THEN SOME PHARISEES and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 5But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ 6he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ ”
10Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ ”
12Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
15Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ ”
21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”
23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
27“Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
29Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
32Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
33His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”
34“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”
35He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. 37They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children. 39After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.
Original Meaning
MANY PHARISEES AND teachers of the law were so focused on external acts of purity that they regulated even the most mundane activities of their life in order to develop purity before God. But Jesus makes explicit what he has implied throughout his teaching, that true purity comes from a heart that has been made righteous by God (cf. 5:20).
The Traditions of the Jewish Elders (15:1–9)
THE CHARGE AGAINST Jesus’ disciples (15:1–2). The ministry of Jesus has disturbed the local Pharisees (12:1–14), so they apparently send word to the highest level of their leadership in Jerusalem, who arrive in Galilee to confront Jesus about the practices of his disciples.1 The primary point of contention is that Jesus does not recognize the binding authority of the oral law, here called the “tradition [paradosis] of the elders.” This phrase became a technical expression to refer to interpretations of Scripture made by past esteemed rabbis and passed on orally to later generations. This is connected later with the Mishnah’s halakah, which sets forth laws to guide the faithful in their walking, and living, in consistency with Scripture.2 According to Jewish tradition, “Moses received the [Oral] Law from Sinai and committed it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the Prophets; and the Prophets committed it to the men of the Great Synagogue [supposedly a leadership group begun by Ezra]” (m. ʾAbot 1.1).
The earlier charge of the Pharisees against Jesus’ disciples was that they defiled the Sabbath (12:1–7). Now the Pharisees and teachers of the law from Jerusalem lodge a charge against the disciples that “they don’t wash their hands before they eat.” Bodily cleanliness was valued highly in the ancient world. The heat and dust made frequent washing necessary for both health and refreshment. Within ancient Israel, a host provided travelers with water for their feet so that they could be refreshed and cleansed from their journey and be ready for a meal (Gen. 18:4; 19:2; 1 Sam. 25:41; cf. John 13:1–10). The hands were a particular concern for cleanliness, as something unclean could be transmitted to oneself and others, so the priests were required to wash their hands and feet prior to offering their service (Ex. 30:18–21). The Pharisees adapted the concern for hygienic cleanliness to ceremonial purity and applied it to common Israelites.
Jesus’ countercharge (15:3–9). Jesus counters the Pharisees’ charge against his disciples by asking why they and teachers of the law transgress God’s command because of a commitment to their “tradition” (15:3). In this question he goes to the heart of the problem, which is the relationship of the developing oral law to the written law. The tradition of the elders was not simply a preferred way of living, but it became equal in authority to the written law. Jesus makes it clear to them that the Old Testament came from God, while their traditions are simply the pronouncements of human elders.
The specific example concerns the way that the Pharisees’ tradition regarding vows made to God have actually caused them to violate the Old Testament’s directives about honoring parents. God made it clear that the Israelites were to give unreserved honor to their parents: “For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ ” But the Pharisees’ commitment to human traditions regarding gifts given to God caused them to violate God’s law: “But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God’ he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it.”
The expression “gift devoted to God” reflects the Hebrew term qorban (cf. “Corban” in Mark 7:11), a technical term designating a formal vow made to God, which is here a gift for the support of the temple. The Pharisees developed a complicated series of rulings regarding vows and oaths. For example, a person could make a vow of dedication, which rendered a thing forbidden in the future for common use (as in 15:5). Such a formal vow allowed a person to be exempt from one’s other responsibilities, such as the support of one’s aging parents here.
Jesus drives home the point that their tradition has caused them to violate the law, so that they “nullify the word of God” in their zeal to practice a human tradition (15:7). The Pharisees, like most Jews, demanded honor of father and mother. They would have rightly considered honoring parents to include supporting them in their old age. But as Jesus sees it, their human traditions of allowing vows was actually supplanting Scripture. They have considered anyone who broke a vow (i.e., a human law) in order to help one’s needy parents (i.e., God’s law) to have committed a serious sin. Jesus, therefore, lays down the gauntlet: The written word of God is of higher authority than the tradition of humans, and when humans make their traditions legally binding, they make the Word of God empty of true authority.
