Matthew 14:34-15:20 Part 1

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Introduction

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

34 And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 36 and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

Traditions and Commandments

15 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8  “ ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

9  in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

What Defiles a Person

10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

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This is a rather large block of Scripture for us to cover in one morning so I’ll try not to dilly-dally. Over the past few weeks we’ve followed Jesus and his disciples from the feeding of the 5,000 near the northeast corner of the Sea of Galilee (near Bethsaida), to the incident out on the lake when Jesus came to them walking on the water, and now we follow them over to the northwest shore, and we read there in chapter 14, starting in verse 34 that,
when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 36 and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.
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when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 36 and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 14:34–36). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
These last few verses in chapter 14 I believe serve the purpose of transitioning us from one story to another, or in our case, from chapters 14 to 15. These few sentences serve not only to wrap up the previous sections, but to set us up for what’s coming next in chapter 15. I won’t spend much time now trying to show you how, but I believe as we progress through this text you’ll see how Matthew does this.

Jerusalem

If we were reading the Gospel of John at this point in the story-line, we would instead be looking at Jesus’ teaching on the bread of life, however, in Matthew’s Gospel he includes a different account, not in conflict with John’s, but in addition to it. We read there in chapter 15, starting in verse 1, that,
If we were reading the Gospel of John at this point in the story-line, we would instead be looking at Jesus’ teaching that he is the bread of life, however, in Matthew’s Gospel he includes a different account, not in conflict with John’s, but in addition to it. We read there in chapter 15, starting in verse 1, that,
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15 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”

Now, before we jump in, one thing I want us to note is that this will be one of Matthew’s last significant accounts of Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee. He’ll head north after this to Tyre and Sidon, and then briefly back to the Sea of Galilee before heading south to Jerusalem. I mentioned in previous times that we’ve now witnessed a little more than a year of Jesus ministry in Galilee, and after this he’ll spend the rest of his time in region of Judea.
We read, again, there in verse 15 that “then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem.” Now, what’s significant here is that up to this point Jesus’ confrontations with the religious leaders has largely been with those local to the district of Galilee. Therefore, what we see now is that Jerusalem has apparently sent some kind of small delegation of Pharisees and scribes to see Jesus. Apparently his fame has created some kind of stir with those in Jerusalem, and their journey to see him was no small feat. They would have traveled more than 90 miles to reach Gennesaret from Jerusalem.

Oral Traditions & Mishnah

And in verse 2 they immediately ask him,
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2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”

Now, we don’t have much of a direct record of these particular Jewish traditions from Jesus’ time, largely because they were kept orally. And this oral tradition was known as the halakhah (ha-la-ha), which literally means “the way to walk” or “the path”. Now, just because we don’t have a great number of written sources of these oral traditions from Jesus’ time, we do have an idea of what they were by way of the Mishnah. The Mishnah is a written collection of these traditions that was first written around AD 200.

Nehemiah

These oral traditions originated about the time of Nehemiah when the Jews had returned from exile in Babylon and had intended to rebuild the Temple. At that time there was a great return to the Scriptures by the people, and as time went on the religious leaders began to assemble a multitude of oral traditions to help the Israelites walk in God’s ways. These traditions were in addition to what God had already given to them in the law of Moses.

Body of oral traditions

So, by the time of Jesus, the religious leaders in Israel had a well developed body of oral traditions that were common-place for the Jewish people. We looked at some of the those laws previously, with regards to the Sabbath when we were back in Matthew chapter 12, and the disciples were plucking heads of grain from the wheat stalks on the Sabbath which was a transgression of the Sabbath laws.
And apparently here in verse 2 the disciples have broken one of those laws yet again when they neglected to wash their hands before eating. Now, this wasn’t merely advice to promote good bodily hygiene like we might do today, but this was some kind of ritual cleansing before eating that the religious leaders had come up with, like many of the rituals you might find in the book of Leviticus. In fact, Mark records that “they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled.” In other words, they viewed the disciples unwashed hands as being defiled, or ritually unclean.
In we read further that,
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the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

Accusation

Accusation

Now, this wasn’t merely advice to promote good bodily hygiene like we might do today, but this was some kind of ritual cleansing before eating that they had come up with, like many of the rituals you might find in the book of Leviticus. And whether this was imposed upon everyone or just those who were of a certain office we don’t know but either way they were accusing Jesus’ disciples of breaking the tradition of the elders.
And so because of their unwashed hands they accuse Jesus’ disciples of breaking the traditions of the elders. And it’s important for us to realize what the scribes and Pharisees were doing, they were bringing an accusation against the disciples. They weren’t merely inquisitively wondering why the disciples were behaving differently. They were appalled at their behavior to eat with unwashed hands, and they were going to use “the disciple’s behavior as a stick ... to beat [their] teacher.” (R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, p. 578) They’re going to try and get at Jesus through his disciples.
And it’s important for us to realize what the scribes and Pharisees were doing, they were bringing and accusation against Jesus’s disciples. They weren’t merely inquisitively wondering why they were behaving differently. We know this by Jesus response.
And we can see this clearly by of Jesus’ response. He immediately lashes into them and calls them hypocrites! We read there starting in verse 3,

