Read Matthew 14:34-15:20 and Mark 6:53-7:23. Jesus again crosses the lake to the area around Gennesaret. Here again, the crowds recognize Him and flock to Him. He healed many. Others were coming to Him as well, from the religious establishment in Jerusalem, and, seeing all He did, they had a question.
1. What question did these religious leaders ask?
Why aren’t your disciples washing their hands before they eat? The issue was not one of hygiene but of ceremonial cleansing. In the thinking of that day, there were things which were clean, that is, they did not make you ceremonially impure if you came in contact with them, and there were things which were unclean, which could defile you if you came into physical contact with them. For example, if you touched a dead body, you were, according to the law, ceremonially impure for a specified period of time. These religious leaders would not think of touching a dead body, but they realized they might come into contact with someone who had come into contact with someone who had come into contact (and so on) with a dead body or another unclean object. This ceremonial impurity would be transferred up the chain and affect them. If they were ceremonially impure and ate food that was impure because they touched it, this impurity would affect them internally. Outward impurity could be washed away, but inner impurity was another matter, more serious. To prevent this, they washed their hands before eating just in case. Washing them cleansed them ceremonially. It is to be noted that this was a human tradition and not something God had commanded them to do in the Law.
2. Compare what these people must have witnessed, or at the least had heard about (See Matthew 14:34-36) with the question they asked (See Matthew 15:2). What, do you think, is incongruous about these two things?
With all the miracles occurring, what catches their eye is that the disciples did not wash their hands, an insignificant, irrelevant human tradition.
3. When these religious leaders ask, “Why are your disciples breaking the tradition of the elders?” What does our Lord reply?
He asked them why they were breaking God’s law in favor of keeping their traditions.
4. In Matthew 15:4-6 and Mark 7:9-13, our Lord gives an example of how their traditions invalidated God’s commands. To what do you think, is this example referring?
They were to honor their parents by providing for and supporting them in their later years. If, however, according to tradition, they dedicated their material possessions to God, willed them to the Temple upon their death, then they could use still use them however they wanted to, but they were not required to use these resources to take care of their parents. A legal loophole.
5. What did our Lord say that Isaiah said of these people?
He quoted Isaiah and said they honor God with their words, but not their heart. They taught man’s rules instead of God’s law.
6. Now, Jesus dealt with the specific issue of ceremonial uncleanness. The tradition of the elders said that it was a sin to eat with unwashed hands. The thinking was that your hands had touched something ceremonially unclean, and if you picked up your food without washing, this ceremonial uncleanness was transferred to your food and from the food to your heart (inner person) when you ate it. What did Jesus say made a person unclean? (See Matthew 15:17-20.)
It is not what goes in a person, but what comes out of the heart that defiles us or makes us sinful, attitudes, thoughts, motives, etc.
Read Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30. As is usual for our Lord, He does not stay and argue or debate with the religious leaders. Instead, He withdraws and goes somewhere else. This time He goes to the area around Tyre and Sidon. What is interesting is that this is not a Jewish area but Gentile territory. Gentiles, by Jewish tradition, were unclean, and association with them would traditionally render a Jew unclean.
7. What connection do you see between this passage and the one just before it (Matthew 14:34-15:20 and Mark 6:53-7:23)?
This passage illustrates in a reverse way what Jesus has just taught in the preceding passage. It is not the outward things that defile a person (or make a person clean) but the heart!
The Applications:
What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.
1. Rex Vincent, a former administrator of Muncie Christian School, where I taught for years, had an insightful story that he used on several occasions, illustrating the kind of vision these religious leaders in our Lord’s Day exhibited. I’m not sure where he found it.
Two birds were flying above the countryside below, and each looked down to see what it could see. The first bird saw the beautiful wildflowers, the flowering trees and shrubs, but saw very little else. That bird was a hummingbird. The second bird did not see the flowers, but being a vulture, it saw the carcasses of various creatures lying dead in the fields or along the roadsides. Each bird flew over the same countryside, yet each saw something different. Why? Each saw that for which it was looking. The hummingbird saw the flowers because it fed on the nectar of flowers. It was looking for them. The vulture fed on carrion, and for that, it diligently searched.
The point of this story is that we see that for which we are looking more often than not. The religious leaders had already judged our Lord as a fraud and were only looking for what they considered to be errors and faults in Him or His followers. That is what they saw, not the miracles. What do we look for in others? I think all too often we look at others who do not belong to our group, to our denomination, and we see all too clearly their faults, and we miss the work that God is accomplishing through them. We need to be very careful when looking at others, especially those that rub us the wrong way, those with whom we disagree, those whom we just plain do not like. It is not that we should be blind to faults and problems, but we must not be blind to the good that is there as well.
2. Do our traditions keep us from doing what God wants us to do? Do we teach our traditions more than we teach the Word of God? I am convinced that we do! Our traditional view of the church often keeps us from being involved in the work that God has called every believer to do. There are three or four layers of church members in the traditional church. On the top are the pastors/ministers. These people we hire to do the work of the ministry, to preach the word, visit the sick and shut-ins, to lead the worship, to teach and train our children. They are the professionals who have been trained to do this. The next layer is the elders/deacons. These are the spiritual leaders of the congregation. They make up the group that determines or at least recommends the policies of the church. They often are responsible for the physical upkeep and care of the church. They sign the checks. Lastly, there is the congregation whose responsibility is to be faithful in attendance and give generously and faithfully. This traditional corporate view of the church denies the spiritual corporeal nature of the church. The work of the ministry, teaching, preaching, visiting those in need, leading in worship belongs to and is the responsibility of the people of the church. To each, He has given a gift or gifts to be used for the edification of the body. We deny the responsibility God has given us by hiring, choosing or electing others to serve for us.
3. A new family attended one of our church picnics. They, as did many other couples in our congregation, brought a blanket and spread it out under the shade of a tree. They opened their cooler and brought out their lunch. He then opened a can of Coors beer, leaned back and relaxed, oblivious to the fact that not a single other family had brought anything to drink except iced tea or soft drinks. This was a very conservative church. While many who were there did not notice this, many did, including some of the leaders in the church. You could see the questioning looks in their eyes. How could a Christian drink beer, an alcoholic beverage? In the opinion of many, this defiled you. It was a sin.
There were many spiritual lessons that needed to be learned that day. On the one hand, the young man needed to learn that there are times and ways to exercise freedom in Christ in a way that does not cause offense. He had not sinned, to be sure! At that point, he had no idea that this would offend anyone! Many in the congregation, on the other hand, needed to learn the truth that it is not what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out from the heart of man.