Earlier Jesus condemned as “hypocrites” the religious leaders who performed acts of righteousness for the purpose of being honored by people (6:1–18). There he explicitly addresses them as “You hypocrites!” (15:7). He goes on to use the similar situation from Isaiah’s experience to condemn the Pharisees’ motivation in developing their traditions. Isaiah had condemned religious leaders from Jerusalem who formalistically developed rituals and teachings as though that deserved merit from God. That prophetic word of God stands as a judgment against all generations of God’s people. The Pharisees and teachers of the law perform religious rituals externally, but their primary motivation has not been to commit their entire inner person to God. Therefore, not only does their human tradition and teaching nullify God’s Word (15:6, 9), but their worship is empty of any real meaning (15:9). This is a disturbingly sweeping indictment by Jesus of Israel’s leading religious establishment.
Purity and Impurity from the Heart (15:10–20)
A WARNING TO the crowd (15:10–11). Since the Pharisees and teachers of the law are so influential among the common people, Jesus turns to the crowd to warn them of falling into the same trap. The warning also answers the charge of these Jewish leaders by declaring the source of purity and impurity. In 15:15, the disciples call this warning a parable, which is in line with the stated purpose of Jesus’ parables earlier (13:10–17). They will test the spiritual receptivity of the audience, calling them to respond further to his teaching so that they can understand God’s will. Those in the crowd who are unreceptive will turn away from this saying to follow the Pharisees and teachers of the law, while those who are receptive will respond by becoming his disciples and seeking further understanding through his teaching (15:15–20).
Jesus states categorically that spiritual impurity is not contracted through eating foods that are not ceremonially cleansed: “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean.’ ” He thereby renounces publicly the Pharisees’ tradition that required ritual cleansing before eating. He is not speaking of hygienic cleanliness but of spiritual purity. Ceremonial cleansing is not the key element in producing godliness. A hypocritical show of devotion to God can mask a heart that is more intent on gaining a religious reputation than it is on seeking to do God’s will as revealed in the Old Testament (cf. 6:1–18).
In challenging Jesus about conformity to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees reveal that their inner life is unclean. They have not repented in the light of the arrival of the kingdom of heaven and received the righteousness that is Spirit-produced. They continue to rely on their own practice of external righteousness, which does not allow them entrance to the kingdom (see comments on 5:20). They have not only deceived themselves but have misled the people with their traditions, so Jesus gives due warning to the crowd.
A warning from the disciples (15:12–14). It was one thing for Jesus to rebuke the Pharisees privately, but when he publicly warns the crowd about their wrong-headed approach to spiritual purity, the Pharisees are personally “offended” (skandalizo) at having their reputation besmirched in front of the people. The disciples hear about it, and when they gather away with Jesus again in the house (probably Peter’s; cf. 8:14), they tell Jesus. They are probably worried not only about Jesus finding himself at odds with these religious leaders, but also with those who are influenced by them. And they are also probably worried about their own reputation. The Pharisees, in contrast to the Sadducees (see comments on 3:7), were increasingly influential in Israel as the authoritative interpreters of Scripture and the most righteous in their daily behavior.3 They rightly understand that Jesus has elevated himself as a critic of their entire religious tradition, which will undercut their influence with the people.
Jesus replies to the disciples’ warning with two parables. (1) He likens the fate of the Pharisees to that of a plant:“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.” Reminiscent of the parable of the weeds and the wheat, this saying declares that the Pharisees have not been planted by the Father. Jesus elevates his pronouncements about the true intent of the Old Testament over the Pharisees’ traditions and points to their future judgment, when they will be uprooted (cf. 13:29). As in the parable of the weeds, the implied consequence of uprooting is to be cast into the furnace of divine judgment (13:42).
(2) Jesus also likens the Pharisees to blind guides: “Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Not only does the hypocrisy of the Pharisees blind them to their own inner impurity, but in their blindness they lead the people astray because they cannot see the truth of God’s will in the Old Testament (cf. 23:16–22).
