Matthew 15


Clean and Unclean

¹Then 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!"
³Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' ⁵But 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,' ⁶he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
    ⁸" 'These people honor me with their lips,
       but their hearts are far from me.
    ⁹They worship me in vain;
       their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"
¹⁰Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. ¹¹What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "
¹²Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
¹³He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
¹⁵Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
¹⁶"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. ¹⁷"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? ¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' "

Matthew 15:1-20

Explanation:

Pharisees and Canaanites (15:1-39)
The educated religious elite of Jesus' day opposed him (vv. 1-20), his own disciples trusted but could not understand him (vv. 15-16), but a Canaanite woman recognized his identity as Son of David (vv. 21-28). Matthew again reminds the reader of what the religious elite would not guess: Jesus does another sign like Moses and Elisha (vv. 29-39).


Moral Versus Ritual Cleanness (15:1-20)
The reader recognizes Jesus as God's Son who acts not only as the prophets of old (14:13-21) but as the Lord of creation himself (14:22-32). The disciples acclaim him as God's Son (14:33), and the masses approach him for healing (14:34-36). In this context the pedantic response of the Pharisees and scribes, a sort of religious and academic elite, stands in all the starker contrast to reality. (They were no denser than some ministers and religious academicians today who likewise seem able to obscure the forest of God's saving message with far less relevant trees.)
Jesus points out that though the Pharisees use their traditions as a standard for righteousness, some of their traditions can be extended to contradict the written law. Christians today who strongly advocate particular views as biblical, yet cannot demonstrate them from Scripture understood in context, follow tradition rather than Scripture just as did many of Jesus' contemporaries. (I have unfortunately witnessed this problem in some circles where most members insist they are biblical, led by the Spirit and devoid of tradition.) A religious community may have helpful cumulative wisdom (especially if it has remained faithful to God's earlier revelations), but ultimately the revelation comes only from God himself, and especially from his word to his apostles and prophets preserved for us in Scripture. When we really hear God in Scripture, its message can awaken us and transform us (for example, 2 Kings 22:11-13).


Judging Purely on the Basis of Tradition (15:1-2)

The religious elite insist that their way is right, even though it is based only on tradition. Once again they object to a practice of Jesus' disciples, implying a deficiency in the training Jesus has supplied to them (see comment on 12:3-8). People commonly recognized that the Pharisees passed on ancestral laws not written in the law of Moses (Jos. Ant. 13.297). Hand washing was one such extrabiblical tradition, perhaps originally adopted from foreign Jews (Sib. Or. 3.591-94; E. Sanders 1990:39-40, 228, 260-71), concerning which the Pharisees were especially meticulous (compare m. Yadayim 1:1-2:4).

Jesus Challenges Their Tradition as Unbiblical (15:3-11)

This observation need not denigrate all tradition; some "traditions" are more biblical than others, and some traditions, like many customs in many cultures, are morally neutral. Among those who accept the Bible as God's Word and as canon (a measuring stick), the test of a statement's authority should be its conformity to biblical principles. Yet many of us, for all our insistence on the authority of Scripture, pay surprisingly little attention to it-little time researching context, background or other factors essential for understanding the Bible. We may work hard to assimilate various trends of popular culture yet spend little time assimilating our lives to the Bible's teachings. I have watched some contemporary churches denigrate the traditions of older churches, yet recite verses out of context or follow extrabiblical routines that reflect traditions no less (albeit newer ones).

Jesus begins by showing how easily a tradition can conflict with the moral purpose of Scripture (15:3-6). One could dedicate an object for sacred use; one could also prohibit others from using one's property (say, eating one's figs) by declaring the property dedicated to the temple or perhaps "as if they were" so dedicated, hence "forbidden to you" (m. Nedarim 3:2; Baumgarten 1984-1985; E. Sanders 1990:54-55). Even far from the Holy Land some Jewish teachers could use such vows to keep property from other family members (see E. Sanders 1990:57). By expanding certain common traditional practices, an unscrupulous person could get around biblical principles about unselfishly meeting others' needs.

Jesus deliberately picks an issue that will provoke thought and argues from a principle with which his opponents will have to agree. A Pharisaic teacher could have offered the same sort of argument Jesus offers here, for Pharisees could argue by laying one text against the interpretation of another. Judaism also heavily stressed honoring and obeying one's parents (for example, Sirach 3:7-8; Jos. Apion 2.206) and the obligation to support one's parents in their old age (compare Sirach 3:12-15).

