Matthew 15:1-20: “Pharisees Come To Jesus And Ask Him Why His Disciples Don’t Wash Their Hands When They Eat Bread, And Jesus Condemns Religion That Is Only External”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In this next section of the gospel of Matthew, we see
that Jesus is confronted by a group of Pharisees and Scribes who have come from
1.1.1.
These Pharisees and Scribes are offended that Jesus’
disciples do not wash their hands according to the laws and traditions
established by the Pharisees
1.1.1.1.They are
confronting Jesus’ disciples as if they have sinned by not following these
traditions which were not commanded by God but were made up by men
1.1.2.
Jesus further offends the Pharisees by condemning them
1.1.2.1.He says that
their religion consists only of external rituals performed by rote, not from
the heart
1.1.2.2.He says that
their worship is in vain
1.1.2.3.He teaches
that the things that defile a person come from within, from his heart, not from
without his body
1.1.2.4.He points
out how that through their traditions the Pharisees circumvent the Law of God
1.1.3.
It is sad how that often in the church today issues
are made to be of utmost importance that shouldn’t either be issues at all or
they shouldn’t be of nearly such importance
2.
VS 15:1-6 - “15:1 Then some Pharisees and
scribes *came to Jesus from
2.1.
We see here in these verses a foreboding sign appearing as the Pharisees
have now begun to be so concerned with Jesus’ popularity as well as His
condemnation and alienation of them that they send representatives all the way
from Jerusalem for the express purpose of trying to find some way to charge Him
of some violation of the law and have Him censored or put to death
2.2.
As I mentioned earlier in this study, Jesus did not teach His disciples
to respect and follow the traditions and commandments of men, even those of the
leaders of
2.2.1.
People have a hard enough time just obeying the commandments of God to
have to worry about other silly inventions of men
2.3.
There is an insidious thing that tends to happen when people add to the
scripture their own rules and regulations, they begin to make their rules to be
as important or more important than the scripture, and then they also begin to
minimize the importance of what scripture teaches
2.3.1.
This is exactly what the Pharisees and scribes had done
2.3.1.1.They taught that their
traditions were actually more important than the scriptures
2.3.1.2.They taught that Jehovah
constantly studied their traditions
2.3.1.3.When their traditions
conflicted with the Law their traditions actually became a means of
circumventing the obeying of the Law
2.4.
The Pharisees and scribes had misunderstood the purpose of the ceremonial
laws, and thus they had become led astray from following the Lord as they
should
2.4.1.
They believed that the becoming unclean because of the ceremonial law
(not to be confused with the moral law) actually caused a person to have
sinned, and that the things which they were forbidden contact with under the
ceremonial law were sinful in and of themselves
2.4.1.1.The ceremonial law was done
away with during the period of the early church of the book of Acts because
those commandments were not permanent but only intended to create a typology of
sin and to make the people become sensitized to how easy it is to sin in one’s
life
2.4.1.1.1.It is our hearts that must
be cleansed from sin before our worship is acceptable to God that ceremonial
cleansing was supposed to typify and teach
2.5.
The Pharisees’ misunderstanding of the purpose of the ceremonial laws led
them to the conclusion that since many things on the earth were evil in and of
themselves that it would be best to take it upon themselves to try to
innumerate as accurately as possible what activities and contacts caused a
person to sin
2.5.1.
Thus, the Pharisees and scribes added hundreds of their own commandments
to the commandments of God
2.5.2.
After creating their own laws, instead of teaching the people God’s Word
they primarily taught them their own commandments
2.6.
In these verses here, the Pharisees confront Jesus because His disciples
were eating their meals without washing their hands according to the traditions
of the Pharisees, for their laws taught that a person would sin if he ate with
unwashed hands
2.6.1.