A question from Peter (15:15–16). As a spokesman for the disciples (see comments on 10:2; 14:28–31), Peter asks for the interpretation of the parables. That Peter is not asking alone is revealed in Mark, where the disciples as a whole ask this question (Mark 7:18; note that in Jesus’ reply in Matt. 15:16, he uses the plural “you”). Understanding Jesus’ parables and teaching is a key element of discipleship, because true disciples have spiritual ears to hear and spiritual eyes to see the truth of Jesus’ teaching, something the crowd does not have (cf. 13:10–17, 51). But Jesus rebukes the disciples here for not being as spiritually perceptive as they should. As elsewhere, the real key to understanding is Jesus’ teaching, so he goes on to give an explanation of the parable.
Jesus’ explanation of the role of the heart in spiritual purity (15:17–20). In his explanation, Jesus outlines to the disciples the central role that the heart plays in spiritual purity. Food that goes into the mouth does not affect the spiritual heart; it simply goes through the digestive system and is excreted (15:17). Food or ceremonial purification rites attendant to eating food do not affect a person’s inner purity. Jesus thus renders superfluous the Pharisaic fastidious and obsessive preoccupation with dietary purity laws—especially here the washing of hands. These traditions of the elders have nothing to do with true spiritual cleanness, because they only focus on the external physical activities. They do not make a person unclean before God. God’s judgment concerns behavior that originates in the heart of a person.
The implication is that the spiritual heart is naturally evil (cf. 7:11) and needs the righteousness that Jesus has initiated with the arrival of the kingdom of God. The Pharisees’ charge about violating traditions regarding ritual purification before eating (15:2) lead to the general statements Jesus makes about all human activities, namely, that inward, spiritual defilement is more deadly than outward, ceremonial defilement. The spiritual heart is evil, and it must first be cleansed, which will then produce lives that exemplify righteous purity in word, thought, motivation, deed, and relationships.
This is an explicit statement about the heart that was implied in Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament revelation about God’s will for his people and to bring about the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven in those who respond to his message. That righteousness is an inside-out transformation that begins with the heart and works throughout the process of the disciple’s life to produce external righteousness while pursuing the perfection of the Father (cf. 5:17–48).
Healer and Provider for Gentiles (15:21–39)
JESUS WITHDRAWS TO Gentile regions (15:21). Jesus may have stayed for some time in the Jewish region of Gennesaret on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee (14:34), but he now explicitly withdraws to Gentile territory, to the infamous cities of Tyre and Sidon (on these cities, see comments on 11:20–24). The Jews of Galilee have been privileged to hear and see Jesus’ message and miracles that authenticated his announcement of the arrival of the kingdom of heaven (4:12–17), but their lack of repentance condemns them (11:20–24). Rejection of Jesus by his hometown people of Nazareth (13:53–58), the arrest and execution of John the Baptist, and his own threatened public peril from Herod Antipas (14:1–2) combine to signal the end of the Galilean ministry, so Jesus “withdraws” (see comments on 4:17; 14:13). He and his disciples proceed to Gentile regions before heading to Judea and the final destination, Jerusalem.
A Gentile woman acknowledges Jesus as the Son of David (15:22–28). His first encounter in this Gentile region is with a Canaanite woman. She comes to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” This woman, a “Canaanite” (i.e., a pagan non-Jew) demonstrates familiarity with Jewish messianic tradition by calling Jesus “Son of David” (see comments on 1:1; 9:27), and she pleads for his merciful, miraculous ministry of exorcism for her daughter. A temple dedicated to Eshmun, a god of healing, was located three miles northwest of Sidon.4 This woman was likely familiar with the pagan deity, but Jesus’ reputation has preceded him, and she comes instead to Jesus for healing for her daughter. Her use of “Lord” three times (15:22, 25, 27) is probably a title of great respect, but she is saying more than she realizes.
Jesus does not reply to the woman’s cry for help, which the disciples apparently take as his way of rebuffing the woman’s request. So they urge him to “send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” The disciples perhaps remember Jesus’ charge that included the directive about not going to Gentiles but only to the lost sheep of Israel (cf. 10:5–6). Indeed, in this Gentile region Jesus maintains his commitment to fulfill that mission for which he was sent as he says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (15:24). “Lost sheep of Israel” does not mean the lost sheep among Israel, as though some were lost and others not. The expression indicates the lost sheep who are the house of Israel. Jesus comes as the Suffering Servant to save all Israel. Jesus must first go to Israel in fulfillment of the promises made to the nation (cf. Isa. 53:6–8), so that the Gentiles themselves will glorify God for his promises made to his people (cf. Rom. 15:8–9).
