Matthew 15
SpurgeonMatthew 15:1-39
Matthew 15:1-14. then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Teacher and taught, Pharisee and disciple, “both shall fall into the ditch.” Great responsibility rests upon the blind leader, but not all of it; for great responsibility also attaches to the blind follower. He should not follow a blind leader, he above all others needs a leader who can see. It is a pity that the man who can see should follow a blind leader; but if a man cannot see at all, then is he doubly unwise if he has a blind leader.Matthew 15:15-16. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? It was not a parable, it was a plain piece of simple language that the Saviour had uttered: “not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.”Matthew 15:17-18. Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught . — But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. It is not that which we eat that defileth us. If it is such food as we ought to take, it builds up the body. If it is improper food, it may injure the body, yet it is not in itself capable of being regarded as sin; but a spiritual thing, — a thought, a desire, an imagination, — - comes out of the heart, and if that is evil, it does defile the man.Matthew 15:19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: What a horrible den the heart itself must be, then! If all these evils come out of it, what a nest of unclean things it must be! A dreadful sight to the all-seeing God must be an uncleansed human heart. Let me read this verse again’ “for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” All these evils come out of the heart of man, out of such a heart as yours until it is renewed by grace. Though you sit very attentively in the house of God, unless his grace has changed your heart, all these evil things are there, and they only want an opportunity to come out. and reveal themselves.Matthew 15:20. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unclean hands defileth not a man. You should understand that the washing here meant was not such as you and I give our hands when we feel that we have soiled them with our labour; then, it is very proper to cleanse them. But this was a ceremonial washing which the scribes and Pharisees would have everybody give, whether his hands were clean or not, before he sat down to meat, and was a mere piece of absurdity, if not something worse. Yet they magnified it into a most important matter, and our Saviour here shows what an idle thing it was.Matthew 15:29-32. And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. Was not that a most gracious utterance? “I will not send them away fasting” What confidence the disciples ought to have had that the people could be fed, and would be fed, when the Master gave that solemn promise, “I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.”Matthew 15:33-34. And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? That is always a good form of enquiry: “How many loaves have ye?” How much grace have you? How much gift have you? How much ability have you? Are you using it all? Have you consecrated it all to the Master’s service?Matthew 15:34-35. And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. It is very wonderful that they did as he told them; they could not see anything to eat, and yet, when he bade them sit down, they obeyed him, and did so. Thus the Lord prepares men’s hearts for the reception of the Gospel. I do not doubt that, whenever we go forth faithfully to break the read of life, the Lord makes the people sit down in readiness to receive it.Matthew 15:36. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. Notice the order of our Lord’s action, thanksgiving first, and then the breaking of the bread. We do not always thank God for what we have already received, but the Lord here sets us the example of giving thanks for what is yet to come. For the multiplied loaves and fishes, he first gives thanks, and then passes them to his disciples to hand to the multitude.Matthew 15:37-39. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. And he send away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.
Our King combating Formalists THEN came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.“When our Lord was busiest his enemies assailed him. These ecclesiastics “of Jerusalem “were probably the cream of the set, and from their great reputation they reckoned upon an easy victory over the rustic preacher. Perhaps they were a deputation from headquarters, sent to confound the new Teacher. They had a question to raise, which to them may have seemed important; or possibly they pretended to think it so to answer their own purposes. Traditions of the elders were great things with them: to transgress these must be a crime indeed. Washing of the hands is a thing proper enough; one could wish it were oftener practised; but to exalt it into a religious rite is a folly and a sin.
These “scribes and Pharisees “washed their hands, whether they needed washing or not, out of a supposed zeal to be rid of any particle that might render them ceremonially unclean. Our Lord’s disciples had so far entered into Christian liberty that they did not observe the rabbinical tradition: “they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” Why should they wash if their hands were clean? Tradition had no power over their consciences. No man has any more right to institute a new duty than to neglect an old one. The issuing of commands is for the King alone. Yet these religionists enquire why the Lord’s disciples break a law which was no law.
It will be well if our opponents are unable to bring against us any worse charge than this. Matthew 15:3. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?“He answered” their question by asking them another. This was a very usual way with our Lord, and wo may often imitate him in discussions with captious persons. Our Lord turns a blaze of light upon them by the question—Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? What is a “tradition “when compared with a “commandment “? What is a tradition when it is in conflict with a commandment? What are elders in comparison with GOD? Our Lord knew best how to handle these messengers of the evil powers. His question earned the war into their own territory, and turned their boastful assault into utter rout. Matthew 15:4-6. For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.Our Lord explains his question, and lays home his accusation. God had bound the son and daughter to honour the parent; and this unquestionably included rendering to father and mother such help as they might need. From this duty there could be no escape without breaking the plain command of God. It was always right, by the law of nature, to be grateful to parents; and by the law of Moses it was always a deadly sin to revile them, la Exodus 21:17 we read: “He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.” Father and mother are to be had in reverence, and cherished with love; and the precept which ordains this, is called “the first commandment with promise.” There could be no mistake as to the meaning of the divine law, yet the base teachers of the period had invented a method of excusing men from the performance of so obvious a duty. These wretched tradition –lovers taught that if a man cried, “Corban! A gift’; and thus nominally set apart for God what his parents sought of him, ho must not afterwards give it to them. If in anger, or even in pre-tonce, he placed what was requested by father or mother under a ban, he became free from the obligation to aid his parents. It is true he was not required by the Rabbis to carry out his vow, and actually give the money or the goods to God; but as he had compromised the sacred name, he must on no account hand over the gift to his parents. So that a hasty word would loose any child from his i duty to aid his father or his mother; and then he might pretend that he was very sorry for having said it, but that his conscience would not permit him to break the ban. Vile hypocrites!
Advocates of the devil! Was ever device more shallow? Yet thus they “made the commandment of God of none effect”Matthew 15:7-8. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.Eight well did they deserve the name which the indignant Saviour fixed upon them: “Ye hypocrites.” They were agitated about hands unwashed, and yet laid their foul hands upon God’s most holy law. The prophetic words of Isaiah were indeed descriptive of them: he had pictured them to the life. Theirs was mouth-religion, lip-homage, and that only.
Their heart never approached the Lord at all. Thus, our Lord gave his opponents Scripture instead of tradition: ho broke their wooden weapons with the sword of the Spirit. Holy Scripture must be our weapon against the Church of traditions: nothing will overthrow Home but the Word of the Lord. When quoting from the prophecy of Isaiah, our blessed Lord not only used a translation, but he gave the sense freely; thus rebuking the mere word-chopping of the Rabbis. They could count the letters of a sacred book, and yet utterly miss its meaning: he gave the soul and spirit of the inspired utterance. Jesus insisted upon heart-worship, and said nothing as to the matter of washing or not washing the hands before eating bread. That was too paltry a point for him to dwell upon. Matthew 15:9. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.Religion based on human authority is worthless; we must worship the true God in the way of his own appointing, or we do not worship him at all. Doctrines and ordinances are only to be accepted when the divine Word supports them, and they are to be accepted for that reason only. The most punctilious form of devotion is vain worship, if it is regulated by man’s ordinance apart from the Lord’s own command. Matthew 15:10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understandHe turns to the common throng, among whom he had wrought his miracles of love. Se called the multitude and bade them “hear, and understand.” It looks as if he would say by his actions that he would rather teach the ignorant peasants than those false-hearted scribes and Pharisees. He had more hope of being understood by the ignorant multitude than by educated men who had so wretchedly enslaved their judgments by following worthless traditions. The appeal of the gospel is from the doctors to the people. These last have more common-sense and honesty than the former; yet even these need the exhortation, “Hear, and understand."Matthew 15:11. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.Here is something for the crowd to think over, and for the Pharisees to chew upon.
