, with all your heart and your soul, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself...When we don't honor our fathers and mothers that is not showing love of our neighbor...When we do not show love for our father and mother, we are not following what God wants us to follow and do...If a parent needs help from a Pharisee and the parent had previously given a gift to the Temple and God, the Pharisees must help their parent...The gift the father or mother gave to God was out of love, and now the Pharisee (and us) must reciprocate this love, when they are in need...
Jesus reminds us that we all have our daily routines...We do the same things almost everyday and ever week...Some of do the same things over and over each year...We eat that same foods each week, take the same vacations every year, we do the same of similar things each day -we have our own rituals, in a sense...Jesus wants us to look at these and make sure we believe in God, and have faith in God and follow His teachings and not our rituals...Sometimes we need to look at our lives, and remember the foundation of a strong faith...
Jesus teaches us the eternities of God, love, and soul...He shows us the wickedness of man and what is in his heart...Let our rituals all come from Scripture...