But this woman’s great need to have her daughter exorcised drives her to be persistent, which is a sign that she knows that Jesus certainly can come to her aid. She kneels in humble obeisance before Jesus and calls him “Lord” a second time as she seeks his help (15:25). But Jesus still maintains his commitment to his mission to Israel as he replies, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” The “children’s bread” emphasizes the care that God promises to provide for his covenant children, Israel (see Deut. 14:1–2; Hos. 11:1). As a metaphor, “dogs” is a humiliating label for those apart from, or enemies of, Israel’s covenant community (1 Sam. 17:43; Ps. 22:16; Prov. 26:11).5 Jesus used the metaphor similarly in the Sermon on the Mount to indicate that the holy message of the gospel of the kingdom must not be defiled by those who are unreceptive to, or have rejected, Jesus’ invitation (7:6).
The woman continues the metaphor but uses it to emphasize that dogs too had a caring relationship with “their master.” Most dogs at this time were nondomesticated, living in squalor, running the streets, and scavenging for food (Ps. 59:14–15). Some dogs were trained for guarding flocks (Job 30:1) and humans (Isa. 56:10; Tobit 6:2; 11:4), but they were not normally brought into the home. However, some were more domesticated as household watchdogs, and they were fed in the house (cf. Jos. Asen. 10:13). This perceptive woman, who has already confessed Jesus as the messianic Son of David, now presses Jesus by calling on the extended blessings promised to the Gentiles. Although Israel receives the primary blessings of the covenant, Gentiles also were to be recipients of blessing through them (see Gen. 12:3; see comments on Matt. 1:1; 8:5–13).6 The woman draws on that promise to seek the aid of Jesus Messiah.
She understands the program of God to go to Israel first, but she persists. In a sense, Jesus is testing her. Will she see through the salvation-historical distinction between Israel and the Gentiles and recognize that God ultimately desires to bring healing to all people? She passes with flying colors because she acknowledges that as the Messiah of Israel, Jesus is the master of all, and he will care for the needs of all, whether Jews (“children”) or Gentiles (“dogs”). Her response is called by Jesus an exercise of “great faith,” which is rewarded by having her daughter healed that very hour (15:28).
Even though God has a program, he responds to true faith.7 The privileged people of Nazareth did not respond in faith and so could not receive Jesus’ healing ministry (13:58). But this Gentile woman has an openness to Jesus that allows his healing ministry to operate. Here we understand that faith is essentially accepting the revelation and will of God as one’s own reality and purpose for life. The “greatness” of faith points to the fact that such an unlikely person—a Gentile woman living outside of Israel—demonstrates one of the clearest understandings of God’s salvation-historical program and Jesus’ participation in it. This is another incident where exorcism is called “healing” (cf. 12:22–23) and is a continuation of the confirmation of Jesus’ messianic ministry. By healing this Gentile woman’s daughter, Jesus demonstrates that he also has an eye on the ultimate ingathering of all peoples (8:5–13).8
Many Gentiles glorify the God of Israel (15:29–31). Jesus returns to the Galilee region, but Mark specifies that he goes to the Decapolis (Mark 7:31), the primarily Gentile region on the southeastern coast of the Sea of Galilee. Here Jesus performs many miracles among the crowds, thus authenticating his message that the kingdom of God has arrived. When juxtaposed with the preceding story that emphasized the salvation-historical priority of Israel first and then the Gentiles, the dropping of “crumbs” to the Gentile mother and daughter prepares for a turning to the Gentiles in general with the miraculous feeding of the four thousand.
Gentiles increasingly become the focus of Jesus’ ministry now that the religious leadership is working to turn the people away from him.9 As Israel rejects the kingdom, Gentiles frequently come into view as recipients of his message and healing. Like the crowd in Israel, they are amazed when they see his miraculous ministry, and they “glorify the God of Israel” (15:31; cf. 9:33). But like Israel’s crowd, it is not enough to be amazed. They must believe on him as the Messiah of Israel and become his disciples.