The Pharisees had instituted numerous traditions concerning hand washing
since they believed that a person must be washed and purified after coming in
contact with many things which they believed to be sinful in and of
themselves. John MacArthur writes about
these rituals of washing performed by the Pharisees, “The value of
ceremonial rinsing was held so high that one rabbi insisted that ‘whosoever has
his abode in the land of Israel and eats his common food with rinsed hands may
rest assured that he shall obtain eternal life’. Another rabbi taught that it would be better
to walk four miles out of the way to get water than to eat with unwashed
hands. A certain rabbi who was
imprisoned and given a small ration of water used it to wash his hands before
eating rather than to drink, claiming he would rather die than transgress the
tradition. God had instituted certain
prescribed ceremonial washings as part of the covenant given through Moses, but
those were never more than outward symbols or pictures of spiritual
truths. The Old Testament nowhere holds
them up as having any merit, value, or blessing in themselves. Water jars were kept ready to be used before
every meal. The minimum amount of water
to be used was a quarter of a log, enough to fill one and a half egg
shells. The water was first poured on
both hands, held with the fingers pointed upward; and it must run down the arm as far as the
wrist and drop off from the wrist, for the water was now itself unclean, having
touched the unclean hands. And if it ran
down the fingers again it would render them unclean. The process was repeated with hands held in
the downward direction, the fingers pointing down. And finally each hand was cleansed by being
rubbed with the fist of the other. A
strict Jew would do this before every meal and between every course in every
meal”.
2.7.
At their confrontation of Him, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and scribes
for setting aside the obeying of God’s Law for their own traditions
2.7.1.
The Old Testament Law taught that we are to ‘honor’ our father and mother
2.7.1.1.By saying what He said,
Jesus infers that honoring our father and mother means that we are obliged to
help them out financially and take care of them when they grow old
2.7.2.
The tradition of the Pharisees taught that if a person declared any of
his wealth to be ‘corban’ (Mark 7:11) that he could give it to the temple
instead of using it to help out his elderly parents in their time of need
2.7.2.1.Thus, the people followed
the teaching and example of the Pharisees and scribes and abandoned their
elderly parents in their time of need
2.8.
We Christians ought to be challenged because of this study to consider how
that we might help out our parents in their old age since we are called to
‘honor’ our father and mother
3.
VS 15:7-9 - “7 “You hypocrites,
rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away
from Me. 9 ‘But in vain do they
worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the
precepts of men.’”” - Jesus
rebukes the Pharisees for being hypocrites and honoring God with their lips
while their hearts were far from Him
3.1.
Jesus tells the Pharisees and scribes assembled there before Him this day
that Isaiah rightly prophesied concerning them
3.1.1.
In the first chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah 1:10-17, the Lord tells the
Israelites that He is tired of their mere external religion which consisted of
rituals, and their ‘solemn assemblies’ which He could stand no longer, “10 Hear
the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom;
Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. 11 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to
Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of
rams, And the fat of fed cattle. And I
take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. 12 “When you come to appear before Me, Who
requires of you this trampling of My courts?
13 “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination
to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling
of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. 14 “I hate your new moon festivals and your
appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them. 15 “So when you spread out your hands in
prayer, I will hide My eyes from you, Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I
will not listen. Your hands are covered
with blood. 16 “Wash yourselves, make
yourselves clean; Remove the evil of
your deeds from My sight. Cease to do
evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice,
Reprove the ruthless; Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow”
3.1.1.1.God tells us through these
verses that if we are to be His people, the Lord wants us to have our hearts
and minds cleansed from sin and to live truly righteous lives
3.1.1.2.These words of condemnation
were true for the people of Isaiah’s day and they apply to all of those of any
era who claim to be God’s people and yet are living hypocritical lives
3.1.2.
Jesus quotes directly from Isaiah 29:13 when He tells them that Isaiah
prophesied correctly concerning them, “13 Then the Lord said,“Because this
people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they
remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition
learned by rote…””, and then Isaiah goes on to prophesy the coming judgment
upon the Israelites because of their hypocrisy of religion
3.2.
