The Weekend Word

Matthew 15:10-28

What Defiles a Person? – (before God)

What defiles a man before men? Smoking – Eating saturated fats – Drinking 32oz Cokes – anything the food police deem bad.

¹⁰ And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand:

• When Jesus says this, you had better pay attention and not just blow it off.

¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

• This is in total contradiction to what the hearers think – They think it is following the dietary laws — eating only kosher.
• I can’t eat or drink certain things (being a vegetarian for religious purposes).
• This is the excuse that my sin, my problems come from the outside.
• Jesus blows the lid off that. You are your own problem.

¹² Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

• Does anyone think that Jesus didn’t know who his audience was?

¹³ He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

• Man-made doctrines can be ignored and the makers of man-made doctrines will one day get theirs.

¹⁴ Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

• Jesus is saying don’t follow those who teach false doctrine.
• Today we think doctrine is too divisive so folks want to avoid it.
• We say “doctrine should not divide anyone – therefore we will overlook doctrinal differences. Then we make up categories like primary and secondary issues / doctrines. Who gets to make those 2 lists?
• Did Luther say “hey, the Pope’s a nice guy, give him a pass.”?

¹⁵ But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.”

• Peter just comes up and says “Hey Jesus, quit beating around the bush – just explain this to us. We don’t get it.”

¹⁶ And he said, “Are you also still without understanding?

• “Duh?
• Is Jesus playing with Peter? I think so.

¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?

• Is this part clear enough?

¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

• Have you ever hurt anyone by what you have eaten?
• Have you ever hurt anyone by what has come out of your mouth – words?

¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

• A good list – and from my point of view, no one accidently does these things – we usually think long and hard, even planning these sins.

²⁰ These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

• But some folks are tied up in the rituals
• It was for sayings like this that made Jesus so dangerous to those in authority.
• We are all Pharisees at heart / by nature. I am.
• I just think if I can control my outward actions that I will be pure and righteous before God.
• No, the sewage comes from within – every time I open my mouth reveals more fruit of my sinful condition.
• To change takes the Holy Spirit.

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman – here we will have a shift of scene

²¹ And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

• Jesus leaves the offended Pharisees – Those who represent the old Israel – he is beginning to do the separations.
• He is now off to pagan land.

²² And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

• I will give away the punch line here – this woman will be the beginning of the description of the new Israel.
• Now to be one of belief.
• As we go along, compare her to the Jews who refuse to confess Jesus as Lord and this woman who does.
• This woman has 2 strikes against her – (1) she is a Canaanite – the Jews were to have driven them all out of the land and (2) she is a woman.
• But she knows exactly who Jesus is.

²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”

• The disciples have a pretty good self opinion – she is crying out after “us”
• What would we think? I would be so done with him.
• He surely can’t be my God – what do we do when we don’t get from God what we want? We put God on trial
• Think about it – she does everything right – she calls him Lord – recognizes he is the Son of David and she petitions for others, not herself – and she blames the devil for the problems not God.
• And what does she get – silence – and the disciples are no help.

²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

• What is he saying to her since she is a Canaanite?
• “Hey, I’m not here for you honey.”

²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

• She pays no attention – she does not go away.
• She believes she is a dear child of the heavenly father in spite of what she hears.

²⁶ And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

• Jesus replies – “I do not share the good stuff with outsiders.”

²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

• Note that she always calls him Lord and admits to being a dog
• Yet we go on saying “O, my God would never say that / do that!”
• This woman is much smarter than the Pharisees and teachers
• She can yes lord, but I know from the OT that you have promises out there not just to Israel but to the whole world.

²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

• She trusts and Jesus delivers
• She lives by faith – an example to Israel to trust in the Messiah – and they failed.
• An example to us – it is not just the church. This is the same pattern we see at the end of Matthew where the disciples are sent out to convert the whole world – but they still went to the synagogues first
• To the Jew first until rejected.