Feeding the four thousand (15:32–38). This is the second time that Jesus feeds a crowd of thousands miraculously after spending time healing those brought to him, although this time he is in the Gentile region of Decapolis.10 As in the earlier feeding, Jesus has compassion on the crowd that has gathered to receive his healing ministry. They have been with him for three days (15:32), and their reserves of resources and their strength are exhausted, and they will not be able to get to adequate supplies before they collapse (15:32). Jesus addresses the disciples with the needs of the crowd, challenging them to recall the earlier miraculous supply of the five thousand. But the disciples still have not fully grasped the magnitude of Jesus’ identity, because they question where they will find supplies to feed such a massive group. Once again Jesus will teach them with a miraculous illustration.
In this feeding the number of small bread cakes is seven, and there are seven baskets left over. If the number of twelve baskets left over in the feeding of the five thousand is symbolic of Israel, as most suppose, then the number seven here, which is normally symbolic of perfection or completion, may symbolize the completion or fullness of God’s meeting the needs of all peoples, now including Gentiles.11 As in the feeding of the five thousand, Matthew alone specifies that the four thousand that are fed are men, besides women and children. Again, this indicates a number most likely close to ten thousand.
A brief return to Jewish territory (15:39). The miraculous feeding concluded, Jesus sends the crowd away. He once again traverses the Sea of Galilee by boat, which means he now returns to Jewish territory. The name “Magadan” occurs only here in the New Testament (Mark 8:10 has Dalmanutha). The identity of the town or region is puzzling, because there are no historical or archaeological records to confirm the identity. The most promising proposal is that Magadan is a variant spelling for Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalene (27:55; cf. Luke 8:2).12
Magdala is generally identified with Migdal Nunya (“Tower of Fish”) of Talmudic times, about three miles north of Tiberias on the Gennesaret plain.13 The name suggests that this town was the center of Galilee’s fish-processing industry, making it one of the most important fishing centers on the Sea of Galilee and the administrative seat of the surrounding region.14 Archaeologists uncovered in Magdala, in the ruins of a first century A.D. home, a decorative mosaic depicting a boat with a mast for sailing and oars for rowing.15
Bridging Contexts
IN THIS GEM of a chapter that marks a transition away from the Galilean ministry of Jesus, Matthew highlights explicitly three themes that characterize Jesus’ inauguration of the kingdom of God and his form of discipleship—the supremacy of the Word of God, the centrality of the heart, and the necessity of faith for all people. These themes have been surfacing implicitly, but now they arise explicitly as the confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders heats up. Jesus’ way of kingdom life for his disciples demands a departure from the ways of human religious efforts. Matthew shows how the hardening of the hearts of the people of Israel against Jesus and their preference for traditional religious practices result in his increasingly turning away from them and preparing for a door to be opened to all peoples who have true faith in him.
The supremacy of the Word of God. The confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders from Jerusalem highlights one of the most significant dividing lines between them—the supremacy of the Word of God over any other authority. Matthew assumes his audience is familiar with the traditions of the Pharisees.16 The Pharisees and teachers of the law came from a long history of teachers and interpreters who attempted to make the Old Testament practical and relevant for contemporary life. While the Jews were in captivity after the temple had been destroyed, the Old Testament prescriptions for sacrifice and offerings for sin seemed irrelevant. So teachings and interpretations were developed that applied those prescriptions to daily life in such a way that the Jewish interpreters believed that they had fulfilled God’s desire for purity. Rabbis debated which interpretation was authoritative until consensus was reached.17
Jesus saw this authoritative position of the traditions of the elders developing and confronted the Pharisees and teachers of the law about its conflict with the written Word of God. Some of their traditions were in conflict with the Old Testament commands, but they must now intentionally abandon such traditions. Tragically, however, their traditions had become so entrenched in their authoritative pronouncements about how to achieve right standing with God that they were blind to the conflict, and they hardened themselves against the truth of God’s Word. But Jesus’ pronouncement is clear: The Word of God alone is the supreme statement of truth about every realm of reality, whether it is religious, social, relational, ethical, political, or whatever. Every human tradition or teaching or interpretation or reasoning must bow before the written Word of God.
But Jesus is not saying that all the Pharisees were necessarily practicing their traditions or worshiping with evil ulterior motives.18 Many Pharisees made their vows in good faith, not intentionally avoiding the obligation to parents but also not realizing that their vow would eventually put them at odds with honoring their parents. But their zeal for observance of their traditions supplanted true commitment from the heart to God’s intention in the Old Testament. As they take issue with Jesus and his disciples over one of their purity laws, their actions reveal hearts that are becoming hardened against God’s purposes.