I like what John MacArthur writes concerning formalism and ritual in
religion amongst God’s people, “From the time the Old Covenant was first
given to them, God’s people were more concerned with outside ritual than with
inside righteousness. Ritual requires no
change of heart, no forsaking of sin, no repentance before God. It allows a person to display symbols of
religion while holding on to his sins.
It is religion of form rather than faith, and is therefore empty and
hypocritical”
3.3.
Jesus tells these Pharisees and scribes that they were worshipping Him in
vain
3.3.1.
Their worship would not count towards eternity one iota
3.3.2.
Jesus condemns them by saying that they teach for doctrine the ‘precepts
of men’, referring to ‘the tradition of the elders’ or the laws of the
Pharisees
3.4.
I grew up in a church which I attended for the first 15 or 16 years of my
life, and it was very formal and everything in the church was ritual
oriented. I memorized and prayed the
canned prayers from the prayer book rather than pray to God from my heart,
memorized the proper way to receive communion, memorized some old hymns that
had a semblance of truth in them, and I even went all the way through the
process of confirmation into the church.
Yet, I never once was confronted with the realities of an eternity to be
lived in either heaven or hell, the need to repent of my sins in order to be forgiven,
and the possibility of being born again and regenerated to live a total new
life through the power of the Holy Spirit.
And I know that had I died prior to January of 1973 when finally at the
age of 18 I turned my life completely over to Jesus Christ and repented of all
of my sins, that I would have gone to hell.
A church which does not teach and preach the only message that will save
a soul for eternity, and which does not teach and live a life of holiness that
forsakes every wrong and false path that goes against the teaching of
scripture, is every bit as deadly as the false religion of the Pharisees
condemned by Jesus.
4.
VS 15:10-11 - “ 10 And after He called
the multitude to Him, He said to them, “Hear, and understand. 11 “Not what
enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this
defiles the man.”” - Jesus
teaches the multitude that what defiles a man is not what enters him, but
rather what proceeds out of his mouth
4.1.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the Pharisees had the
wrong notion that some things on this earth were evil in and of themselves,
however Jesus teaches them those things that come into a man from without are
not what defile the man
4.2.
What does defile a man is the sin that is within him, and thus Jesus
teaches that a person’s mouth speaks of the things which fill his man heart
(Luke 6:45; Matt. 12:34)
4.2.1.
Remember in Matthew 12:42 that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their
speech when He said that the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart,
“34 “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For
the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart”
4.2.2.
In James 3:2-9, James talks about the fact that the
tongue is like a rudder that guides our entire life, directing us in every way in which we go,
and since it reflects our true character, if we could tame it we would be a
‘perfect man’, “2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not
stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as
well. 3 Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey
us, we direct their entire body as well. 4 Behold, the ships also, though they
are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small
rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. 5 So also the tongue is
a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great
a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the
very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which
defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on
fire by hell. 7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and
creatures of the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human race. 8 But no
one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. 9
With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been
made in the likeness of God”
4.3.
Mark chapter 7 includes this same incident recorded here in Matthew, and
in Mark 7:19, Mark comments that by Jesus saying this that there was a forward
reaching conclusion that they would soon reach, because in Jesus’ saying this
He, “declared all foods clean”
4.3.1.
Later in the book of Acts we will find that soon in the history of the
early church it was decreed that the Lord had freed believers in Christ from
the ceremonial laws which effected diet and other things (see Acts 10:15; 11:9)
5.
VS 15:12-14 - “12 Then the disciples
*came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they
heard this statement?” 13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My
heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up. 14 “Let them alone; they are
blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall
into a pit”” - The
disciples are concerned about Jesus’ having offended and alienated the
Pharisees and come to Him to warn Him about doing this
5.1.
The disciples have now become concerned because of the fact that Jesus has
greatly snubbed and offended the Pharisees, and so they come to Him to warn Him
about the consequences of doing so
5.1.1.
The disciples know that these Pharisees and scribes had been sent from
5.1.2.
