Its Not What Goes In But Comes Out

Jesus was always in teaching mode.  His life was the lesson but sometimes the disciples needed some explanation.  Jesus just set the Pharisees straight in the first nine verses of Matthew 15

Matthew 15:10-19 Jesus takes the time to explain what he meant to his disciples.

Verse 10-11:  Jesus is speaking to the crowd.  The Jewish religion had many things that they were not allowed to eat.  They were considered unclean.  Some of these were established by God in the Old Testament.  Some were established by man like in verse 1-9.  Bread was considered clean by God but the Pharisees considered the bread that the disciples ate unclean because they had not washed their hands.  This was based on a tradition they had set.  Jesus is making a statement about everything that goes into the mouth to the entire crowd.  He says this:

"Hear and understand. ¹¹ "It ^R568 is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."

Jesus is stating that it doesn't matter what they eat, clean or unclean.  It doesn't matter what goes in...it matters what comes out.  Food doesn't defile you.  Your words do.  This is a huge change for the Jews.  This probably shocked them.  Remember that Jesus was ushering in a new covenant.  He would fulfill the Old Covenant (Matthew 5:17) and making yourself "clean" would come through him now.  This is why we don't have to worry about not eating all the things listed as unclean in the Old Testament.  We can eat meat if we want to.  We can choose not to but it won't determine our standing with God.  Our words and what we say are the result of our standing with God.  Jesus wanted to make this clear.

Verse 12  The disciples tell Jesus that the Pharisees were upset.  Its one of those moments in scripture where I think Jesus might have said "Duh!"  But he didn't because HE is more gracious than I am.  There are many reasons why the Pharisee's are upset but the biggest was that Jesus went over the Pharisee's authority.  Only God can determine what makes a man clean or not.  He did that specifically in the Old Testament.  If its going to change...only God can do it.  Jesus is again giving them His calling card that He in fact is God. He, being God, has the authority to make a huge statement of change like that.  They don't believe Him to be God so that ticked them off.  Jesus states this about the Pharisees.

"Every ^R569 plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. ¹⁴ "Let them alone; they ^R570 are blind guides of ^F347 the blind. And if ^R571 a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."

He is basically saying, they can believe and respond how they chose but truth will prevail.  The disciples are worried about it but Jesus is not.  He knows that believing in lies will 100% for sure have its consequences.  They are blind and they will lead the blind.  Those who can see will respond differently.  This was an important lesson for His disciples to see as they were about to embark on sharing the gospel of Christ (the book of Acts).  Not all will respond in belief and they will lead others astray as well.  The disciples would share truth to many people in the coming years.  Some would believe, and some would be "haters" and guide others to do the same.

This lesson from Jesus is not over but I will share my notes/thought on verses 15-20 Monday.  Its just a few small verses but they are good and deep and deserve a post all their own :)


Have a great weekend!