It would be a riddle to many, and a surprise to all. Preeminently it would bo a staggering statement for formalists. Religionists of the day placed the chief point of morals in meats and drinks, but the Lord Jesus declared that it lay in thoughts and acts. The Pharisees had now a string to harp upon, since harp they would: this saying would afford a text for malicious comment for many a day. They had sought to lay hold upon a sentence which they could use as an accusation, and in this case he gave them one which they might quote with that design if they dared to do so. It was diametrically opposed to their teaching, and yet it was not easy to meet its keen edge, or withstand its singular force. Matthew 15:12. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?The disciples evidently thought more of offending the Pharisees than their Master did. He knew that they would be offended, and thought it no calamity that they should be. He placed his remarkable aphorism in their way, that they might find themselves balked and gravelled by it. They had come to him in a fawning manner, desiring to catch him in his speech: ho was disgusted with their hypocrisy, and by this staggering statement he unmasked them, and they came out in their true colours. They could not further conceal their hate: henceforth they could not entrap the disciples by their professions of friendliness. Matthew 15:13. But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.If men are themselves an offence, they deserve to be offended. If these professed teachers of God’s mind cavil at God’s Son, they deserve no quarter; but it is right and wise to treat them to truth which shall annoy them. A good gardener is careful to uproot weeds as well as to water plants. Our Lord’s sententious utterance operated like a hoe to uproot these men from their religious profession; and he. meant that it should do so. But what a solemn word is this!
If our religion is not wholly of God it will come to an end, and that end will be destruction. No matter how fair the flower, if the father hath not planted it, its doom is sealed: it shall not be pruned, but “rooted up.” Those whom the truth uproots are uprooted indeed. Matthew 15:14. Let them alone: they be blind leaden of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.He turned from them as unworthy of further notice, saying, “Let them alone.” There was no need for the disciples to combat the Pharisees, they would be uprooted in the natural order of things by the inevitable consequences of their own course. Both themselves and their dupes would “fall into the ditch” of error and absurdity; and ultimately come to utter destruction. In every case it is so: when the bigoted teacher leads the ignorant disciple, they must both go wrong. The same is the case with every form of spiritual blindness in those who lead the thought of a period, and in those who follow their erroneous guidance.
The philosophic unbelief of this age is blind with self-conceit, and fearful is the ditch towards which it is hastening. Alas! its teachers are carrying precious souls with them into the ditch of Atheism and anarchy. O Lord, suffer us not to be despairing as to the present ascendency of false doctrine. In patience may we possess our souls! We cannot make either the blind leaders or their blind followers see the ditch before them; but it is there all the same, and their fall is certain. Thou alone canst open the eyes of the blind, and we trust that this miracle of grace will bo wrought by thee. Matthew 15:15. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.The saying, which Peter calls a parable, was spoken to the multitude, and they were bidden to understand it; but assuredly they did not comprehend it, for even the College of Apostles failed to grapple with it. Peter, as spokesman, did well to go at once to the fountain-head and humbly say, “Declare unto us this parable.” He that uttered the dark saying could best interpret it. Matthew 15:16. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?Of course the Pharisees would hate the light, and so refuse to see the spiritual truth which our Lord had set before them in so forcible a fashion. Nor was it wonderful that the crowd should be too ignorant to see the divine meaning of the compact sentence. But should not the chosen twelve have had clearer insight? After all their Lord’s teaching, were they “yet without understanding”? Should they not have reached the inner sense of their Lord’s utterance? Alas, how often have we been in a like state! How pertinently might the question be put to us, “Are ye also yet without understanding?” Matthew 15:17. Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?After years of the Master’s teaching, are we still unable to grasp an elementary truth? Can we not discern between physical and spiritual defilement? Food does not touch the soul: it passes through the body, but it does not enter the affections, or the understanding, and therefore does not defile a man. That which is eaten is material substance, and does not come into contact with the moral sense. This is clear enough to any unprejudiced mind. Meat passes through every passage of the bodily frame, from its entrance at the mouth, its passage through the bowels, to its ultimate expulsion; but it bears no relation to the mental and spiritual part of our being; and it is there only that real defilement can bo caused. Matthew 15:18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.The outcomings of the mind have sprung from the soul of the man, and have a moral character about them: “things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart.” Words, and the thoughts which wear words as their garments, and the acts which are the embodiment of words; these are of the man himself, and these defile him. If the mind or heart had nothing to do with an act, it would no more pollute a man than the food which he swallows and ejects. Because acts and words come not from the mouth only, but from the soul, they are of far more importance than meats and drinks. Of course, defilement comes to a man when he is guilty of gluttony and drunkenness; yet this is not because of the mere meat or drink, but because the taking of them to excess is the exercise of unbridled appetite, and this also grows by that which gratifies it. Matthew 15:19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.What a list! What must that heart be out of which so many evils pour forth! These are the bees: what must the hive be! “Evil thoughts”, or reasonings, such as these Pharisees had been guilty of. “Modern thought’’ is a specimen of these evils; it comes from the heart rather than from the head. “Murders " begin not with the dagger, but with the malice of the soul. “Adulteries and fornications” are first gloated over in the heart before they are enacted by the body. The heart is the cage from whence these unclean birds fly forth. “Thefts” also are born in the heart: a man would not wrongfully take with the hand if he had not wrongfully desired with the heart. “False witness “, or lying and slander: this, too, first ferments in the heart, and then its venom is spit out in the conversation. He that utters “blasphemies “against his Maker shows a very black heart: how could he fall into such a needless, useless vice, unless his inmost soul had been steeped in rebellion against the Lord? These dreadful evils all flow from one fountain, from the very nature and life of fallen man. Matthew 15:20. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.They not only come from a defiled nature, but they still further defile the man. Thus had the Saviour proved his aphorism. The things from within evidently are of a most defiling character, and make a man unfit for communion with God, and for the performance of holy duties; but the neglect of having water poured on the hands cannot be in the least comparable thereto. Yet those who had no repentance of polluting sins were struck with horror at a man’s eating a piece of bread with unwashen hands.Blessed Master, wash me within, and save me from the defilements of corrupt nature! Suffer me not to make outward forms my trust, but in the hidden parts purify thou me!
Matthew 15:10-31
Matthew 15:10. And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. True religion does not consist in meats and drinks, in feasting or in fasting. It is not that which goes into us, but that which comes out or us, which is the main matter.Matthew 15:12. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? They thought a very great deal of the opinion of the Pharisees; and they were greatly concerned because their Master had offended them. These Pharisees set themselves up as the judges of everything that was correct and proper in religion; yet Christ offended them by his plain speaking.Matthew 15:13. But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. The truth is often intended to be a rooter up. I have no doubt that our Lord said many things which had no other intention than the discovery of these deceitful men to themselves and others, that their baneful influence might be destroyed. Our Saviour was a true iconoclast, a great image-smasher; and these men, who were the chief icons or images of the day, had to be broken down. He therefore put the truth in the very form that would offend them.Matthew 15:14. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Our Lord did not soften or tone down his previous language, but he revealed the true character of the false guides by whom so many were deluded.Matthew 15:15. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. “We do not understand it; what is its meaning?”Matthew 15:16-17. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? And so there is an end of it.Matthew 15:18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. The main matter to be considered is the heart, not the mouth, and other parts of the body. Note how our Lord, by this great truth, puts the axe to much that looks very fair stood good, and cuts it down as worthless. If we serve God with the heart, there is the core of true religion; but if not, we may have as many ceremonial washings as there are hours in the day and days in the year, and we may be careful to avoid this article, of diet and to feed on that, to wear this garment and not to wear that, and to observe this day and not that; but all this outward religion will be of no avail whatever, if our heart is not savingly affected by the grace of God.Matthew 15:19-21. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:Tthese are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. He did not like the Pharisees well enough to stay among them. His own word concerning them was, “Let them alone;” and he did very severely let them alone: “Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.” He must not go into Tyre and Sidon, for his commission for the present was confined to Palestine, the chosen land. Do not regret this, dear friends. To have extended our Saviour’s work over a greater area, would not have been really to increase it; and it was very important that, during the very short active lifetime of our Saviour, — a little more than three years, — he should confine his operations to a comparatively small district, so as to produce a permanent result there which would afterwards radiate over the whole world. So our Saviour, who knew what was best for men, confined himself within a very narrow sphere; and, my brethren and sisters, I am not sure that we are always wise when we want a great sphere. I have myself sometimes envied the man with about five hundred people to watch over, who could see them all, know them all, and enter into sympathy with them all, and so could do his work well.