Some who heard Jesus’ declaration recognized the conflict. Pharisees like Nicodemus saw that Jesus held the true understanding of the Old Testament and became his disciples (John 3:1–9; 7:50–51; 19:38–39). Later Saul, a prominent member of the Pharisees, when confronted with the risen Christ, was dramatically converted and recognized that the traditions of humans must all yield before the gospel of Jesus Christ (cf. Gal. 1:13–16). As the apostle Paul, he warns, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Col. 2:8).
This is not to assume that all tradition is wrong per se. Paul uses the same term “tradition” (paradosis) to refer to the gospel truths he passed on to the churches (1 Cor. 11:2; 2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6), and the related verb (paradidomi) to refer to the fundamental truths of the cross and resurrection that he had received and passed on to the church (1 Cor. 15:1). Tradition is also a helpful way of passing on the teaching of earlier generations so that each new generation is not required to reinvent the proverbial wheel of doctrinal truth. The essential difference between these forms of tradition and those developed within Judaism rests on the fact of Jesus’ incarnation. Jesus is the revelation of God embodied, and Paul declares, therefore, that the traditions he received and passed on to the church have derived from God himself through the revelation of Jesus Messiah. That is a crucial dissimilarity.
The determining feature is the supremacy of the Word of God as declared in the Old Testament, fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry, and revealed through his apostolic messengers. For example, Jesus’ reiteration of God’s truth concerning the family in this confrontation with the Pharisees should be compared with the opposite reversal of priorities that he addresses elsewhere. The traditional obligation to family was so highly valued among the Jews that Jesus challenged his disciples and would-be disciples to be careful that duty to parents does not supplant following him and honoring him as their Master (cf. 8:21–22; 10:34–39; cf. Luke 14:26). The role of the biological family as a primary training ground of faith is reemphasized, but Jesus’ clarification of the Father’s will creates a complementary spiritual family, which must not be supplanted by one’s biological family (see comments on 12:46–50).
Jesus’ main emphasis is that all traditions must yield to the supremacy of God’s Word. When tradition takes priority over or supplants God’s written Word, tradition is faulty.
The centrality of the heart. Jesus has repeatedly contrasted the external and internal in his teachings about the role of the heart in a person’s life. The pure in heart will see God (5:8), but the hypocritical self-righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law will not be rewarded by God (cf. 5:20; 6:1–18). Purity of heart and righteousness that surpass the Jewish leaders comes through yielding to Jesus’ call to repent and enter the kingdom of heaven (see comments on 5:20). The righteousness of kingdom life is found in obedience from the heart to Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (cf. 5:17, 28; cf. 5:21–48). One’s external treasure reveals the priorities and values of one’s inner heart (6:21).
External weariness and the burdens of religious legalistic activity can never produce the rest for one’s soul that is found in being yoked to the gentleness and meekness of Jesus’ heart (11:28–30). The words one utters are the external evidence of either a good or evil inner heart (12:34–35). Ultimately, the seed of the Word of God planted in one’s heart will reveal externally whether one has received Jesus’ message of the kingdom or has hardened his or her heart against it (13:10–23).
In Jesus’ compelling rebuke of the Pharisees for elevating their traditions over the Word of God in their pursuit of religious cleanliness, he articulates the central problem—their heart. The wickedness of the natural heart was well known. The prophet Jeremiah stated forthrightly, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). A desire for a new heart should be the aspiration of the wicked (Ezek. 18:31). The Pharisees know that this is God’s desire, but they focused on the wrong order. God’s law will someday be written on the heart (Jer. 31:33), but the Pharisees focus on external laws of ceremonial purification rites in order to purify their hearts. Thus, Jesus declares that attending to the wicked heart must be understood as the priority, not external observations, because it is out of the heart that all evil thoughts, actions, and words proceed (Matt. 15:18–19).
This becomes the distinguishing mark of discipleship to Jesus. With the institution of the new covenant in his blood (26:26–29), Jesus brings the new heart for which Israel and all humanity long. This inward transformation will be empowered by God’s Spirit, not human law, and will produce genuine obedience from the heart, not hypocritical legalism, as Ezekiel prophesied: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezek. 36:26–27).
