MATTHEW CHAPTER 15.
VIEW
FOOTNOTES
A
Lesson Concerning Defilement. Matt. 15, 1-20.
The Pharisees voice an objection: V. 1. Then came to Jesus
scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, v. 2. Why do Thy
disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands
when they eat bread. Then, when the Pharisees were becoming so wrought up
that they were holding councils to destroy Him. The movement was extending beyond
their control, the popular enthusiasm was still growing. They were beginning to
realize that they had no ordinary person to deal with. And so their hostility
caused them to reinforce the Pharisees of Galilee with the learned men from the
metropolis, for Jerusalem was the stronghold of the strictest legalism among the
Jews. The purpose of the deputation was to discredit Jesus as being careless and lax toward His
disciples in His insistence upon keeping the regulations of the Jewish elders.
Even during the Babylonian captivity, but especially since the time of Ezra, the
interpretation or explanation of the Law, as made by the great rabbis of the
Jews, had gradually grown into a large body of precepts, additional to the
books of the Old Testament. This Mishna, as it was called, in later years
received
further additions in the so-called Gcmara, all of which were incorporated in the
Talmud, the religious book of the present-day Jews. These additional laws and
precepts governed even the minutest details of everyday life, thus laying upon
the average Jew an intolerable burden. The local rabbis and elders of the
synagogs were supposed to teach all these precepts and insist upon their being
observed most rigidly. A breach of these rabbinical rules was placed on a level
with breaking the greatest moral laws. The tradition was as yet unwritten, it
was the "law upon the lip," but its authority was the greater, the
more remote in the past was the elder that had first spoken it. Note: Not the
unhygienic or unesthetic feature of coming to meals with dirty hands is
attacked. It is an act of monstrous impiety, a breaking of sacred religious
traditions that the disciples were guilty of in the opinion of the Pharisees.
For such an act they excommunicated people from the synagog. Their question
implied also that Jesus was guilty for permitting such a sacrilege.
Christ's reply: V. 3. But He
answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by
your tradition? V. 4. For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother;
and He that curseth father and mother, let him die the death. V. 5. But ye say,
Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever
thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he
shall be free. V. 6. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by
your tradition. The retort immediately places the issue in the proper
light. Christ becomes the accuser, and the Pharisees and scribes the guilty. He
says, in effect: Let your miserable charge stand, for the present; I cheerfully
admit that the tradition of men is transgressed in our circle. But here is a far
more serious matter. The choice is between the actual commands of God and the
precepts of your teachers; your choice is the wrong one. The contrast is
emphatic and clear-cut: The commandment of God — your tradition. God's Law, to
which Jesus refers, was clear and unmistakable, Ex. 21, 17: Lev. 20, 9; Deut.
27, 1C. Your demand is a mere saying of men. And it is to be condemned
absolutely, since it results in setting aside the Law of God. The Pharisees
permitted children in the home to say the word corban, Mark 7, 11,
whereby they were supposed to absolve themselves from filial duties. The words
literally read: He that says to his father or to his mother. Let it be a
sacrifice what thou desirest of me as a help or benefit. This, according to
tradition, excused children from helping their parents with money, goods,
earnings, or any other material assistance. It implied that the children wanted
to give such money or gift to God as a sacrifice, though very often even that
was omitted. Christ's argument is: Even the honest pleading of previous
obligation to God will not excuse a child for neglecting its duty to its
parents, much less the ordinary careless, heartless, and profane manner in which
this pretext was grasped. Thus were the Jewish teachers guilty before God, even
according to the Old Testament, Prov. 28, 24. Thus were children dispensed from
even the true works of love in this manner. "For the contention with the
Pharisees really consisted in this, whether it be better to give presents to the
parents or sacrifices to the priests. They said it was better to sacrifice. Thus
they taught that the honor due to the parents was a mere ceremony, namely, to
bow the head, to rise before them, and in outward behavior be respectful toward
them.... Corban, that means a gift or sacrifice to God. As though a
child would say: I should gladly give it to thee, but what shall I do? Even now
it is not mine any more, but is given to God. Thus the name of God must be the
cover for all shameful blasphemy and wickedness; as though God had taken from
the father what the latter should receive from the son." 112) The Pharisees
and scribes surely had invalidated, and were in the constant habit of setting
aside, the commandment of God for their miserable tradition.