Jewish teachers who debated legal details never contended that such details were at the heart of the law nor approved of exploiting loopholes (see, for example, Urbach 1979:1:576). Nevertheless, exploitation is bound to result in some instances if we spend more time, in religious institutions or in society, debating laws as laws than in teaching ethical principles behind the laws. Jesus is not challenging Pharisaic views about parental support, but the danger of evaluating morality on the basis of extrabiblical traditions.


Jesus then compares this behavior to Scripture's warning about following human rules rather than an intimate relationship with God (15:7-9, citing Is 29:13). Scribes and Pharisees would have taken offense at the appellation hypocrites (6:2; 22:18; 23:13; 24:51). Like Jesus, Pharisees were willing to suspend the letter of the law to uphold its spirit (as in m. Sebi`it 10:3-4; compare Moore 1971:2:31). But the Pharisees frequently determined morality by extrapolating from tradition. By demanding that we extrapolate morality instead from biblical principles, Jesus takes ethics out of the domain of the academy and courtroom and places it in the daily lives of his followers. To follow Jesus' guidelines here, church members need to know more Scripture, not more churchly rules not founded in Scripture.

Jesus finally publicly opposes his challengers by declaring a more basic principle (15:10-11). Some Pharisees may have agreed with the principle, but they normally stated it only in private (Pes. Rab Kah. 4:7), perhaps fearing that some would cease to observe the literal requirements of the law (compare Philo Migr. Abr. 89-93). Although Jesus explains his point in private, he first makes it publicly.

Speaking Truth Can Alienate Influential Opponents (15:12-14)

Jesus is interested in speaking God's truth, not in winning influential allies. Although many people respected blunt, radical teachers, polite Mediterranean society generally emphasized public respect toward persons of appropriate rank. When one is planning to get crucified anyway, however, one does not need to accommodate the opinions of those who lead God's people astray.

>Scholars may debate how much political power the Pharisees held in this period (the Sadducees certainly held more official power), but they were highly influential with the people (Jos. Ant. 18.17; E. Sanders 1992:402-4). Jesus' disciples are thus concerned that he has publicly shamed his influential interlocutors instead of reaching out to them (v. 12). Jesus responds by alluding back to the prophetic image of building or tearing down, planting or uprooting people according to God's message (v. 13; compare 3:10; Jer 42:10; 45:4); God has concealed his revelation from "the wise and learned" (11:25-27; 13:11-17; 16:16-17; compare 14:33).

Jesus then graphically compares his self-assured opponents to people who offer to lead the blind but cannot see themselves (15:14; compare 7:3-5; 13:13; 23:16; Rom 2:19). Even were the interpretation of such an image difficult, the disciples should have understood him perfectly well: earlier prophets had also complained that the leaders of God's people were blind (for example, Is 3:12, 14; 6:10; 9:16).

Jesus Demands a Pure Heart and Ethics, Not Mere Ritual (15:15-20)

Jesus illustrates his point with a vice list, a standard literary form in both Jewish (for example, Wisdom 14:25-26; 1QS 4.9-11) and broader Greco-Roman (for example, Arist. E.E. 2.3.4, 1220b-21; V.V. 1249-51b) circles.

Not food that enters the mouth (Ezek 4:14-15; Acts 10:11-16; Rom 14:1-4; 1 Tim 4:3) but what comes forth (Mt 12:34-37; Eph 4:29; Jas 1:19) renders a person unclean. Alluding to the Isaiah passage he has quoted (Is 29:13; compare 59:13), Jesus emphasizes the heart (compare Mt 5:21-6:18), as did some of his contemporaries (m. 'Abot 2:9). The Pharisees of Jesus' day would have agreed with his emphasis on inwardness, although not that the outward did not defile.

In a church I know well, a deacon I respect in most other matters rebuked a person for wearing work clothes to church (even though she had just gotten off work); another leader in the same church had gone unrebuked for sleeping with a woman to whom he was not married. Many of us modern Christians have a lot of nerve to compare ourselves favorably with the Pharisees!

Matthew 15


²¹Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²²A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
²³Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
²⁴He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
²⁵The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
²⁶He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
²⁷"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
²⁸Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Matthew 15:21-28

Explanation:

A Canaanite Woman's Faith (15:21-28)
Placed immediately after a discussion of purity in both Matthew and Mark, Jesus' encounter with this Gentile woman brings out the implications the Evangelists find in his view of purity: Gentiles will no longer be separated from Israel (compare Acts 10:15, 28; 11:9-18). Like an earlier Gentile in Matthew's Gospel (8:10), this woman becomes an illustration of faith. Also like the centurion, this outsider's faith compares favorably with that of some religious insiders among Jesus' contemporaries (15:1-20).
Matthew reinforces this point by specifying exactly what Mark's Hellenistic Syro-Phoenician woman (Mk 7:26) means. She is a descendant of the ancient Canaanites, the bitter biblical enemies of Israel whose paganism had often led Israel into idolatry (compare Jub. 22:20-22). "Yes," Matthew seems to reply; "God's compassion extends to all Gentiles." If Tyre and Sidon (15:21) lead some readers to recall Jezebel, others must recall instead the widow who supported Elijah (1 Kings 17:8-24; Lk 4:26). The narrative thus constitutes another of Matthew's invitations to the Gentile mission (like 2:1-11; 8:5-13), reinforcing the message of 11:21-24 (where Tyre and Sidon were more open to repentance than Galilean towns were).