It now remains for Jesus and the new community of faith to articulate how this inside-out transformation from the heart to the entire person is carried out. A couple of hints are given in the succeeding narratives, where Jesus declares that forgiveness of other believers stems from the heart (18:35), and love for God and neighbor begins with love from the heart (22:37–40). This is a rich portend of what discipleship to Jesus is to be like in the community of believers.
The necessity of faith for all people. In this chapter, Matthew emphasizes that true faith in Jesus as the messianic inaugurator of the kingdom of God is a requisite for all people, whatever their race, nationality, or gender. The people of Jewish Galilee, privileged to be the first to hear and receive Jesus’ invitation to the kingdom, have had their opportunity, but the verdict is clear. Like Jesus’ own hometown of Nazareth, they have hardened their heart against his message.
By contrast, the disciples will continue to be characterized as having faith, though it is in process of development. At times their faith is effective, at other times not. Peter was rewarded for his faith in Jesus’ true identity by being called to walk on the stormy seas, but his “little” or ineffective faith caused him to sink (14:27–31). The disciples’ faith caused them to worship Jesus when he calmed the seas (14:32–33), but their faith in him did not fully extend to understanding his ability to provide for the needs of the people. They have not learned their lesson about his ability to feed the five thousand, because they soon question Jesus about where they will get the resources to feed the four thousand (cf. 14:15–21; 15:33).
The Canaanite woman, however, is a person of “great faith,” which allows Jesus to reward her with her request of healing for her daughter (15:28). Great faith does not imply a large quantity but rather an immovable steadfastness in trusting God’s Word and will against all odds and circumstances. This persistent Gentile mother’s faith indicates that in spite of the odds against finding a person who clearly understands God’s Word and his will for humanity in a pagan territory, she is such a person in her steadfast resolution to find healing for her daughter in Jesus. Her openness to his true identity and mission allows his healing ministry to operate. She accepts God’s revelation and will as her reality and purpose for life, which is the central defining element of faith. Matthew highlights the necessity of true faith in such an unlikely person and place, which offers hope to men and women of every generation. Jesus’ compassionate care is available to all who take his Word and will as their reality and purpose for life.
Contemporary Significance
THE THREE AREAS described in the Bridging Contexts section have challenged us to have no other tradition or authority supplant the Word of God, to understand that the workings of God in the transformation of lives begin with the heart and proceed outward, and to realize that faith is the conduit through which God brings his saving and healing touch into our lives. In the Reformation these three clarion calls were articulated in the central tenets of the solas: sola scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fidei. Scripture alone is the authority for people, not the church and its councils. Salvation is a work of God in a person’s heart that is by grace alone. We receive this salvation by faith alone, not by works, the church, or sacraments.
The ultimate authority of the Word of God. Throughout the centuries men and women have attempted to discover God’s will for their lives. That search is conducted on the personal and the community level. The search must finally be answered in the daily role of the Scriptures as the ultimate authority in our lives.
Some today, however, attempt to discover God’s will through human spiritual experiences. Scripture is important to them, but often human knowledge or reason or experience is their final judge. Those who reject the full inspiration of Scripture often adjudicate seemingly contradictory passages in Scripture by what they can reconcile with their own understanding.
Others who contend for a high view of divine inspiration of Scripture reject teachings that seemingly reflect old cultural values that are not relevant in our contemporary world. An inflammatory example among some groups is the practice of homosexuality. In many places within Western culture, homosexual activity is accepted, condoned, and protected. Some mainline denominations have groups within them that declare homosexuality to be an acceptable lifestyle for ordained ministers.19 Proponents of such causes often contend that their reasoning and experience have forced them to deny the Bible’s teaching. In this case human reasoning and experience becomes more authoritative than the Bible itself.