But, with so large a number as I have under my charge, what can one man do? And you, my brethren may increase the quantity of your acreage, and yet grow no larger crops. You may think that you will succeed better on a wider scale; but if you do not do so well in the greater field, it might have been wiser to narrow your boundaries rather than to widen them. However, if our Lord might not go into Tyre and Sidon, he went as near to them as he could: “Jesus departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.” And if you, dear friends, think there is a limit to your sphere of usefulness, always go as near as ever you can to the limit; go up to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.Matthew 15:22. And, behold, — For it is a great wonder that such a person should have come to Jesus: “And, behold,” —Matthew 15:22-23. A woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. This was another marvel, — a silent Saviour, — silent when it would have been so natural for him to speak a kind and gracious word: “He answered her not a word.”Matthew 15:23. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. “’She crieth after us,’ and it is very important that we should not be troubled.” We disciples are apt to think so, especially if we get a little lifted up, and come to be apostles: “Send her away; for she crieth after us.” She knew better than to cry after the disciples, it was the Master whose help she wanted. Some sinners are a great nuisance, they make so much noise in seeking Christ; and what a mercy it is that they do so! Oh, to have such troublesome people about us all day long, and all night long, too! It would be worth while to be vexed in this style. But the disciples said to Jesus, “Send her away; for she crieth after us.”Matthew 15:24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. “Therefore, I cannot attend to her.”Matthew 15:25-26. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet- “It is not comely, it is not fit,” —Matthew 15:26. To take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. The original means, the little dogs that play with the children; they lie under the table, and pick up the crumbs that their masters (the children) let fall. The woman caught at that expression at once —Matthew 15:27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. “I may be only a dog, and these Jews round about you are your children, but I have got in among them, and I am looking for a crumb or two as it falls from their table.” This was grand faith on her part, and it was speedily rewarded.Matthew 15:28-31. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. The Saviour appears to have gone this journey on purpose to bless this woman and her daughter; and, having wrought the miracle, he went where great multitudes came to him, bringing their sick folk to be healed, and the result was: “They glorified the God of Israel.” There may be some poor soul here in as great distress as this woman was; if so, may that one get a blessing; and then may the blessing spread through all the neighborhood till multitudes are saved!
Our King combating Formalists THEN came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.“When our Lord was busiest his enemies assailed him. These ecclesiastics “of Jerusalem “were probably the cream of the set, and from their great reputation they reckoned upon an easy victory over the rustic preacher. Perhaps they were a deputation from headquarters, sent to confound the new Teacher. They had a question to raise, which to them may have seemed important; or possibly they pretended to think it so to answer their own purposes. Traditions of the elders were great things with them: to transgress these must be a crime indeed. Washing of the hands is a thing proper enough; one could wish it were oftener practised; but to exalt it into a religious rite is a folly and a sin.
These “scribes and Pharisees “washed their hands, whether they needed washing or not, out of a supposed zeal to be rid of any particle that might render them ceremonially unclean. Our Lord’s disciples had so far entered into Christian liberty that they did not observe the rabbinical tradition: “they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” Why should they wash if their hands were clean? Tradition had no power over their consciences. No man has any more right to institute a new duty than to neglect an old one. The issuing of commands is for the King alone. Yet these religionists enquire why the Lord’s disciples break a law which was no law.
It will be well if our opponents are unable to bring against us any worse charge than this. Matthew 15:3. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?“He answered” their question by asking them another. This was a very usual way with our Lord, and wo may often imitate him in discussions with captious persons. Our Lord turns a blaze of light upon them by the question—Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? What is a “tradition “when compared with a “commandment “? What is a tradition when it is in conflict with a commandment? What are elders in comparison with GOD? Our Lord knew best how to handle these messengers of the evil powers. His question earned the war into their own territory, and turned their boastful assault into utter rout. Matthew 15:4-6. For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.Our Lord explains his question, and lays home his accusation. God had bound the son and daughter to honour the parent; and this unquestionably included rendering to father and mother such help as they might need. From this duty there could be no escape without breaking the plain command of God. It was always right, by the law of nature, to be grateful to parents; and by the law of Moses it was always a deadly sin to revile them, la Exodus 21:17 we read: “He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.” Father and mother are to be had in reverence, and cherished with love; and the precept which ordains this, is called “the first commandment with promise.” There could be no mistake as to the meaning of the divine law, yet the base teachers of the period had invented a method of excusing men from the performance of so obvious a duty. These wretched tradition –lovers taught that if a man cried, “Corban! A gift’; and thus nominally set apart for God what his parents sought of him, ho must not afterwards give it to them. If in anger, or even in pre-tonce, he placed what was requested by father or mother under a ban, he became free from the obligation to aid his parents. It is true he was not required by the Rabbis to carry out his vow, and actually give the money or the goods to God; but as he had compromised the sacred name, he must on no account hand over the gift to his parents. So that a hasty word would loose any child from his i duty to aid his father or his mother; and then he might pretend that he was very sorry for having said it, but that his conscience would not permit him to break the ban. Vile hypocrites!
Advocates of the devil! Was ever device more shallow? Yet thus they “made the commandment of God of none effect”Matthew 15:7-8. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.Eight well did they deserve the name which the indignant Saviour fixed upon them: “Ye hypocrites.” They were agitated about hands unwashed, and yet laid their foul hands upon God’s most holy law. The prophetic words of Isaiah were indeed descriptive of them: he had pictured them to the life. Theirs was mouth-religion, lip-homage, and that only.
Their heart never approached the Lord at all. Thus, our Lord gave his opponents Scripture instead of tradition: ho broke their wooden weapons with the sword of the Spirit. Holy Scripture must be our weapon against the Church of traditions: nothing will overthrow Home but the Word of the Lord. When quoting from the prophecy of Isaiah, our blessed Lord not only used a translation, but he gave the sense freely; thus rebuking the mere word-chopping of the Rabbis. They could count the letters of a sacred book, and yet utterly miss its meaning: he gave the soul and spirit of the inspired utterance. Jesus insisted upon heart-worship, and said nothing as to the matter of washing or not washing the hands before eating bread. That was too paltry a point for him to dwell upon. Matthew 15:9. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.Religion based on human authority is worthless; we must worship the true God in the way of his own appointing, or we do not worship him at all. Doctrines and ordinances are only to be accepted when the divine Word supports them, and they are to be accepted for that reason only. The most punctilious form of devotion is vain worship, if it is regulated by man’s ordinance apart from the Lord’s own command. Matthew 15:10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understandHe turns to the common throng, among whom he had wrought his miracles of love. Se called the multitude and bade them “hear, and understand.” It looks as if he would say by his actions that he would rather teach the ignorant peasants than those false-hearted scribes and Pharisees. He had more hope of being understood by the ignorant multitude than by educated men who had so wretchedly enslaved their judgments by following worthless traditions. The appeal of the gospel is from the doctors to the people. These last have more common-sense and honesty than the former; yet even these need the exhortation, “Hear, and understand."Matthew 15:11. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.Here is something for the crowd to think over, and for the Pharisees to chew upon.
It would be a riddle to many, and a surprise to all. Preeminently it would bo a staggering statement for formalists. Religionists of the day placed the chief point of morals in meats and drinks, but the Lord Jesus declared that it lay in thoughts and acts. The Pharisees had now a string to harp upon, since harp they would: this saying would afford a text for malicious comment for many a day. They had sought to lay hold upon a sentence which they could use as an accusation, and in this case he gave them one which they might quote with that design if they dared to do so. It was diametrically opposed to their teaching, and yet it was not easy to meet its keen edge, or withstand its singular force. Matthew 15:12. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?The disciples evidently thought more of offending the Pharisees than their Master did. He knew that they would be offended, and thought it no calamity that they should be. He placed his remarkable aphorism in their way, that they might find themselves balked and gravelled by it. They had come to him in a fawning manner, desiring to catch him in his speech: ho was disgusted with their hypocrisy, and by this staggering statement he unmasked them, and they came out in their true colours. They could not further conceal their hate: henceforth they could not entrap the disciples by their professions of friendliness. Matthew 15:13. But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.If men are themselves an offence, they deserve to be offended. If these professed teachers of God’s mind cavil at God’s Son, they deserve no quarter; but it is right and wise to treat them to truth which shall annoy them. A good gardener is careful to uproot weeds as well as to water plants. Our Lord’s sententious utterance operated like a hoe to uproot these men from their religious profession; and he. meant that it should do so. But what a solemn word is this!
If our religion is not wholly of God it will come to an end, and that end will be destruction. No matter how fair the flower, if the father hath not planted it, its doom is sealed: it shall not be pruned, but “rooted up.” Those whom the truth uproots are uprooted indeed. Matthew 15:14. Let them alone: they be blind leaden of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.He turned from them as unworthy of further notice, saying, “Let them alone.” There was no need for the disciples to combat the Pharisees, they would be uprooted in the natural order of things by the inevitable consequences of their own course. Both themselves and their dupes would “fall into the ditch” of error and absurdity; and ultimately come to utter destruction. In every case it is so: when the bigoted teacher leads the ignorant disciple, they must both go wrong. The same is the case with every form of spiritual blindness in those who lead the thought of a period, and in those who follow their erroneous guidance.
