Matthew 15:1-13

Matthew 15:1. Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,

They had taken a journey to come and attack him; perhaps they had been sent as a deputation to try to thwart the Saviour. What a vexation of spirit it must have been to his pure and holy mind to come into conflict with these triflers, these self-righteous, self-confident men? Why did they some to Christ? To plead with him for the poor people who were perishing for lack of knowledge, or to ask him how souls could be saved, and how God could be glorified? Oh, no! They came to ask the Saviour about a very different subject,

Matthew 15:2. Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

Would you have thought that full-grown men could have made it a matter of business to come from Jerusalem down into the country to talk to Christ about the fact that his disciples did not always wash their hands before they ate their breakfasts? Yet we have men, nowadays, who make a great point of what is to be done with any of the so-called «consecrated» bread that is left, and who are much concerned about what kind of a dress a «priest» ought to wear when he is engaged in the performance of certain duties. How sad is it that such trifles as these should occupy the minds of immortal beings while men are dying, and God is dishonoured!

Matthew 15:3. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

He answered their question by asking another, in which he drew the contrast between transgressing the tradition of the elders and transgressing the commandment of God.

Matthew 15:4. For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

Whatever might be said about regarding the tradition of men, God's commandment must be regarded. That stands first, and therefore our Lord demanded of these scribes and Pharisee an answer to his charge that they had overridden and overlaid a commandment of God by a tradition of their own. If a father and mother, in great need, said to their son, «Help us, for we are wanting bread,» and he answered, «I cannot give you anything, for all I have is dedicated to God,» the Rabbis taught that he might be exempted from relieving his parents, although they also said that, the next day, he might undo the dedication of his property, and employ it exactly as he pleased. He might use the fact that he had said, «That shekel is for God,» as a reason for not giving it to his father who was in need; and then, the very next day, he might take that shekel, and spend it exactly as he chose. So God's commandment to honour, and love, and aid our parents, was set aside by their tradition.

Matthew 15:7. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Our Lord never flattered anybody; see how honestly, and in what plain terms, he addressed these scribes and Pharisees! Yet these were the great teachers of his day, and thought themselves the bright light of the age, the very leaders of the people in all that was good. But Christ addressed them as, «Ye hypocrites,» and gave them a text of Scripture which clearly applied to them. They had all manner of outward forms of worship, they talked very much about the Bible, they studied every word of it, and even counted the letters in every chapter, but they had no regard to the real meaning of God's Word, and their heart was not right with the Lord. The Saviour patiently talked with them, but he also sternly rebuked them, and denounced them as hypocrites.

Matthew 15:10. And he called the multitude,

As much as if he had said to the scribes and Pharisees, «I cannot waste my time arguing with you; I am going to talk to these poor people who are perishing, and I shall have more hope of doing good among the multitude than among you, though you do consider yourselves the aristocracy of the church.»

Matthew 15:10. And said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

This was not very clear at first, it needed to be thought over and well considered. The Saviour dropped it into the popular mind, like a seed, and left it to grow, and develop in due season.

Matthew 15:12. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?

The wonder was that they were not offended before. It certainly was not a matter of concern to Christ whether they were offended or not; he would not tone down the truth in order to please them.

Matthew 15:13. But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father not planted, shall be rooted up.

Every teacher whom God has not sent will find his teaching contradicted by Christ. The truth is like a spade; it turns up the soil for that life to grow in it which should grow, and it is also the means of killing the weeds: «Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.» May we all be plants of his right-hand planting! Amen.

This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 119:129-19; and Matthew 15:1.