Matthew Chapter 15 outline:
Clean and Unclean 15: 1-20
The faith of the Canaanite woman 15:21-28
Jesus feeds the Four thousand 15: 29-39
Clean and Unclean 15:1-20
You may sometimes hear the term 'legalistic.' It means a strict keeping of a law or code, without any feelings or understanding of the reasons behind it. Here the Pharisees are worried that the disciples don't wash their hands before eating. Now, that might sound good-after all, your mother probably says the same thing! But they weren't worried about germs- they were talking about a ceremonial washing, involving an exact amount of water poured on in a special way. It meant more to them than a hungry person needing help would mean.
And Jesus knew it. He pointed out to them that they had come up with religious 'traditions' that allowed a grown son to refuse to take care of his parents by deeding his property to the temple. And they allowed such traditions to be more important to them than God's Law! They weren't worried about God at all, just themselves. Hypocrites, indeed! n
And Jesus told them that their actions and attitudes fulfilled a prophesy made by Isaiah. It stated that their hearts and their words didn't match; their teachings were only man-made rules, not God's.
There are 'Christians' today who worry more about what order the worship service follows than whether the Gospel is preached. They have the same attitude as these Pharisees. Be careful that you don't worship man's rules more than you worship God. God sees what's in your heart.
There's much talk today about 'tolerance' saying we don't have the right to judge another person's religious beliefs; notice that Jesus judged the Pharisees by the Word of God. Since it's true, it will judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12) You can use it the same way.
Matthew 15: 10-14
Jesus turned from these self-righteous hypocrites and addressed the crowd. He probaboy realized that He wouldn't make any impression on the Pharisees, and hoped to help someone in the crowd understand. 'Unclean'- there were may clauses