The philosophic unbelief of this age is blind with self-conceit, and fearful is the ditch towards which it is hastening. Alas! its teachers are carrying precious souls with them into the ditch of Atheism and anarchy. O Lord, suffer us not to be despairing as to the present ascendency of false doctrine. In patience may we possess our souls! We cannot make either the blind leaders or their blind followers see the ditch before them; but it is there all the same, and their fall is certain. Thou alone canst open the eyes of the blind, and we trust that this miracle of grace will bo wrought by thee. Matthew 15:15. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.The saying, which Peter calls a parable, was spoken to the multitude, and they were bidden to understand it; but assuredly they did not comprehend it, for even the College of Apostles failed to grapple with it. Peter, as spokesman, did well to go at once to the fountain-head and humbly say, “Declare unto us this parable.” He that uttered the dark saying could best interpret it. Matthew 15:16. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?Of course the Pharisees would hate the light, and so refuse to see the spiritual truth which our Lord had set before them in so forcible a fashion. Nor was it wonderful that the crowd should be too ignorant to see the divine meaning of the compact sentence. But should not the chosen twelve have had clearer insight? After all their Lord’s teaching, were they “yet without understanding”? Should they not have reached the inner sense of their Lord’s utterance? Alas, how often have we been in a like state! How pertinently might the question be put to us, “Are ye also yet without understanding?” Matthew 15:17. Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?After years of the Master’s teaching, are we still unable to grasp an elementary truth? Can we not discern between physical and spiritual defilement? Food does not touch the soul: it passes through the body, but it does not enter the affections, or the understanding, and therefore does not defile a man. That which is eaten is material substance, and does not come into contact with the moral sense. This is clear enough to any unprejudiced mind. Meat passes through every passage of the bodily frame, from its entrance at the mouth, its passage through the bowels, to its ultimate expulsion; but it bears no relation to the mental and spiritual part of our being; and it is there only that real defilement can bo caused. Matthew 15:18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.The outcomings of the mind have sprung from the soul of the man, and have a moral character about them: “things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart.” Words, and the thoughts which wear words as their garments, and the acts which are the embodiment of words; these are of the man himself, and these defile him. If the mind or heart had nothing to do with an act, it would no more pollute a man than the food which he swallows and ejects. Because acts and words come not from the mouth only, but from the soul, they are of far more importance than meats and drinks. Of course, defilement comes to a man when he is guilty of gluttony and drunkenness; yet this is not because of the mere meat or drink, but because the taking of them to excess is the exercise of unbridled appetite, and this also grows by that which gratifies it. Matthew 15:19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.What a list! What must that heart be out of which so many evils pour forth! These are the bees: what must the hive be! “Evil thoughts”, or reasonings, such as these Pharisees had been guilty of. “Modern thought’’ is a specimen of these evils; it comes from the heart rather than from the head. “Murders " begin not with the dagger, but with the malice of the soul. “Adulteries and fornications” are first gloated over in the heart before they are enacted by the body. The heart is the cage from whence these unclean birds fly forth. “Thefts” also are born in the heart: a man would not wrongfully take with the hand if he had not wrongfully desired with the heart. “False witness “, or lying and slander: this, too, first ferments in the heart, and then its venom is spit out in the conversation. He that utters “blasphemies “against his Maker shows a very black heart: how could he fall into such a needless, useless vice, unless his inmost soul had been steeped in rebellion against the Lord? These dreadful evils all flow from one fountain, from the very nature and life of fallen man. Matthew 15:20. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.They not only come from a defiled nature, but they still further defile the man. Thus had the Saviour proved his aphorism. The things from within evidently are of a most defiling character, and make a man unfit for communion with God, and for the performance of holy duties; but the neglect of having water poured on the hands cannot be in the least comparable thereto. Yet those who had no repentance of polluting sins were struck with horror at a man’s eating a piece of bread with unwashen hands.Blessed Master, wash me within, and save me from the defilements of corrupt nature! Suffer me not to make outward forms my trust, but in the hidden parts purify thou me!
Matthew 15:13-28
Matthew 15:13. But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. He had not any peculiar tenderness towards them, they were no plants of his Father’s planting: they deserved to be rooted up, and their teaching was so utterly false that, if he had offended against it, he was glad to have done so.Matthew 15:14. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. The bad teacher and he that is badly taught, for they are both responsible, shall both fall into the ditch. No man can lay the sin of his being misdirected entirely upon his priest or his teacher. He had no business to have submitted to him. At the same time, it is a very serious responsibility for a man who knows not God to attempt to teach the things of God. I know a man who, in a certain place of worship was deeply convinced of sin — the arrows of God stuck in him, and, being in great distress, he went to the minister and told him how he felt the burden of his guilt. The minister said to him, “My dear friend, I really had no intention of making you uneasy — what was it I said? — I will get the sermon — I am very sorry, but really I do not know anything about it.” The man said, “You told us we must be born again.” “Oh!”, said the minister, “that was done for you when a child — your parents did it.” “You know sir, we must be converted.” “Well, really I do not understand it.
I am afraid I have disturbed you unnecessarily.” Our friend, however, was not to be put off so; he sought and found a Saviour. But how dreadful a thing it is when the blind lead the blind: they shall both fall into the ditch.Matthew 15:15. Then answered Peter and said unto him Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. There is no defilement about that. Cleanliness is to be observed, but not the mere act of washing just for the sake of it, every time you eat bread, which defiles not a man; but oh! what defilement there is in evil thought, In anger which breeds murder, in lust which leads to adultery and fornication, in covetousness which begets theft, and in a false heart which leads to false witness, and in a profane mind which leads to blasphemy.
Oh! that God would cleanse our secret thoughts, the very center of our hearts, for until the fountain is made clean, the stream that comes from it cannot be pure.Matthew 15:21-22. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. “But he answered her not a word.” How painful that silence must have been! In what suspense she was.Matthew 15:23. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away: for she crieth after us. They were under a mistake. She did not cry after them: she knew better then that: she cried after the Lord, after the great Son of David, not after them, but, however, she disturbed them.Matthew 15:24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Christ’s personal ministry was confined to the Jews. He came as a Saviour to redeem all mankind, but as a preacher he was a minister to the circumcision, and he came to speak only to Israel.Matthew 15:25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Her prayer got shorter, and she grew more intense, more energetic, more determined to win the blessing. “Lord help me.”Matthew 15:26-28. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto to her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou will. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Oh! can you exercise a like faith in Christ? If so you shall get a like blessing. Only believe in him, only make up your mind, and, however great the mercy, it cannot be too great for him to give, and believe that he will give it, rest on him to bestow it, and you shall have it. God grant that many may receive it at this very hour. This exposition consisted of readings from Matthew 13:1-23; Matthew 15:13-28. 1 Corinthians 3:17-23.
Our King combating Formalists THEN came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.“When our Lord was busiest his enemies assailed him. These ecclesiastics “of Jerusalem “were probably the cream of the set, and from their great reputation they reckoned upon an easy victory over the rustic preacher. Perhaps they were a deputation from headquarters, sent to confound the new Teacher. They had a question to raise, which to them may have seemed important; or possibly they pretended to think it so to answer their own purposes. Traditions of the elders were great things with them: to transgress these must be a crime indeed. Washing of the hands is a thing proper enough; one could wish it were oftener practised; but to exalt it into a religious rite is a folly and a sin.
These “scribes and Pharisees “washed their hands, whether they needed washing or not, out of a supposed zeal to be rid of any particle that might render them ceremonially unclean. Our Lord’s disciples had so far entered into Christian liberty that they did not observe the rabbinical tradition: “they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” Why should they wash if their hands were clean? Tradition had no power over their consciences. No man has any more right to institute a new duty than to neglect an old one. The issuing of commands is for the King alone. Yet these religionists enquire why the Lord’s disciples break a law which was no law.