Christ substantiates His attack: V.
7. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, v. 8. This people
draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but
their heart is far from Me. V. 9. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men. He does not mince words; their sham and
deceit, their shallow acting at religion, must be branded as such. What the Lord
had spoken of the hypocrisy of the Jews in the time of Isaiah, chapter 29, 13;
Ezek. 33, 31; Is. 1, 1-5, applies, in fullest measure, to the scribes and
Pharisees. Mere lip-service is an abomination to the Lord. There is no faith, no
real love in their hearts. Their supposed orthodoxy is a hallucination, their
entire
religion is vain. The injunctions which they laid upon men without Scriptural
warrant resulted only in their own condemnation, Ps. 4, 2. "Out of these
words of Christ thou mayest draw strong conclusions; first: Everything that is
done without the Word of God is idolatry; secondly: Everything that is done
according to the Word of God is true worship of God; also thirdly: All that is
done without faith is sin; fourthly: All that is done in faith is a good work,
for the Word and faith are indissolubly connected, as in holy
marriage.... We say also that the Pharisees were hypocrites and false pupils of
Moses, because they held, if they only fulfilled the ceremonies outwardly, they
would, for the sake of the mere work, obtain righteousness before God. This
Moses truly did not want, but the ceremonies should be exercises of the pious,
who previously were just by faith, and who thus kept the First Commandment
before all. Furthermore, the reprobate people should, by external discipline,
be held back and separated from the heathen. That is the meaning of Moses, if
one understands him correctly." 113)
Christ appeals to the people: V.
10. And He called the multitude and said unto them, Hear and understand: v. 11.
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of
the mouth, this defileth a man. Publicly had He been attacked by the
Pharisees, publicly He defended Himself. There is a definite connection of this
parabolic saying with the matter in dispute. This they should note carefully and
try to understand. His reference is to moral defilement, to uncleanness of the
soul. His distinction is that physical cleanness or uncleanness does not
affect the heart, but that moral pollution will stain both heart and
character. "This fine and pleasing contrast, 'going in' and 'coming out.'
is attractive. As though He would say: Why, what do they bother themselves with
eating and drinking, or with that which enters into the mouth? Let them rather
pay attention to that which goes out of the mouth. This we ought to watch. What
goes into the mouth, that does not defile; but what goes out of the mouth, that
defiles. Oh, those are detestable hypocrites, that are careful not to be defiled
by those things that go into the mouth (which are God's creature); why do they
not rather watch this which comes out of the mouth, which are works of the
devil?" 114)
The Pharisees take offense: V.
12. Then came His disciples and said unto Him, Knowest Thou that the Pharisees
were offended after they heard this saying? V. 13. But He answered and said,
Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. V. 14.
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the
blind, both shall fall into the ditch. The disciples reported to the Lord
the impression which His parable to the people had made on the Pharisees. The
latter were highly scandalized and horrified, partly by the direct appeal to the
multitude, partly by the point of the story, which they felt was directed
against them. Jesus feels little concern about the state of their mind. All
plants which God Himself has not planted, which are not growing in accordance
with His will, with their roots in Him and living by faith in Him, are
superfluous. They sink from the rank of cultivated plants to that of weeds that
must be eradicated. God is most closely associated with them that are His own,
but with them only. Every doctrine invented by man will not stand in His
judgment. And every promoter of false doctrine will share in the uprooting
and destroying of his false production. There is no compromise. Stay away from
them, therefore, from the Pharisees and elders that attempt to force their
man-made doctrines upon their hearers. They themselves are blind in spiritual
matters. And they have blinded the majority of the people and will cause
spiritual blindness in the case of all that follow their teaching. Thus the end
of both will be destruction, moral, spiritual death.
Jesus explains the parable: V.
15. Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Declare unto us this parable. V.
16. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? V. 17. Do not ye
yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly,
and is cast out into the draught? V. 18. But those things which proceed out of
the mouth come forth, from the heart, and they defile the man. V. 19. For out of
the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies. V. 20. These are the things which defile a man; but
to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. Peter, in his impulsive way,
although he might have acted as spokesman for the Twelve, wants the saying
explained, which has enough of the symbolical in it to cause some difficulty.
