Jesus
called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not
defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Our journey with Jesus continues as
Matthew takes us from Jesus’ confrontation with the storm on Galilee to a stormy confrontation with some “Pharisees and teachers of the Law from Jerusalem” (vs
1). They question Jesus’ authority and
in vs 7 Jesus calls them hypocrites who honour God with their lips, while their
hearts are far from Him.
Then
the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were
offended when they heard this?”
Oh......doodums!
Some religious hypocrites who have
been elected as leaders in Jerusalem are offended because the preacher’s
interpretation of Scripture doesn’t agree with their interpretation of
Scripture. The amusing thing here is
that the disciples seem to think that Jesus would actually care that some
(many) people were offended by the Gospel (because Jesus only preached the
Gospel). He warns several times in the
Gospels that as preachers of the Gospel, people will often take offense at the
message of the Gospel. On another
occasion, He says to them that when that happens they should leave and make
sure that not even the dust from the place sticks to their feet.
He
replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up
by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind,
both will fall into a pit.”
He then goes on and says that these
leaders are nothing more than blind guides......destined for the pit.
Peter
said, “Explain the parable to us.”
We have to feel for Peter here......he
can’t really believe what he’s hearing......he doesn’t want to believe that
leaders that he respects can be so stupid that Jesus (yes......Jesus) calls them hypocrites (to their
faces, of course) and blind. So in case
he is missing something, he humbly asks Jesus to explain.
“Are
you still so dull?” Jesus asked them.
And now it’s Jesus who has to ask in
the holiest way possible: “Are you doff?” ......actually......”Guys, are you still so doff?” You know....., goodness me,
we’ve been together for a while now......when are you going to get the point
about the Kingdom of God?
“Don’t
you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of
the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart,
and these defile them. For out of the
heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false
testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed
hands does not defile them.”
And so He goes on and says, “The
things that defile us, that make us unclean, that make us dirty, that make us
abominations, these things are not
related to what goes in or what comes out......NO! ......all these things
(murder, adultery, sexual immorality......) happen here (I’ll hit my heart) long before they happen here (now I’ll touch various parts of my body.)”
Cleaness/uncleanness/holiness/sin has little to do with what you do or say or don’t do or don’t
say......cleanness/uncleanness/holiness/sin has much to do with what is
motivating the desires of the heart that cause us to act the way we do.
And, as you’ve heard me teach so often before, there are 7 motivations
that give rise to every sin you and I have ever confessed: pride, anger, envy,
lust, laziness, gluttony, greed.
As long as you and I continue dealing
with our actions rather than what motivates the action, we get nowhere in our
journey to holiness and Christian perfection.
Leaving
that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman
from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on
me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
And then Jesus withdraws, but as
Matthew tells the story, the teaching about clean and unclean continues as
Jesus and the disciples go to Gentile territory and have an unclean woman
(according to the Law, Jews were to have no contact with
Canaanites)......they have this unclean woman nagging, nagging and nagging:
“Have
mercy on me......my daughter is suffering terribly.”
One would expect Jesus to
respond......but......she’s a Canaanite....will He....won't He? He has previously responded to a Samaritan woman, but Samaritans are half
Jew......here we have a Canaanite. How will He respond?
Jesus
did not answer a word.
Jesus says nothing.
So
his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying
out after us.”
So the disciples get involved.
He
answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
“I’ve actually only come for the Jews
and the occasional half-Jew......the disciples and the church are going to take
this into all the world. My time is
little and it’s being taken up by having to convince unclean Jews that they
need to become clean. When they’ve
become clean, they’ll go out to the unclean world.”
The
woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
“Please help me......I can’t wait, my
daughter can’t wait.”
He
replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the
dogs.”
“Woman, what little I’ve got I’ve got
to give to the Jews.”
“Yes
it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their
master’s table.”
Friends, I hope you’re learning from
this that you must never stop
pleading with Jesus......but learn from this lady who you and I really are:
This unclean on the inside Canaanite knows/acknowledges her uncleanness – her
doggedness, and thereby opens herself up to grace.
The clean on the outside religious
hypocrites of Jesus’ day refuse to acknowledge the filth, the doggedness on the
inside; they take offense at the one who points it out to them; and they shut
themselves off from grace.
Then
Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And
her daughter was healed at that moment.
This grace on Jesus' part can be summed up in one
word......LOVE.
Let me conclude.
Think very carefully and answer deep
within yourself. Is there in your heart:
Pride, Anger, Envy, Laziness, Lust, Gluttony, Greed.
Are you clean or unclean?
“Lord have mercy and change my heart,
O God.”
Is there anyone that you look down on,
despise, a person or a group whose actions you find abominable?
Is there someone you are currently staying
away from?
In the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit, claiming the authority that was conferred upon me by the
laying on of hands at my ordination......I......ask, beg, implore, suggest,
command you to go from here in the power of the Holy Spirit and demonstrate
love in a tangible way to that person as Christ demonstrated love to the
“unclean” Canaanite woman.