It will be well if our opponents are unable to bring against us any worse charge than this. Matthew 15:3. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?“He answered” their question by asking them another. This was a very usual way with our Lord, and wo may often imitate him in discussions with captious persons. Our Lord turns a blaze of light upon them by the question—Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? What is a “tradition “when compared with a “commandment “? What is a tradition when it is in conflict with a commandment? What are elders in comparison with GOD? Our Lord knew best how to handle these messengers of the evil powers. His question earned the war into their own territory, and turned their boastful assault into utter rout. Matthew 15:4-6. For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.Our Lord explains his question, and lays home his accusation. God had bound the son and daughter to honour the parent; and this unquestionably included rendering to father and mother such help as they might need. From this duty there could be no escape without breaking the plain command of God. It was always right, by the law of nature, to be grateful to parents; and by the law of Moses it was always a deadly sin to revile them, la Exodus 21:17 we read: “He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.” Father and mother are to be had in reverence, and cherished with love; and the precept which ordains this, is called “the first commandment with promise.” There could be no mistake as to the meaning of the divine law, yet the base teachers of the period had invented a method of excusing men from the performance of so obvious a duty. These wretched tradition –lovers taught that if a man cried, “Corban! A gift’; and thus nominally set apart for God what his parents sought of him, ho must not afterwards give it to them. If in anger, or even in pre-tonce, he placed what was requested by father or mother under a ban, he became free from the obligation to aid his parents. It is true he was not required by the Rabbis to carry out his vow, and actually give the money or the goods to God; but as he had compromised the sacred name, he must on no account hand over the gift to his parents. So that a hasty word would loose any child from his i duty to aid his father or his mother; and then he might pretend that he was very sorry for having said it, but that his conscience would not permit him to break the ban. Vile hypocrites!
Advocates of the devil! Was ever device more shallow? Yet thus they “made the commandment of God of none effect”Matthew 15:7-8. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.Eight well did they deserve the name which the indignant Saviour fixed upon them: “Ye hypocrites.” They were agitated about hands unwashed, and yet laid their foul hands upon God’s most holy law. The prophetic words of Isaiah were indeed descriptive of them: he had pictured them to the life. Theirs was mouth-religion, lip-homage, and that only.
Their heart never approached the Lord at all. Thus, our Lord gave his opponents Scripture instead of tradition: ho broke their wooden weapons with the sword of the Spirit. Holy Scripture must be our weapon against the Church of traditions: nothing will overthrow Home but the Word of the Lord. When quoting from the prophecy of Isaiah, our blessed Lord not only used a translation, but he gave the sense freely; thus rebuking the mere word-chopping of the Rabbis. They could count the letters of a sacred book, and yet utterly miss its meaning: he gave the soul and spirit of the inspired utterance. Jesus insisted upon heart-worship, and said nothing as to the matter of washing or not washing the hands before eating bread. That was too paltry a point for him to dwell upon. Matthew 15:9. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.Religion based on human authority is worthless; we must worship the true God in the way of his own appointing, or we do not worship him at all. Doctrines and ordinances are only to be accepted when the divine Word supports them, and they are to be accepted for that reason only. The most punctilious form of devotion is vain worship, if it is regulated by man’s ordinance apart from the Lord’s own command. Matthew 15:10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understandHe turns to the common throng, among whom he had wrought his miracles of love. Se called the multitude and bade them “hear, and understand.” It looks as if he would say by his actions that he would rather teach the ignorant peasants than those false-hearted scribes and Pharisees. He had more hope of being understood by the ignorant multitude than by educated men who had so wretchedly enslaved their judgments by following worthless traditions. The appeal of the gospel is from the doctors to the people. These last have more common-sense and honesty than the former; yet even these need the exhortation, “Hear, and understand."Matthew 15:11. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.Here is something for the crowd to think over, and for the Pharisees to chew upon.
It would be a riddle to many, and a surprise to all. Preeminently it would bo a staggering statement for formalists. Religionists of the day placed the chief point of morals in meats and drinks, but the Lord Jesus declared that it lay in thoughts and acts. The Pharisees had now a string to harp upon, since harp they would: this saying would afford a text for malicious comment for many a day. They had sought to lay hold upon a sentence which they could use as an accusation, and in this case he gave them one which they might quote with that design if they dared to do so. It was diametrically opposed to their teaching, and yet it was not easy to meet its keen edge, or withstand its singular force. Matthew 15:12. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?The disciples evidently thought more of offending the Pharisees than their Master did. He knew that they would be offended, and thought it no calamity that they should be. He placed his remarkable aphorism in their way, that they might find themselves balked and gravelled by it. They had come to him in a fawning manner, desiring to catch him in his speech: ho was disgusted with their hypocrisy, and by this staggering statement he unmasked them, and they came out in their true colours. They could not further conceal their hate: henceforth they could not entrap the disciples by their professions of friendliness. Matthew 15:13. But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.If men are themselves an offence, they deserve to be offended. If these professed teachers of God’s mind cavil at God’s Son, they deserve no quarter; but it is right and wise to treat them to truth which shall annoy them. A good gardener is careful to uproot weeds as well as to water plants. Our Lord’s sententious utterance operated like a hoe to uproot these men from their religious profession; and he. meant that it should do so. But what a solemn word is this!
If our religion is not wholly of God it will come to an end, and that end will be destruction. No matter how fair the flower, if the father hath not planted it, its doom is sealed: it shall not be pruned, but “rooted up.” Those whom the truth uproots are uprooted indeed. Matthew 15:14. Let them alone: they be blind leaden of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.He turned from them as unworthy of further notice, saying, “Let them alone.” There was no need for the disciples to combat the Pharisees, they would be uprooted in the natural order of things by the inevitable consequences of their own course. Both themselves and their dupes would “fall into the ditch” of error and absurdity; and ultimately come to utter destruction. In every case it is so: when the bigoted teacher leads the ignorant disciple, they must both go wrong. The same is the case with every form of spiritual blindness in those who lead the thought of a period, and in those who follow their erroneous guidance.
The philosophic unbelief of this age is blind with self-conceit, and fearful is the ditch towards which it is hastening. Alas! its teachers are carrying precious souls with them into the ditch of Atheism and anarchy. O Lord, suffer us not to be despairing as to the present ascendency of false doctrine. In patience may we possess our souls! We cannot make either the blind leaders or their blind followers see the ditch before them; but it is there all the same, and their fall is certain. Thou alone canst open the eyes of the blind, and we trust that this miracle of grace will bo wrought by thee. Matthew 15:15. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.The saying, which Peter calls a parable, was spoken to the multitude, and they were bidden to understand it; but assuredly they did not comprehend it, for even the College of Apostles failed to grapple with it. Peter, as spokesman, did well to go at once to the fountain-head and humbly say, “Declare unto us this parable.” He that uttered the dark saying could best interpret it. Matthew 15:16. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?Of course the Pharisees would hate the light, and so refuse to see the spiritual truth which our Lord had set before them in so forcible a fashion. Nor was it wonderful that the crowd should be too ignorant to see the divine meaning of the compact sentence. But should not the chosen twelve have had clearer insight? After all their Lord’s teaching, were they “yet without understanding”? Should they not have reached the inner sense of their Lord’s utterance? Alas, how often have we been in a like state! How pertinently might the question be put to us, “Are ye also yet without understanding?” Matthew 15:17. Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?After years of the Master’s teaching, are we still unable to grasp an elementary truth? Can we not discern between physical and spiritual defilement? Food does not touch the soul: it passes through the body, but it does not enter the affections, or the understanding, and therefore does not defile a man. That which is eaten is material substance, and does not come into contact with the moral sense. This is clear enough to any unprejudiced mind. Meat passes through every passage of the bodily frame, from its entrance at the mouth, its passage through the bowels, to its ultimate expulsion; but it bears no relation to the mental and spiritual part of our being; and it is there only that real defilement can bo caused. Matthew 15:18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.The outcomings of the mind have sprung from the soul of the man, and have a moral character about them: “things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart.” Words, and the thoughts which wear words as their garments, and the acts which are the embodiment of words; these are of the man himself, and these defile him. If the mind or heart had nothing to do with an act, it would no more pollute a man than the food which he swallows and ejects. Because acts and words come not from the mouth only, but from the soul, they are of far more importance than meats and drinks. Of course, defilement comes to a man when he is guilty of gluttony and drunkenness; yet this is not because of the mere meat or drink, but because the taking of them to excess is the exercise of unbridled appetite, and this also grows by that which gratifies it. Matthew 15:19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.What a list! What must that heart be out of which so many evils pour forth! These are the bees: what must the hive be! “Evil thoughts”, or reasonings, such as these Pharisees had been guilty of. “Modern thought’’ is a specimen of these evils; it comes from the heart rather than from the head. “Murders " begin not with the dagger, but with the malice of the soul. “Adulteries and fornications” are first gloated over in the heart before they are enacted by the body. The heart is the cage from whence these unclean birds fly forth. “Thefts” also are born in the heart: a man would not wrongfully take with the hand if he had not wrongfully desired with the heart. “False witness “, or lying and slander: this, too, first ferments in the heart, and then its venom is spit out in the conversation. He that utters “blasphemies “against his Maker shows a very black heart: how could he fall into such a needless, useless vice, unless his inmost soul had been steeped in rebellion against the Lord? These dreadful evils all flow from one fountain, from the very nature and life of fallen man. Matthew 15:20. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.They not only come from a defiled nature, but they still further defile the man. Thus had the Saviour proved his aphorism. The things from within evidently are of a most defiling character, and make a man unfit for communion with God, and for the performance of holy duties; but the neglect of having water poured on the hands cannot be in the least comparable thereto. Yet those who had no repentance of polluting sins were struck with horror at a man’s eating a piece of bread with unwashen hands.Blessed Master, wash me within, and save me from the defilements of corrupt nature! Suffer me not to make outward forms my trust, but in the hidden parts purify thou me!