But the occasion itself furnished a clue, and Peter's plea for a clearing up of
the dark saying is reproved by the Lord: Can it be that even ye are yet so dense
in spiritual matters? after two years of instruction? He wants His disciples
to use their enlightened intellect properly, and not make a mystery of a plain
matter. It is a matter of common knowledge that the food which the body uses
influences only the physical and mental life directly, and does not concern the
heart and spirit. By the throwing out of the useless, the indigestible and
undigested
matter, the body is continually purged. This physical process does not defile a
person, just as this result will not follow his eating with unwashed hands. But
the opposite is true of the things, words, and deeds, which, coming out of the
heart, pass from the body by way of the mouth. "The Savior implies that
evil works first pass through the channel of an evil mouth, thus disclosing the
evil state of the heart." 115) The words representing the thoughts and
desires directed toward such sins, they arc morally defiling, they reveal the
pollution existing in the heart. The evil thoughts, the evil conversations and
discussions of the heart, are made manifest in all kinds of actual sins,
envyings, and murders, the breaking of the marriage tie and the
The
Syrophenician Woman. Matt. 15, 21-28.
A journey to the North: V. 21.
Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
The events of the last weeks and days had left Jesus weary in body and mind.
The people were incessant in their attendance upon Him, expecting all manner of
miracles of healing, though they cared little for the Gospel-message which He
was preaching. The Pharisees were becoming more bitter in their hostility,
stirring up hatred among the people and placing all manner of obstructions in
His way. So Christ deliberately took a much-needed rest. He withdrew from the
densely populated districts along the Sea of Galilee and journeyed into Upper
Galilee, into the region of Phenicia near the large cities Tyre and Sidon. We
have no information as to the duration and extent of this journey, and only one
incident is narrated in the gospels.
The woman of Canaan: V. 22. And,
behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him,
saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously
vexed with a devil. Matthew calls her a woman of Canaan because she was an
inhabitant of the ancient country of Canaan or a descendant of the former tribes
of Canaan, Gen. 10, 15. Mark calls her a Syrophenician, chapter 7, 26, after the
name of the country where she lived. This woman had heard of Jesus; for His fame
had spread far beyond the boundaries of Galilee, especially along the caravan
roads. She was acquainted also with the sacred books of the Jews, or at least
with their hope of the Messiah. Under the Spirit's guidance she formed the right
conclusion, as shown in her address to the Lord. She calls Him both Lord,
acknowledging Him to be the Lord from on high, and Son of David, which was the
name of the Messiah. Her petition was a prayer of faith also because she cried
for mercy, deeply conscious of the misery of her
Jesus makes a trial of her faith: V.
23. But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him,
saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. V. 24. But He answered and said,
I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. V. 25. Then came
she and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, help me. V. 26. But He answered and
said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. V.
27. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from
their masters' table. Here is an example of persistent, importunate
pleading, not only in her own interest, to take away the anguish of her soul,
but also for her daughter, who was suffering with a particularly severe form of
demoniacal possession. But she received a decided shock of disappointment. At
first the Lord paid absolutely no attention to her, but continued His journey as
though He had not heard her. In the mean time she must have continued her
clamoring without abating the least in fervor, for the disciples find themselves
constrained to make intercession for her. Their tone is not exceptionally
gracious. It implies that they would gladly be rid of her, that her persistent
crying was annoying them. As usual, they did not come out of the test with
flying colors. In a harsh manner, implying that they had better see to their own
affairs, Jesus tells them that His special mission concerns the Jewish people
only. That was the second rebuff. Of a truth, Luther says, Christ nowhere in all
the gospels is painted as being so hard as here.
The disciples are discouraged and
hold their peace, but the woman redoubles her efforts. She has set her faith on
the word and works of this man, whom she steadfastly believes to be the Messiah;
and she refuses to give up. With new courage she flings herself in His way,
worshiping Him as the Lord from heaven, and insisting that He must help, that He
must grant her prayer. If prayer fails, if intercession fails, she is ready to
storm heaven itself. Christ delivers His last blow by saying roughly, with the
full force of His assumed unkindness: It isn't the proper thing, it shouldn't be
done, to take the bread of the children and to throw it to the dogs. The
implication was that the Gentile woman and all her family and people were not on
a level with the Israelites, that they could be considered in the eyes of God
only as dogs, while the Jews were His children. That was a stern judgment which
the Lord rendered, in which there surely was not a glimmer of hope for the
harassed mother. But the eyes of faith will see light where others find only
Egyptian darkness. As Luther writes, there is more yes than no in
Christ's speech; yea, nothing but yes, but very deep and hidden, and it
seems nothing but no. There was not an absolute denial of her request,
there was still room for an argument. And, besides, Christ had not compared her
people and her family to the street-dogs, but to the house-dogs that live with
their masters in the home. Instead, therefore, of turning away in hopeless
discouragement, she turns to the attack: Yes, Lord, for also the house-dogs
share in the meal of the children, though nothing but the crumbs fall to their
lot. She had caught the Lord in His own argument, she had won a decided victory
over Him. She is willing to be content with, yea, she demands as her right, the
crumbs which the Jews were becoming tired of.