The Woman Will Not Take No for an Answer (15:21-25)

In our culture we might consider this woman rude, but ancient Mediterranean judges were sometimes so corrupt that among the poor only a persistent, desperate, otherwise powerless woman could obtain justice from them (Lk 18:2-5; Bailey 1980:134-35). Both men and women in the Old Testament (Gen 18:22-32; 32:26-30; Ex 33:12-34:9; 1 Kings 18:36-37; 2 Kings 2:2, 4, 6, 9; 4:14-28) and in the Gospel tradition (Mk 5:28-29; Jn 2:3-5) show courage by refusing to take no for an answer to a desperate need. When we recognize that we have nowhere else to turn, clinging to the only One who can answer us is an act of faith.

Jesus' Mission Is Specifically for Israel (15:26)

Jesus had left Jewish territory because the masses crowded him and he needed a short vacation to rest with and teach his disciples (v. 21; compare 16:13); but this stage of his mission was for Israel alone (compare 28:19). Thus when his disciples ask him to send the woman away (15:23), he notes the limitation of his mission (v. 24; compare 10:6; Rom 15:8). Yet he did not send her away as his disciples requested, which may have encouraged her to persevere (compare 19:13; 20:31). To her own insistent entreaty (15:25) Jesus responds with almost equal firmness (v. 26). Some Jewish teachers would have reached out to the woman, hoping to make her a proselyte (see, for example, Jos. Ant. 20.34-36; Apion 2.210; m. 'Abot 1:12; Goppelt 1964:54); Jesus simply snubs her.

The language in Mark is somewhat milder: that the children must be fed "first" (Mk 7:27) allows for the possibility of a later healing and a window for the coming Gentile mission (Hurtado 1983:103), but even in Mark the woman's need is too urgent for that. Jesus probably refers to children's pet dogs; well-to-do Greeks, unlike Jews, could raise dogs as pets and not view them merely as troublesome pests (compare Lk 16:21; Ex 22:31). The image is thus simply one of children's needs (compare 7:9) taking temporal precedence over those of pets (Lane 1974:262; Anderson 1976:191). Such an admission, however, hardly transforms the image into a compliment (compare 7:6).

Jesus is not cursing the woman, but he is putting her off (compare 8:7). It is possible that he is testing her, as teachers sometimes tested their disciples (Jn 6:6; Lev. Rab. 22:6), but he is certainly reluctant to grant her request and is providing an obstacle for her faith (compare Jn 2:4). Perhaps he is requiring her to understand his true mission and identity, lest she treat him as one of the many wandering magicians to whom Gentiles sometimes appealed for exorcisms. Yet he is surely also summoning her to recognize Israel's priority in the divine plan, a recognition that for her will include an admission of her dependent status. (One may compare Elisha's requirement that Naaman dip in the Jordan despite Naaman's preference for the Aramean rivers Abana and Pharpar in 2 Kings 5:10-12, ultimately leading to Naaman's acknowledgment of Israel's God and land in 2 Kings 5:17-18.) For one of her social status (an elite "Greek" citizen of Syro-Phoenician race, in Mark's account) this was a dramatic reversal indeed (see Theissen 1991:66-80); but by calling her a Canaanite, Matthew's account mutes the class issue, properly focusing instead on the racial issue, which is more relevant to his own audience.


The Woman Shows Her Faith (15:27-28)

The woman recognizes that Jesus is no mere magician who performs feats for fame or money. By hailing Jesus as Son of David (v. 22; compare Ps. Sol. 17:21), she has already acknowledged him as the rightful king over a nation that had conquered her ancestors (Josh 12:7-24; 2 Sam 8:1-15)-more than many of his own people had done (Mt 15:2; 21:15-16; 23:39). Like John's woman at the well (Jn 4:25-29; 6:69), this Canaanite woman publicly acknowledged Jesus' identity before the disciples who wished her to leave had done so (Mt 16:16). Now she refuses to dispute that Jesus' mission is to Israel first and that her status is secondary to that of Israelites (Jeremias 1958:30; Rhoads and Michie 1982:131); nevertheless, she believes Jesus will have more than enough power left over from what Israel does not need or want. Jesus responds to such striking faith. Jesus has enough bread for Israel, but the following narrative reinforces that plenty of scraps remain over for others (15:37). Matthew reminds his community that all, both Jew and Gentile, can approach God only through faith in his Messiah (8:10; compare Acts 15:8-11).