3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8  “ ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

9  in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

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At first, Jesus doesn’t even answer their accusation. Instead he attacks their underlying assumption, he gets straight to the heart of the matter, he questions the authority of their human traditions. He shows them, and those listening, that they’ve elevated their man-made traditions above God’s commandments. Notice the words he uses there, he says, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? He intentionally contrasts the words commandment and tradition. And more than that, Jesus contrasts the source of that tradition with the source of the commandment. The one comes from them and the other comes from God! And how dare they equate the authority of the one with the other. One comes from God’s mouth and the other comes from a creature’s mouth.
Notice the words he uses there, he says, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? He intentionally contrasts the words commandment and tradition. And more than that, Jesus contrasts the source of the tradition with the source of the commandment. The one comes from them and the other comes from God! And how dare they equate the authority of the one with the other. One comes from God’s mouth and the other comes from a creature’s mouth.
And not only are they making their traditions equal to God’s commands, but in some instances they’re elevating them above God’s law. Jesus tells them that they permit certain traditions to make void the word of God. And he gives them an example, he quotes the 5th commandment, to honor their father and mother, and says that they’ve appealed to their traditions to avoid taking care of their parents.
“And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
People would sometimes pledge their estates to the Temple, which meant that even while they were alive they couldn’t put their money toward anything else, which meant it became an easy way to avoid the obligation to take car of their parents and instead keep the money for themselves. They had found a way to nullify the commandment of God to honor their mother and father. And Jesus has no patience for it! He sees right through their attempt to bind him and his disciples to the traditions of men as if they were the commandments of God. In essence, what Jesus is saying is, “By what authority do you have to impose these traditions upon the people?”
And so he says there in verse 7,
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7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8  “ ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

9  in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

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Modern examples of man-made traditions

And this problem hasn’t disappeared since Jesus’ day. At the heart of the Protestant Reformation was this very issue, the issue of authority. In fact, the material cause of the reformation was centered on the question of authority. The Roman Catholic Church asserted three sources of authority, one was Scripture, one was church tradition and the other the church magisterium (i.e. the Pope and the Bishops). They viewed all three as having equal authority. However, the Reformers demanded Sola Scriptura, that scripture alone was the sole ultimate authority for faith and practice within the church. In many respects the Roman Catholic church today (and specifically what it teaches) is a modern manifestation of what Jesus faced in Israel with the scribes and Pharisees.
We also see this within the Christian cults such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism. For instance, the Mormon church has three additional books that are held to be as equally authoritative as the Bible, one of which is the Book of Mormon. And Joseph Smith, the founder of the movement, said that the Book of Mormon was “the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and [that] a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” (History of the Church, 4:461)
And as protestants we’re not immune to such things. So easily can we be carried away by our cultural traditions and the contemporary trends of our day, marching outside ideologies and beliefs into our churches. Or demanding certain forms of worship that aren’t otherwise demanded in Scripture.

Traditions not inherently bad

This isn’t to say that traditions are necessarily bad, many are good and helpful. For instance, historic church confessions and creeds can be enormously beneficial to the church, in so far as they depend upon, submit to, and promote the authority of Scripture.
In fact, the Apostle Paul, says in ,
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So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

For instance, historic church confessions and creeds can be enormously beneficial to the church, in so far as they depend upon and promote the authority of Scripture.
In a very real sense the Word of God is also a tradition handed to us over the centuries from God. The difference is that it is a divine tradition, and it ought to hold a supreme position of authority in the Christian life.
This is why it’s paramount here at URC that we do everything that we can to let the Word of God drive our decisions and our practices. It’s why it’s so important to us that the Scriptures drive our teaching and our preaching.
For instance, historic church confessions and creeds can be enormously beneficial to the church, in so far as they depend upon and promote the authority of Scripture.
This is why it’s paramount here at URC that we do everything that we can to let the Word of God drive our decisions and our practices. It’s why it’s so important to us that the Scriptures drive our teaching and our preaching.

Vain Worship

And before we close I want us to notice Jesus’ use of ,

8  “ ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

9  in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Not only do their traditions not bear the authority of God’s Word, and not only do they sometimes contradict and make void the Word of God, but their traditions make their worship superficial, they make their worship merely look good, because, instead, their worship is derived from human invention rather than from God’s instructions. (R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, p. 582)
Their worship was therefore fueled by the traditions of men rather than the commandments of God. Their worship had become man-centered, appearing to honor God outwardly, but with their hearts far from him, and in vain worshipping him, because they tought as doctrine the commandments of men.
Unbiblical, man-made traditions do not honor God, and they destroy our worship, so instead let us worship God in spirit and in truth and according to his Word.

Prayer

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