The victory of faith: V. 28.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Regardless of her birth and nationality, this woman was a member of God's
people, Rom. 9, 7. 8; Gal. 4, 28. She was a child of God by faith in her Savior,
the Son of David. Her faith had conquered the Lord. And as a reward of her faith
her wish was granted. In that very hour her daughter was restored to complete
health. "Thus God wants to do even now with us. When He has denied our
prayer for so long a time, and has always answered us no, but we firmly
cling to the yes, then it must finally be yes and not no. For
His word will not lie: 'Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will
give it you.' … Thus this story is an especially fine example of true faith,
that this must be exercised, and shall yet finally conquer and obtain all, if we
follow this woman; for she will not let even the Lord take the yes out
of her heart, that He be kind and would help." 117)
Christ
Teaches and Feeds Four Thousand. Matt. 15, 29-39.
The return to Galilee: V. 29.
And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the Sea of Galilee, and went
up into a mountain, and sat down there. After the healing of the Greek girl,
Jesus continued His journey northward, and then turned east, along the
boundaries of Coele-Syria, and into Gaulanitis, into the northern section of the
region of Decapolis. From the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi He turned
southward, and thus finally returned to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee,
in the middle of the region known as Decapolis. Here it was that He again
ascended a mountain and sat down. It was His usual way of preparing for a long
discussion with His disciples.
Healing the multitudes: V. 30.
And great multitudes came unto Him, having with them those that were lame,
blind, dumb,
The great need of the people: V.
32. Then Jesus called His disciples unto Him and said, I have compassion on the
multitude, because they continue with Me now three days, and have nothing to
eat; and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. V. 33.
And His disciples say unto Him, Whence should we have so much bread in the
wilderness as to fill so great a multitude? V. 34. And Jesus said unto them, How
many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. There
was a certain faithfulness about the multitudes which caused the people to
remain in the uninhabited places along the eastern shore with the Lord. Their
wonder as one miracle was followed by another kept them alive and expectant. But
in the mean time all the supplies which they might have brought along had been
consumed, and there were indications of real distress and suffering among them.
Christ's tender heart was again deeply touched. Calling His disciples together.
He lays the matter before them, making them feel the responsibility for these
hungry people. A beautiful word: And dismiss them hungry I will not. "Let
us but learn to believe that we have the same Christ who takes an interest in
us, even in our physical suffering, and always shows that these words: I have
compassion on the poor people, are written in His heart with living letters;
that He also would like us to know this and to hear the word of the Gospel in
such a way as though He in this hour and daily were speaking to us, whenever we
feel our trouble, yea, long before we ourselves begin to complain of it. For He
is still, and will remain in eternity, the same Christ and has the same heart,
thoughts, and words toward us that He was and had at that time, and has never,
neither yesterday or ever, become different, nor will He today or tomorrow
become a different Christ." 118)
But the disciples had forgotten the
miracles of a few short weeks before. In absolute helplessness they cast about
for some way of meeting the emergency. They discuss ways and means of procuring
and transporting a sufficient amount of food way out here into the meadows on
the lake shore. The great size of the multitude appalls them. The Lord cuts the
discussion short by His inquiry as to the amount of food available, and receives
the answer.
The miracle: V. 35. And He
commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. V. 36. And He took the seven
loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to His
disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. V. 37. And they did all eat and
were filled; and they took up of the broken meat that was left, seven
basketfuls. V. 38. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women
and children. V. 39. And He sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came
into
Summary. Jesus gives a lesson concerning
defilement, heals the daughter of the Syrophenician woman, performs other acts
of healing, and feeds four thousand men.