Matthew 15:1-20
Dear RTB’ers,
Scribes and Pharisees again…: Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem… (v. 1).It is reasonable to give the scribes and Pharisees a break once in a while. Yes, they always seem to be testing Jesus, but they had a valid reason – there often appeared a number of people in Israel claiming to be the messiah and showing “signs and wonders”. The Jerusalem leaders would send out their “agents” to test out these people. Jesus’ fame had spread and He needed to be tested, according to this way of thinking. So, not unreasonable that these agents came from Jerusalem.
But to take Jesus to task for His disciples simply not washing their hands before they ate??!! That seems a bit unreasonable! Maybe challenge Him on bigger items, like casting out demons (from a few days ago). Charlatans could easily bring in a friend with a fake demon-possession and heal him. That item is worthy of a test. But challenging Him on their own traditions…! Isaiah nailed it – “…teaching as doctrines the commandments of men…” (v. 9b, quoting Isaiah 29:13). And then Jesus’ calling them out offends them! Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” (v. 12) I’m sorry, but putting myself into this story, I think that I would just be standing around and chuckling to myself! Until I realized that He was also speaking to me: But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. (v. 18) I remember stories from “back in the day” of parents washing their children’s mouths out with soap after they heard or learned of some vulgarity spoken by their child. Bad parenting or not, the sad thing is that those parents should have listened to Jesus and found a way to “wash their child’s heart”, not their mouth.
Could someone please lend me a bar of heart-soap?
Blessings!
Fred