The Heart of Man

Matthew 15:1-28

Tradition and Commandment

15 Then some 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 bread.” ³ And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” ⁶ he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

¹⁰ After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. ¹¹ It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

¹² Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” ¹³ But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁵ Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶ Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? ¹⁷ Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? ¹⁸ But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. ²⁰ These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

In today's text we see Jesus contrasting the tradtions of man with the commandments of God. Traditions, the way we do things and the things we do can be a good thing. Traditions are part of our identity,in our families, ethnically, culturally and religeously. We all have traditions that we value and treasure.

Religeous tradition is often the main difference between churches. While denominationally there may be some different doctrnal interpretation of scripture much of what really differentiates one church from another is tradition. The way we do things, the structure of our church services, the type of music we sing, how we take communion and the list goes on, all these are traditions and preferences in our churches that can cause tremendous division and strife. Even with doctrine many people might know what they believe through a statement of faith or core values, but what is missing is why do they believe those things. If the why is missing then even doctrine is reduced to tradition. Again it is not that tradtion is bad but when we put tradition and preference ahead of God's commandments and His will we become like the Pharisees and scribes in our text. It is okay to have and hold our traditions and preferences but Jesus says  “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(Matthew 22:37-40) 

Jesus uses the illustration of eating with unwashed hands to make His point about the real issue which is the heart. Jesus says  “Hear and understand. ¹¹ It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”  In explaining the illustration He says  But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. ²⁰ These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.” It has been said that people will know what is truly in our hearts by what comes out of us when they bump into us. We can look good on the outside and say all the right things normally but how will we respond when someone backs into our car in the parking lot? What will come out of us then? 

In our religeous culture we are not so concerned with what we eat. There are some who will try to take Jesus teaching here and twist it to justify sin, to say that basically we can do anything, watch anything as long as we don't change what we believe. Our minds however do not function the same way our stomachs do. We can not participate with and saturate ourselves in evil things, violence, pornography, foul language etc without it having an effect on our hearts. How individuals draw their own lines in these things is not my business. What I need to judge is my own heart.  Paul says this in Galatians 5:

¹³ For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴ For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. ¹⁹ Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, ²¹ envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

We have a freedom in Christ and He gives us victory over sin. We are not called to seperate ourselves from the world to protect ourselves from sin. Jesus interacted with sinners, showing them love and grace to call them to repentance. We too are called to interact with sinners. We need to, like Jesus, be able to live with and love sinners without condoning or participating in sin. Only by the grace of God, through the Holy Spirit can we find that balance in our lives.  As we seek to find that balance our lives Pauls words in Philippians 4:8 are a good place to start.

 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.    Amen