Matthew 15:18-31
Matthew 15:18-21. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. He went right away, not because he was afraid to speak the truth, but because, having done so, he did not care to remain in the company of those who were round about him. He would rather go even to the verge of heathendom than live in the midst of Pharisaic hypocrisy: “Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.”Matthew 15:22. And, behold, — There is something here that is worth beholding, so the Holy Ghost draws attention to it, just as we sometimes print N.B., Nota bene; mark well; “behold,” —Matthew 15:22. A woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, Possibly she did not know that Christ had come; but, anyhow, when Christ comes, sinners come. He journeyed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and this woman met him.Matthew 15:22-23. And cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. Perhaps they meant, “Give her the blessing, and let her go. Thou art seeking quiet here, and she will not let thee, nor us either, have any. ‘Send her away.’” They made a great mistake when they said, “She crieth after us.” It was Christ to whom she cried, not his disciples.Matthew 15:24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. “My ministerial commission is only to the Jews.” As a Saviour, he comes to save sinners, out of all nations; but as the Messiah, his special mission was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.Matthew 15:25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. “Then came she, and worshipped him.” If Jesus Christ was not really and truly God, he was a base imposter to allow this woman to worship him. She had called him “Lord,” once before, and he did not rebuke her, and now she not only calls him “Lord,” but she worships him. She was doing quite right, for he is none other than very God of very God: “Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.”Matthew 15:26. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. Or, “to little dogs,” for the word is, in that form in the Greek.Matthew 15:27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. It was well for her that the Master had used that diminutive form of the word, for the bigger dogs in the East were not permitted in the house, but the little dogs were admitted to play with the children. She seemed to snatch at that idea as she cried, “Truth, Lord: yet the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table,” as though the greatest possible boon to her was, but a crumb to him, and but a crumb compared with the bread which he was putting upon the table of Israel. The greater blessing which he was giving to the children might prompt him to give a crumb to her.Matthew 15:28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Oh, the triumph of faith! God grant it to us! Yet this woman may surely shame many of us; we have not half her discouragements, and we have not half her confidence in Christ.Matthew 15:29. And Jesus departed from thence, He is always on the move, for he has always something else to do. As soon as his deed of grace is done in one part, he hastens to another: “And Jesus departed from thence,” —Matthew 15:29-31. And came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. This was Israel’s table indeed; and when you see these many mighty cures that Christ wrought, you can easily justify the speech of the Syrophenician woman, and agree with her that what she sought was only a crumb compared with the bountiful feast of fat things that was prepared for the favored nation.
Our King combating Formalists THEN came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.“When our Lord was busiest his enemies assailed him. These ecclesiastics “of Jerusalem “were probably the cream of the set, and from their great reputation they reckoned upon an easy victory over the rustic preacher. Perhaps they were a deputation from headquarters, sent to confound the new Teacher. They had a question to raise, which to them may have seemed important; or possibly they pretended to think it so to answer their own purposes. Traditions of the elders were great things with them: to transgress these must be a crime indeed. Washing of the hands is a thing proper enough; one could wish it were oftener practised; but to exalt it into a religious rite is a folly and a sin.
These “scribes and Pharisees “washed their hands, whether they needed washing or not, out of a supposed zeal to be rid of any particle that might render them ceremonially unclean. Our Lord’s disciples had so far entered into Christian liberty that they did not observe the rabbinical tradition: “they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” Why should they wash if their hands were clean? Tradition had no power over their consciences. No man has any more right to institute a new duty than to neglect an old one. The issuing of commands is for the King alone. Yet these religionists enquire why the Lord’s disciples break a law which was no law.
It will be well if our opponents are unable to bring against us any worse charge than this. Matthew 15:3. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?“He answered” their question by asking them another. This was a very usual way with our Lord, and wo may often imitate him in discussions with captious persons. Our Lord turns a blaze of light upon them by the question—Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? What is a “tradition “when compared with a “commandment “? What is a tradition when it is in conflict with a commandment? What are elders in comparison with GOD? Our Lord knew best how to handle these messengers of the evil powers. His question earned the war into their own territory, and turned their boastful assault into utter rout. Matthew 15:4-6. For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.Our Lord explains his question, and lays home his accusation. God had bound the son and daughter to honour the parent; and this unquestionably included rendering to father and mother such help as they might need. From this duty there could be no escape without breaking the plain command of God. It was always right, by the law of nature, to be grateful to parents; and by the law of Moses it was always a deadly sin to revile them, la Exodus 21:17 we read: “He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.” Father and mother are to be had in reverence, and cherished with love; and the precept which ordains this, is called “the first commandment with promise.” There could be no mistake as to the meaning of the divine law, yet the base teachers of the period had invented a method of excusing men from the performance of so obvious a duty. These wretched tradition –lovers taught that if a man cried, “Corban! A gift’; and thus nominally set apart for God what his parents sought of him, ho must not afterwards give it to them. If in anger, or even in pre-tonce, he placed what was requested by father or mother under a ban, he became free from the obligation to aid his parents. It is true he was not required by the Rabbis to carry out his vow, and actually give the money or the goods to God; but as he had compromised the sacred name, he must on no account hand over the gift to his parents. So that a hasty word would loose any child from his i duty to aid his father or his mother; and then he might pretend that he was very sorry for having said it, but that his conscience would not permit him to break the ban. Vile hypocrites!
Advocates of the devil! Was ever device more shallow? Yet thus they “made the commandment of God of none effect”Matthew 15:7-8. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.Eight well did they deserve the name which the indignant Saviour fixed upon them: “Ye hypocrites.” They were agitated about hands unwashed, and yet laid their foul hands upon God’s most holy law. The prophetic words of Isaiah were indeed descriptive of them: he had pictured them to the life. Theirs was mouth-religion, lip-homage, and that only.
Their heart never approached the Lord at all. Thus, our Lord gave his opponents Scripture instead of tradition: ho broke their wooden weapons with the sword of the Spirit. Holy Scripture must be our weapon against the Church of traditions: nothing will overthrow Home but the Word of the Lord. When quoting from the prophecy of Isaiah, our blessed Lord not only used a translation, but he gave the sense freely; thus rebuking the mere word-chopping of the Rabbis. They could count the letters of a sacred book, and yet utterly miss its meaning: he gave the soul and spirit of the inspired utterance. Jesus insisted upon heart-worship, and said nothing as to the matter of washing or not washing the hands before eating bread. That was too paltry a point for him to dwell upon. Matthew 15:9. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.Religion based on human authority is worthless; we must worship the true God in the way of his own appointing, or we do not worship him at all. Doctrines and ordinances are only to be accepted when the divine Word supports them, and they are to be accepted for that reason only. The most punctilious form of devotion is vain worship, if it is regulated by man’s ordinance apart from the Lord’s own command. Matthew 15:10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understandHe turns to the common throng, among whom he had wrought his miracles of love. Se called the multitude and bade them “hear, and understand.” It looks as if he would say by his actions that he would rather teach the ignorant peasants than those false-hearted scribes and Pharisees. He had more hope of being understood by the ignorant multitude than by educated men who had so wretchedly enslaved their judgments by following worthless traditions. The appeal of the gospel is from the doctors to the people. These last have more common-sense and honesty than the former; yet even these need the exhortation, “Hear, and understand."Matthew 15:11. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.Here is something for the crowd to think over, and for the Pharisees to chew upon.