Matthew 15


Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

²⁹Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. ³⁰Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. ³¹The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
³²Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."
³³His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"
³⁴"How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked.
"Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish."
³⁵He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. ³⁷They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ³⁸The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children. ³⁹After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

Matthew 15:29-39

Explanation:

Feeding the Four Thousand (15:29-39)
This narrative, like the feeding of the five thousand (14:15-21), teaches us about Jesus' power and care for us. He heals the multitudes (15:29-31), acts out of compassion for their need (v. 32; compare 9:36; 14:14; 20:34) and provides for them (15:33-39).

Jesus Meets People's Needs (15:29-31)

After some time alone with his disciples (v. 21), Jesus returns to meeting the people's needs. Jesus here meets people's physical needs (v. 30). Those ultraconservative Christians who have considered ministry to people's physical needs "liberal" need to read the Bible more carefully themselves (compare vv. 3, 7-9; Is 1:10-17; 58:3-9; Jer 22:16; Amos 5:21-24). Some theologians have critiqued some forms of Christianity for focusing on "meeting our needs" instead of on glorifying God. The critique is partly right and partly wrong. Jesus met the broken where they were, meeting their needs. Nevertheless, only those who pressed on to become his servant-disciples would really come to know who he was. Even his initial acts of compassion led to God's glory; though the crowds had exercised some faith in bringing the ailing to Jesus, they still were amazed by the miracles and praised the God of Israel (Mt 15:30-31).

Recognizing Our Need, Showing Compassion (15:32)

The text does not suggest that people were complaining about the food situation. Although one should not argue from silence (especially on the historical level), it is possible that the passage implies that Jesus, like his Father, recognizes our need before we ask (6:8, 32). Indeed, sometimes he protects us from dangers of which we are not even aware.

Disciples Should Grow in Faith (15:33-34)

Jesus acts even though his disciples "don't get it." In contrast to the multitudes who flock to Jesus for miracles, the disciples seem blind to his true character (compare Weeden 1971:28); despite Jesus' earlier feeding miracle, they assume again that they must procure bread by purely natural means (v. 33). They are still learning, and Jesus does not yet reprove their unbelief-although he will if it continues (16:8-11). He demands more of maturer Christians who have seen his works than he does from young Christians who have seen fewer (compare Ex 17:5-6; 32:10; Num 14:22-23). Some contemporary writers say that God acts only in response to faith; in the Bible, however, he sometimes acts in advance of faith to teach us how to trust him.

Jesus Organizes His Ministry for Efficiency (15:35-36)

What was not humanly possible, Jesus performed as a miracle; the distribution of the food was humanly possible, however, and Jesus organized it efficiently. The fact that the Lord empowers us is all the more reason for us to be good stewards of what he gives and to observe principles like delegated responsibility (Ex 18:14-26). Tremendous revivals followed the ministries of George Whitefield and John Wesley. But because Wesley organized his converts (Noll 1992:92), his results have made a greater direct impact on subsequent generations.

Jesus Again Supplies More Than Enough (15:37-39)

See comment on 14:20-21. Matthew provides both a literal lesson taken from the story and a figurative lesson based on the context. Figuratively, the leftovers symbolize that plenty of the "children's bread" remains for other seekers (15:26-28). But on the literal level Matthew teaches about God's limitless power and design in providing his children's needs. One might think that more food would remain after this feeding miracle than the previous one; after all, this time Jesus started with more food and fewer people (although the baskets used this time may have been larger). But such was not the case, reminding us that God's design rather than natural considerations determines the magnitude of any miracle.

Everett and Esther Cook pioneered many churches during and after the Great Depression, trusting God to supply their needs. In one town, having drawn a small number of women to their opening meetings, they prayed that God would send them some men as well. Everett decided to "put some legs to my prayers," as he put it, and went out to the streets to invite some men; he found only one, but promised him, "I can definitely guarantee you a seat."


The man did not come that night, but Everett concluded this was fortunate, because he would have broken his promise: no seats were available! Some men had driven into town from a nearby army camp, spotted the tent and entered the meeting. Many were converted and began bringing their friends, and from that day forward the Cooks' meetings never lacked for men. God does not always answer prayers so quickly, but we can be confident that no request offered for his honor is too hard for him.