Matthew 15

CHAPTER 15THEME: Jesus denounces scribes and Pharisees; rebukes His disciples; heals the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman and multitudes; feeds the four thousandThis chapter continues the movement of the King, and He is beginning now to move toward the Cross. We have already seen His rejection and conflict with the religious rulers. This chapter advances the ministry of Jesus to the very breaking point with the scribes and Pharisees. There is a lot of action here.

Matthew 15:1

JESUS DENOUNCES THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEESThe scribes and the Pharisees had come all the way from Jerusalem. In the previous chapter we saw that Jesus and His disciples were way out in a desert place where the crowds couldn’t even get to a hamburger stand; so He had fed them. On the surface it may seem like a wonderful thing that the religious rulers had come all the way out to listen to Him. Well, frankly, they hadn’t come all the way out to applaud Him or to accept His teaching; they had come to criticize Him. Immediately we recognize that this was not a friendly visit. They did not accuse Him of breaking the Scriptures but of violating the traditions which they considered to be on a par with the Scriptures.

They wanted to know why His disciples did not wash their hands. They were referring to a ceremonial cleansing rather than to what we would consider a physical or sanitary washing. There are a great many people who feel that if you go through some sort of an outward ceremony and clean up on the outside, this is all that is necessary.

Matthew 15:3

Jesus accuses them of breaking the commandment of God with their tradition. Their tradition, you see, permitted a man to disobey the Law, an amazing thingand they had a very clever way of doing it.

Matthew 15:4

Our Lord is saying that honoring father and mother includes supporting them. The way they got around that responsibility was to dedicate their money as a gift to God, and that would relieve them of supporting their parents. This gave a pious way out for a man to break the Mosaic Law. I still believe the best way to test a Christian is by his pocketbook. The barometer of the Christian today is how he handles his own money and how he handles God’s money. The religious rulers of Jesus’ day were helping men escape their responsibility. I am of the opinion that God wants you to pay your honest debts before you give to Him. God wants you to take care of your personal responsibilities. He wants you to support your family before you give to Him. I once knew a man with a wild idea. This man came to me on payday and wanted to give me half his income while his family went hungry. When I found out, we had quite a little talk, and at first he was offended. Finally, he saw that he was neglecting his own family, which is a tragic thing to do. It is amazing how people try to escape a responsibility in a pious way.

Matthew 15:7

The Lord called the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. This is the most frightful word in Scripture. Nothing quite corresponds to it, but it did not have quite the meaning in that day that it does today. To us it is a scorching word, but in Jesus’ day it simply meant to answer back and was used of an actor in a play. It means that an actor would receive a cue and then answer back. Jesus accused the scribes and Pharisees of playing at religion. The religious leaders were eager to have people go through the ceremony of washing their hands, but they ignored the condition of the heart, which was the important thing to God. In a very pious way they were breaking the Mosaic Law. My friend, we also are pretty good at rationalizing. Parents say to their children, “You wash your hands before you come to the table,” but they pay no attention to what their children see on television, which is the thing that is damaging the heart. Oh, of course, children should wash their hands, but what is on the inside is far more important. Now our Lord will enlarge upon that statement

Matthew 15:10

The great principle that Jesus was teaching is that moral defilement is spiritual, not physical.

Matthew 15:12

The disciples are amazed that the Lord would offend the Pharisees. Up to this point there has been conflict between the religious leaders and Jesus, but this is the breaking point. The Lord continues to instruct His disciples.

Matthew 15:13

The word plant here means “system”. It is not too broad to interpret Jesus as saying, “Every religious system which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.”

Matthew 15:14

This to me is a humorous statement, and it is certainly biting sarcasm. The Pharisees were the blind leaders.

Matthew 15:15

The Lord has been speaking in parables to His disciples, but they had not gotten His point yet.

Matthew 15:16

This is a great principle. A person is not defiled by what goes into his mouth but by what comes out of his mouth. As someone has well said, what is in the well of the heart will come up in the bucket of the mouth sooner or later. Listen to Him

Matthew 15:19

We are certainly seeing this working out in our contemporary culture. We are in the period of the “new morality” and have reached the day that Isaiah talked about when he said that they would “…call evil good, and good evil …” (Isa_5:20). Those of us who believe the Bible are considered squares and entirely wrong. What do we have in this day of freedom, now that the lid has been taken off and man expresses what is in his heart? Do we have a new morality? No, we have the same old thingsevil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, false witness, blasphemy, and thefts. We have really opened a Pandora’s box, and we are in trouble. Man has to be controlled. He is the most vicious animal on earth. We put other animals in cages, but man must be free to do his thing, and our Lord has told us what mankind will do, and He says that these things defile. All about us today is an emphasis on sexin our schools, even in our churches, on television, on radio; it stares at you from billboards, from the covers of magazines, from newspaper headlines. My friend, these things defile. Don’t tell me that you are immune to it; no one is immune to this type of thing. Our children and young people are being defiledall in the lofty-sounding terminology of freedom of speech! The things that are in the heart are now coming out. Our Lord has made a tremendous statement here.