Jesus has now even further offended the Pharisees by condemning them for
5.1.2.1.breaking God’s laws through
their traditions
5.1.2.2.being prophesied about by
Isaiah since their religion was all on the external and did not involve the
heart nor true righteousness
5.1.2.3.their worship of Jehovah
being in vain
5.1.3.
The disciples foresee that the Pharisees are going to be a force to be
reckoned with
5.2.
Jesus tells His disciples to not worry about His having greatly offended
the Pharisees because:
5.2.1.
they are a plant which the Lord did not plant, and thus it will
eventually be rooted up
5.2.1.1.This prophesy was fulfilled,
for the Pharisees as a sect and political party ceased to exist about 40 years
after this incident here, when in 70AD the city of Jerusalem was overthrown and
destroyed by the Romans
5.2.2.
they are blind guides of the blind, and when a blind man guides a blind
man they shall both fall into a pit
5.2.2.1.The pit mentioned here which
blind guides and those who follow them will eventually fall into is ‘hell’
itself.
5.3.
I recently saw on television Larry King interview in prison Leslie
VanHoughten, who was one of the women convicted in the James Manson
murders. During the early 70’s and the
hippie movement, James Manson, a drug using and very evil hippie, controlled
the minds and lives of a bunch of people (mainly women) on a ranch in southern
California. These people were taught by
Manson to ‘live for the moment’ and to deny their own egos and live for ‘the
family’. The test that they had truly
been emptied of themselves was that they were willing to go under Manson’s
orders and kill well-to-do people living in the nice urban areas. They went and murdered several people at
Manson’s orders, and they were later all caught and sentenced to life in
prison. Leslie has been up for parol 11
times already and turned down, however I believe that it really didn’t take her
too long to realize the evil of what she had done. I believe that she has truly come to realize
and accept her guilt for the crimes and has true remorse. She no longer blames Manson or others for her
wrongs, only herself. One thing that
Leslie said in the interviews intrigued me.
She said that she now believes that the person who follows a crazed cult
leader is more guilty than the leader himself, for a crazed cult leader can
only exist and perform evil if people follow him. Those who are in churches and religious
groups which are teaching a false external religion that consists only of rites
and rituals are guilty before God for allowing themselves to follow a path that
leads its followers only to destruction.
6.
VS 15:15-20 - “15 And Peter answered
and said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And He said, “Are you still
lacking in understanding also? 17 “Do you not understand that everything that
goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? 18 “But the
things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the
man. 19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20 “These are the things which
defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”” - Jesus explains to His disciples what He meant
by saying that it is not the things that come from outside the man into him
that defile him, but rather the things that proceed out of his mouth
6.1.
One of Peter’s good characteristics was that if he didn’t understand
anything he immediately went and asked the Lord about it
6.2.
Jesus is incredulous that His disciples had been with Him so long, and
yet they still did not understand what He had meant in this teaching
6.3.
Jesus teaches the disciples here that sin is resident in the heart of
man, and that the mouth speaks out of that which proceeds forth from the heart
6.3.1.
To make it even clearer that the heart is the seat of sin within man, Jesus
enumerates the types of sins which come forth from the heart of man: evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders
6.3.2.
Jeremiah wrote in Jer. 17:9 that the heart is desperately wicked, “9The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
6.3.3.
Proverbs 4:23 gives us an exhortation to watch carefully over our hearts
since it is our hearts that become corrupted in sin, “23 Watch over your heart
with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life”
6.3.4.
Proverbs 22:15 teaches us as parents that it is important to discipline
our children with a rod since foolishness is bound up in the hearts of children
from birth, “15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from
him”
6.3.5.
James 1:13-15 teaches us that even our temptations come from within our
own heart and its lust, sin dwelling within us, “13 Let no one say when he
is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and
He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried
away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives
birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death”
7.
CONCLUSION:
It is essential that we have clean hearts before the Lord, but this does
not come about by creating our own form of legalism. It didn’t work for the Jews and it won’t work
for us. If growth is to come about in
our lives it will come through growth in the grace of God