Matthew 15.1-11

Even out here in North Carolina, news of Webb City’s football State Championship reached me.  I’m sure that some college coaches and scouts heard too, and they headed to some Webb City games to check out the latest crop of Cardinals players.  They needed to see the talent firsthand.

In a similar way, news of Jesus’ workings, miracles, and followers had spread from Galilee to Jerusalem, even reaching the ears of some influential Pharisees and teachers of the Law.  Naturally they were curious as to what exactly Jesus was doing and teaching, and wanted to see firsthand if he lined up with what they considered to be good teachings and deeds of a Jew.  So they made the trip from Jerusalem to Galilee to check him out, and it’s at this encounter that we pick up Matthew’s Gospel today.  We’ll break down their interaction in a play-by-play fashion since we’re in the football spirit already.

Matthew 15:1-2

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

This isn’t the first time that Jesus and some Pharisees have had issues (12:1-14).  This time they accuse Jesus and the disciples of breaking the “tradition of the elders,” which refers to the oral traditions that famous rabbis had developed as they interpreted and applied the written Old Testament scriptures.  These were central to the Pharisees’ understanding of living a holy life, so breaking them was evidently equal in their eyes to breaking the Law itself.  They were specifically upset that Jesus and the disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate.  The Pharisees had elaborate traditions about how, when, and why to wash their hands.

Matthew 15:3-6

³ Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ ⁶ he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

Jesus counter attacks, and goes straight at the heart of the matter.  Their traditions actually caused them to break the command of God.

Jesus gives a specific example.  The Ten Commandments clearly command people to honor their father and mother and that failing to do so can result in death.  However, the Pharisees had a tradition called Corban (Mark 7:11).  With this tradition, a person could designate a sum of money, possession (plow, cart, bowl, etc.), or even a house or property as a Corban.  Once it was Corban, the item was promised to God upon death of the owner or sooner.  It could only be used by the owner and not given to anyone else for any other reason.

Do you see the problem?  Once it was Corban, it was off limits to you but not to me.  So the Pharisees would take a Corban vow with a possession or money so that they wouldn’t have to use it to take care of their aging parents.  Thus, they nullified the word of God for the sake of their tradition. 

When tradition becomes more important than the Word of God, the Scriptures lose their authority. 

Matthew 15:7-9

⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 

⁸ “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, 

but their hearts are far from me. 

⁹ They worship me in vain; 

their teachings are but rules taught by men.’” 

Jesus then calls out the Pharisees for the hypocrisy.  They’re just pretending; “play-acting” is what the word hypocrite literally means.  They just put the pious show on the outside without their heart belonging to God.  Their worship is in vain because of their heart issue and their teachings aren’t from God but from man.

Matthew 15:10-11

¹⁰ Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹ What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ ”

Jesus now turns to the crowd to make sure they get this straight:  the real issues are in the condition of a person’s heart.  He’ll explain this more fully in 15:16-20, so we’ll leave that for another day.

I think the application for us is pretty clear.  We need to constantly ask if our interpretations and traditions stemming from Scriptures have usurped the authority of the Word in our lives.  It’s easy with study Bibles, commentaries, Pod-casts, and even blogs like this one for traditions and human teachings to spread and become authoritative.  Jesus’ charge against the Pharisees is real for us today too.

 What traditions and human teachings from the Word have nullified the Scriptures’ authority in our lives?  Maybe we need to repent and trust the Word as our guide.

Jeremy Hyde