It would be a riddle to many, and a surprise to all. Preeminently it would bo a staggering statement for formalists. Religionists of the day placed the chief point of morals in meats and drinks, but the Lord Jesus declared that it lay in thoughts and acts. The Pharisees had now a string to harp upon, since harp they would: this saying would afford a text for malicious comment for many a day. They had sought to lay hold upon a sentence which they could use as an accusation, and in this case he gave them one which they might quote with that design if they dared to do so. It was diametrically opposed to their teaching, and yet it was not easy to meet its keen edge, or withstand its singular force. Matthew 15:12. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?The disciples evidently thought more of offending the Pharisees than their Master did. He knew that they would be offended, and thought it no calamity that they should be. He placed his remarkable aphorism in their way, that they might find themselves balked and gravelled by it. They had come to him in a fawning manner, desiring to catch him in his speech: ho was disgusted with their hypocrisy, and by this staggering statement he unmasked them, and they came out in their true colours. They could not further conceal their hate: henceforth they could not entrap the disciples by their professions of friendliness. Matthew 15:13. But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.If men are themselves an offence, they deserve to be offended. If these professed teachers of God’s mind cavil at God’s Son, they deserve no quarter; but it is right and wise to treat them to truth which shall annoy them. A good gardener is careful to uproot weeds as well as to water plants. Our Lord’s sententious utterance operated like a hoe to uproot these men from their religious profession; and he. meant that it should do so. But what a solemn word is this!
If our religion is not wholly of God it will come to an end, and that end will be destruction. No matter how fair the flower, if the father hath not planted it, its doom is sealed: it shall not be pruned, but “rooted up.” Those whom the truth uproots are uprooted indeed. Matthew 15:14. Let them alone: they be blind leaden of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.He turned from them as unworthy of further notice, saying, “Let them alone.” There was no need for the disciples to combat the Pharisees, they would be uprooted in the natural order of things by the inevitable consequences of their own course. Both themselves and their dupes would “fall into the ditch” of error and absurdity; and ultimately come to utter destruction. In every case it is so: when the bigoted teacher leads the ignorant disciple, they must both go wrong. The same is the case with every form of spiritual blindness in those who lead the thought of a period, and in those who follow their erroneous guidance.
The philosophic unbelief of this age is blind with self-conceit, and fearful is the ditch towards which it is hastening. Alas! its teachers are carrying precious souls with them into the ditch of Atheism and anarchy. O Lord, suffer us not to be despairing as to the present ascendency of false doctrine. In patience may we possess our souls! We cannot make either the blind leaders or their blind followers see the ditch before them; but it is there all the same, and their fall is certain. Thou alone canst open the eyes of the blind, and we trust that this miracle of grace will bo wrought by thee. Matthew 15:15. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.The saying, which Peter calls a parable, was spoken to the multitude, and they were bidden to understand it; but assuredly they did not comprehend it, for even the College of Apostles failed to grapple with it. Peter, as spokesman, did well to go at once to the fountain-head and humbly say, “Declare unto us this parable.” He that uttered the dark saying could best interpret it. Matthew 15:16. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?Of course the Pharisees would hate the light, and so refuse to see the spiritual truth which our Lord had set before them in so forcible a fashion. Nor was it wonderful that the crowd should be too ignorant to see the divine meaning of the compact sentence. But should not the chosen twelve have had clearer insight? After all their Lord’s teaching, were they “yet without understanding”? Should they not have reached the inner sense of their Lord’s utterance? Alas, how often have we been in a like state! How pertinently might the question be put to us, “Are ye also yet without understanding?” Matthew 15:17. Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?After years of the Master’s teaching, are we still unable to grasp an elementary truth? Can we not discern between physical and spiritual defilement? Food does not touch the soul: it passes through the body, but it does not enter the affections, or the understanding, and therefore does not defile a man. That which is eaten is material substance, and does not come into contact with the moral sense. This is clear enough to any unprejudiced mind. Meat passes through every passage of the bodily frame, from its entrance at the mouth, its passage through the bowels, to its ultimate expulsion; but it bears no relation to the mental and spiritual part of our being; and it is there only that real defilement can bo caused. Matthew 15:18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.The outcomings of the mind have sprung from the soul of the man, and have a moral character about them: “things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart.” Words, and the thoughts which wear words as their garments, and the acts which are the embodiment of words; these are of the man himself, and these defile him. If the mind or heart had nothing to do with an act, it would no more pollute a man than the food which he swallows and ejects. Because acts and words come not from the mouth only, but from the soul, they are of far more importance than meats and drinks. Of course, defilement comes to a man when he is guilty of gluttony and drunkenness; yet this is not because of the mere meat or drink, but because the taking of them to excess is the exercise of unbridled appetite, and this also grows by that which gratifies it. Matthew 15:19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.What a list! What must that heart be out of which so many evils pour forth! These are the bees: what must the hive be! “Evil thoughts”, or reasonings, such as these Pharisees had been guilty of. “Modern thought’’ is a specimen of these evils; it comes from the heart rather than from the head. “Murders " begin not with the dagger, but with the malice of the soul. “Adulteries and fornications” are first gloated over in the heart before they are enacted by the body. The heart is the cage from whence these unclean birds fly forth. “Thefts” also are born in the heart: a man would not wrongfully take with the hand if he had not wrongfully desired with the heart. “False witness “, or lying and slander: this, too, first ferments in the heart, and then its venom is spit out in the conversation. He that utters “blasphemies “against his Maker shows a very black heart: how could he fall into such a needless, useless vice, unless his inmost soul had been steeped in rebellion against the Lord? These dreadful evils all flow from one fountain, from the very nature and life of fallen man. Matthew 15:20. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.They not only come from a defiled nature, but they still further defile the man. Thus had the Saviour proved his aphorism. The things from within evidently are of a most defiling character, and make a man unfit for communion with God, and for the performance of holy duties; but the neglect of having water poured on the hands cannot be in the least comparable thereto. Yet those who had no repentance of polluting sins were struck with horror at a man’s eating a piece of bread with unwashen hands.Blessed Master, wash me within, and save me from the defilements of corrupt nature! Suffer me not to make outward forms my trust, but in the hidden parts purify thou me!