Matthew 15:21

JESUS HEALS THE SYROPHOENICIAN WOMAN’S DAUGHTERNow our Lord leaves the land of Israel for the first time during His public ministry. This is interesting because He came to Israel as her King. When He sent His disciples out, He instructed them to go into the cities of Israel but not beyond her boundaries. Then the Lord was rejected by Israel, and there arose conflict. The breaking point between Jesus and the religious rulers came only a few verses ago. What happens? Jesus Himself steps over the boundaries of Israel and lays down another great principle. He will now receive the Gentiles. His invitation is, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [lit., “rest you”]” (Mat_11:28).

Matthew 15:22

The Syrophoenician woman was a mixture of several races and a true Gentile (see Mar_7:26 for her nationality). She had no claim on Jesus as the Son of David, and when she addressed Him as such, He answered her not a word. The disciples said, “Send her away, for she crieth after us.” She was causing a disturbance and probably a little embarrassment.

Matthew 15:24

This seems to be a harsh statement, but it was a statement of fact. Jesus was offering Himself first as the fulfillment of all the prophecies concerning the coming of the King in David’s line. He was forcing this gentile woman to recognize that fact. Jesus came as King of the Jews. You mark that downit was the primary issue that had to be settled. He died with this superscription written over Him on the Cross: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Now listen to this gentile woman

Matthew 15:25

When she addressed Him as the Son of David, He said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” She as a Gentile had no claim upon Him as the Son of David. However, now she comes and worships Him, calling Him “Lord”, and asks for help. Now she will get help, as we shall see.

Matthew 15:26

That is a very strong statement! Such a rebuff would have driven many of us away. We would have turned on our heels and said, “You can’t talk to us like that!”

Matthew 15:27

You remember that our Lord told of a poor man who ate of the crumbs that fell from a rich man’s table, and the dogs came and licked his sores. The Israelites used the word dog in reference to the Gentiles. This woman was willing to bear that reproach because she believed in the Lord Jesus.

Matthew 15:28

Our Lord really marveled at the faith of this gentile woman. He had said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy ladenI’ll help you; I’ll lift your burden,” and that is what He did even for a Canaanite. Her answer had revealed a great faith, and to that our Lord responded.

Matthew 15:29

JESUS CONTINUES TO HEALAgain I call your attention to the multitudes of folk whom Jesus healed. There were not just a few isolated cases that could not be substantiated, but there were so many that nobody denied He performed miracles of healing.

Matthew 15:32

JESUS FEEDS THE FOUR THOUSANDThis miracle seems to be almost a duplication of the feeding of the five thousand. Note again His compassion for people.

Matthew 15:33

Let’s not miss the message that is here. Frankly, it seems like just a rerun of the feeding of the five thousand. It appears to be a repetition, and we wonder why Matthew included it since it doesn’t seem to add any further advancement of the messianic claims of the Lord Jesus. However, we are in the section in which the emphasis is no longer upon Jesus pressing His messianic claim but the emphasis is on the rejection of His claim. And this miracle shows how slow the disciples were to learn. They had already witnessed the feeding of the five thousand, and I think it took place only a few days before this; yet here they raise the same old objections of unbelief. Again His disciples say to Him, “Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?”

Matthew 15:34

Again He fed the multitudes. This is a revelation that the disciples had not really learned the lesson. Their reluctance to believe actually constitutes a form of rejection. My friend, unbelief is sin. In Rom_14:23 it says that “…whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” In Heb_12:1 we are admonished to “…lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us….” What is that weight? I think it is unbelief. Unbelief is sin. I am willing to make this confession: I wish that I believed Him more. He is worthy to be believed; I ought to believe Him fully, but the problem is with me. And I suspect that the problem is with you, also. The Lord Jesus fed the multitude

Matthew 15:37

Notice that it was four thousand men plus women and children. In other words, families were there. Again, if we put one woman and one child with each man, the total fed would be twelve thousand.

Matthew 15:39

This was part of the Lord’s Galilean ministry. Magdala is on the Sea of Galilee and today lies in ruins. This chapter reveals that our Lord’s disciples are not keeping up. They are slow to believe and slow to understand. This is actually hindering the Lord Jesus. It seems at this point that, since He has reached the breaking point with the religious rulers, He is having a real problem with His disciples. He appears to be just marking time until they catch up. Frankly, He is very patient with you and me, also. Many of us need to catch up; we are far behind in our belief and understanding. Oh, that we might believe Him!