Matthew 15:21-39
Jesus had been in conflict with the Scribes and Pharisees. He never liked such discussions, and though he was always victorious in every controversy, it grieved his spirit.Matthew 15:21. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. He was glad to get away, and made a journey over the hills to get at as great a distance as possible from these cavillers.Matthew 15:22. And behold, a woman of Canaan came. A Syrophenician woman, one of the old, condensed race living in Tyre and Sidon.Matthew 15:23. But he answered her not a word. Answers to prayers may be delayed; but delays are not always denials. Christ’s silence must have been a great trial to the poor woman; but our Lord knew with whom he was dealing.Matthew 15:23. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. Ah, these disciples made a grand mistake! She did not cry after them; she cried after him; but so they understood it: therefore they said, “Get rid of her; she disturbs us; when we are in the street, we can hear her cry. Send her away; for she crieth after us.” Ah! Poor disciples, she was not so foolish as to cry after you; she was crying after your Master. If any here have come only to hear the preacher, they have made a great mistake; but if you have come for a word from the Master, I pray that you may be gratified.Matthew 15:24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Christ did what he was sent to do; he was the Messiah, the sent One. He would not go beyond his mission, so he says, “I am sent.” He was sent as a Preacher and a Teacher, not to the Gentiles, but to Israel. He had a larger commission in reserve, and was yet to be a Saviour to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; but for the present he was to be a Shepherd to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”Matthew 15:25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord help me. A very short prayer; but how much there was in it!Matthew 15:26-27. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to the dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. It is the faculty of faith to see in the dark. This woman spied out light in what seemed to be a very dark saying. Did Christ call her a dog? Well, dogs have their privileges when they lie under the table. Even if their master does not throw them a crumb, yet they may take that which falls from his hand. If Jesus would but allow any mercy to drop, as it were, accidentally, this woman would be content.Matthew 15:28-29. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. And Jesus departed from thence. When he had done his business, he was off. Our Lord was a great itinerant; he was always on the move/ He had come all the way to the parts of Tyre and Sidon to help one woman; and when that one woman had been attended to, he goes back again immediately to his old post by the sea of Galilee.Matthew 15:29-30. And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them. In the prayer-meeting, held by the deacons and elders this morning, before I came in here, one of our friends observed in prayer that there might be many lame, blind, and maimed in the congregation, and he prayed that they might be brought to Jesus. Let us, by faith, bring them to him, and lay them at his feet. Oh, that this word, “He healed them,” might be true again today! Matthew 15:31. Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be made whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. Oh, for glory to God! There is no glory to god which equals that which comes from blind eyes which have been made to see; and from dumb lips which have been made to speak. The glories of nature and providence are eclipsed by the glories of grace. May we see such things today. Matthew 15:32. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. Ah, dear friends, they were willing to put up with inconvenience to hear the gospel in those days! Three days of sermon-hearing! People want sermons wonderfully short now, and the sermons must be marvelously interesting, too, or else the people grow dreadfully tired. If dinner-time came around, the dinner-bell, at any time, in these days, would drown all the attraction of the pulpit. But here were people that attended Christ’s ministry for three days, and they had nothing to eat. He had compassion upon them, and said to his disciples, “I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.”Matthew 15:33-34. And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? That is the point. It is idle to enquire about how much you want. “How many loaves have ye?”Matthew 15:34-35. And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. It was a token of Christ’s presence and power that they were willing to sit down on the ground. Think of thousands of people taking their places in an orderly way to feed upon seven cakes and a few little fishes! Without any demur, the crowd arranged itself into banquet order at the command of Jesus.Matthew 15:36-37. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled; and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. They were large baskets, too; not like the small food-baskets mentioned when the five thousand were fed. The word used here is the same word that is employed to describe the basket in which Saul was let down by the wall of Damascus. Matthew 15:38. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. Now, if the women and children bore the same proportion to the men as they generally do in our congregation, there must have been a very large crowd indeed. Why is the number of the women and children not mentioned? Was it because there were so many? Or was it because their appetites being smaller than the appetites of men, the men are put down as the great eaters, and the women and children, as it were, thrown into the count? What a mercy it is that the Lord adds to the church daily a vast number of men, women, and children! The Lord sends us many more, until we cannot count them!Matthew 15:39. And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala. He had taught the people, and fed them; so now he goes elsewhere to carry similar blessings to others also.
Our King and the Woman of CanaanMat_15:21. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.He left the loathsome company of the Pharisees, and went thence, going as far away as he could without quitting his own country. The great Bishop went to the very borders of his diocese. An inward attraction drew him where he knew that a believing heart was yearning for him. He was sent to the house of Israel as a preacher; but he interpreted his commission in its largest sense, and went “into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.” When those at the centre prove incorrigible, the Lord goes to those who can be only reached from the circumference. Let us always plough to the very end of the field, and serve our day and generation to the extreme limits of our sphere. Matthew 15:22. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.“Behold”: here is something worth I beholding; good for eyes and hearts. Just as Jesus went to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, a woman came out of the same coasts to meet him. Sooner or later, a meeting will come about between Christ and seeking souls. This “woman of Canaan” had no claim on account of her nationality: she was a Gentile of the worst sort, of a race long before condemned to die. She came from the narrow strip of land whereon the Tyrians dwelt; and like Hiram, of Tyre, she knew the name of David; but she went further, for she had faith in David’s Son. Love to her daughter led her to travel, to cry, to beseech, to implore mercy. What will not a mother’s love achieve?
Her need had abolished the barrier between Gentile and Jew; she appealed to Jesus as though she were of the same country as his disciples. She asked the healing of her child as a mercy to herself: “Have mercy on me.” She asked it of Jesus as Lord. She asked it of One greater than Solomon, the son of David, the wisest and most potent of wonderworkers. She put the case briefly and pathetically, and pleaded for her daughter with all a mother’s loving anxiety. Her need taught her how to pray. Until we, also, know what we require, and are full of hopeful longings, we shall never plead prevailingly. Do we pray for our children as this woman pleaded for her daughter? Have we not good reason to take her for our example? Matthew 15:23. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth afterSilence was a hard answer; for it is translatable by fear into something worse than the harshest speech. “Not a word”, not a word from him whose every word is power! This was a heavy discouragement. Yet she was not silenced by the Lord’s silence. She increased her entreaties.
The disciples were mistaken when they said, “She crieth after us.” No, no, she cried after him. Should this have afflicted them? Oh, that all men would cry after him! Such a blessed annoyance should be longed after by compassionate hearts among the Lord’s servants. The disciples were, however, driven to appeal to their Master, and though that was something, it was not much. Possibly they meant their complaint to help the woman by obtaining an answer for her one way or another; but their words have a cold look— " Send her away.” May we never be so selfish as to feel troubled by enquirers!
May we never send them away ourselves by cold looks and harsh words! Still the disciples were not able to neglect her; they were forced to plead with Jesus about her; they came and besought him. If Christian people are apparently unsympathetic let us warm them into feeling by our persistent fervency. Matthew 15:24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.“When Jesus did speak, it was not to her, but to his disciples. She heard the word, and felt it to be a side blow which struck heavily at her hopes. She was not of “the home of Israel”; she owned that she could not number herself among the sheep; he was not sent to her; how could he go beyond his mission? It would have been small wonder if she had retired in despair. On the contrary, she redoubled her pleading. Matthew 15:25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.Instead of retiring she came nearer, and she “worshipped him.” It was well done. She could not solve the problems of the destiny of her race, and of the Lord’s commission; but she could pray. She knew little about the limitations of Messiahship, but she knew that the Lord had boundless power. If, as a shepherd, he may not gather her, yet, as Lord, he may help her. The divine nature of Christ is a well-spring of comfort to troubled hearts. Her petition was brief, yet comprehensive; it came hot from her heart, and went straight to the point. Her daughter’s case was her own, and so she cried, “Lord, help me.” Lord, help us to pray as she did. Matthew 15:26. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.At length he turns, and gives a reply to her pleading; but it is not a cheering one. How hard its language! How unlike our Lord’s usual self! And yet how true! How unanswerable!
Truly “it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs?’ Of course privileges must not be given to those who have no right to them, nor must reserved boons be wasted upon the unworthy. The blessing sought is as bread for children, and the Canaanites were no more members of the chosen family than so many dogs. Their heathen character made them like dogs as to uncleanness. For generations they had known no more of the true God than the dogs which roam the streets. Often they and other Philistine tribes had snapped as dogs at the heels of the Lord’s people. The woman had probably heard such phrases as this from proud Jewish bigots, but she had not expected it from the Lord. Matthew 15:27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.It was humbly spoken: “Truth, Lord.” It was bravely spoken; for she found food for faith in the hard crusts of our Lord’s language. Our Lord had used a word which should be rendered “little dogs”, and she caught at it. Little dogs become the playmates of the children; they lie under the table, and pick up the fragments which fall to the ground from the table of their little masters. The householder so far takes the little dog under his care as to allow him to be under the table. If, Gentile dog as she is, she may not be shepherded as one of the flock, she will be content to be tolerated as one of the household in the character of a little dog; for then she will be allowed the crumbs which fall from the children’s bread, from the dog’s little masters’ table. Great as was the blessing which she sought, it was but a crumb to the Lord’s bounty, and to Israel’s portion, and therefore she begged to have it, dog as she owned herself to be. Let us accept the worst character that the Scripture gives us, and still find in it an argument for hope. Matthew 15:28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.Our Saviour loves great faith, and grants to it whatever it desires. Her faith was great comparatively: for a heathen woman, and for one who knew so little of the Saviour, she was surpassingly strong in faith. But her faith was not only great comparatively, it was great positively: to believe in a silent Christ, in one who treats her with a rebuff, in one who calls her a dog, is exceedingly great faith, measure it how you will. Few of us have a tithe as much faith in our Lord as this woman had.
To believe that he can cure her daughter at once, and to cling to him for that boon, is faith which sets even the Lord a wondering, and he cries, “O woman, great is thy faith/” How splendid the reward: “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt”! According to her will her daughter’s cure was immediate, perfect, and enduring. Oh, for like precious faith, especially for such faith in reference to our sons and daughters! Why should wo not have it? Jesus is the same, and we have even more reasons for trusting in him than the Canaanitess could have had. Lord we believe; help thou our unbelief, and make our children whole.