Still others attempt to articulate God’s will through various ecclesiastical traditions. The struggles of the Reformation centered on this issue, where the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church was elevated to an equal level of revelation. Recently the Catechism of the Catholic Church, initiated by Pope John Paul II, reaffirmed that the divine revelation of the gospel is transmitted in two forms: sacred Scripture and the teaching tradition of the church.20 An elevation of the authority of tradition is also found in the Orthodox Church, where the doctrinal definitions of the historic ecumenical councils of the church are considered infallible and are placed alongside Scripture as having equal authority.21
Jesus’ confrontations with the religious leaders of his day, especially the political rationalism of the Sadducees and the religious authoritarianism of the Pharisees, give us the right guidance to understanding God’s will in our own day. The Word of God as revealed in Scripture must be understood as the sole authority that contains all that is necessary for salvation and the spiritual life. That Word must be elevated above any human tradition (15:2–9). It is in God’s Word that we have the clearest understanding of God’s will for our daily lives and the life of our communities of faith. Teachers, preachers, and doctrinal formulations are helpful guides to individuals and churches, but Scripture must continually be upheld as the final authority.22
In a practical way, we can accomplish this as we compare the words of the world with the Word of God and continually give ourselves to what God has to say about our daily choices and priorities and standards for life. This is precisely the directive of Jesus in the Great Commission, where new disciples must be taught to obey everything Jesus commanded as their means of growth (28:20). We must develop a habit of life in which we acquire and obey the teachings of the Word of God.
This is not simply an academic exercise, because when we interact with God’s Word, it is a spiritual activity. Note Hebrew 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” As we acquire the teachings of God about any subject, they alter our values, motives, and goals in life. We are set free from sinful habits to live out God’s will. Our entire person—physical, mental, emotional/social, spiritual—is then brought into conformity with the will and personality of God.
Martin Luther’s commitment to God’s Word not only was the driving force behind his commitment to the Reformation but was also the driving force in his own life transformation:
Since these promises of God are holy, true, righteous, free, and peaceful words, full of goodness, the soul which clings to them with a firm faith will be so closely united with them and altogether absorbed by them that it not only will share in all their power but will be saturated and intoxicated by them. If a touch of Christ healed, how much more will this most tender touch, this absorbing Word of God, communicate to the soul all things that belong to the Word.23
His description of the power and role of the Word of God in daily life are instructive for us who also await its tender touch.
Transformation from the heart. Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees for elevating human traditions over the Word of God brought to the light a precipitating problem—the evil of one’s heart cannot be cleansed by religious activity. Along with the Old Testament prophets, the Pharisees knew that the evil inclinations of the human heart were inherent in men and women living under the Fall, but their attempts to rectify the problem through religious ritual were futile.
While Jesus does not give the full prescription here, he prepares the way for his own later teaching and that of the apostles concerning the role of the Spirit in bringing about the regenerated heart of the new covenant (e.g., 26:27–29; John 13–16; Titus 3:4–7; 1 John 4:21). It is only through this activity that the heart that has been hardened against God can be transformed to function as our spiritual heart is intended to function. This is true in the first place in unbelievers, who need the regenerating work of God, but it is also true in believers as they experience the ongoing sanctifying work of God.
Spiritual hearts become hardened in two primary ways. (1) Hearts harden from the inside when we say no to what God wants from us. Put simply, our hearts harden when we sin. We are resistant to the Spirit, who is trying to convict us. While we live in a condition of saying no to God with our sin, we harden our hearts more and more.
(2) But hearts also harden against the outside when we try to protect ourselves from being hurt. Every person reading these words has been hurt by other people, and we often try to protect ourselves from being hurt again by hardening our heart against those who might bring pain into our lives. This kind of hardening of the heart can result in fearfulness, arrogance, or bitterness as means of protecting ourselves.
We must be starkly honest with ourselves because we can mask a hard heart. One primary way a hard heart can be masked is behind external acts of religion. There are many people in churches today with hard hearts. They regularly attend church and appear to be religious, but their hearts are hardened to God and to his people. A hard heart can also be masked behind glitzy performances, whether the performance is preaching or singing or praying. Religious heart diseases are often not seen by the one who has the disease, yet they eat away at the spiritual health of the person and are usually masked by religious activities that feed the disease instead of healing the person. As we noted above, Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for the religious figures of his day who hid a hard heart behind hypocrisy.
The only cure for spiritual heart disease is through the penetrating, transforming work of the kingdom of God in a person’s life. As we allow Jesus to unleash the power of the Spirit in our hearts, we will experience an inward transformation that will begin to influence our thoughts, our actions, our emotions, and our relationships.
Jesus does not dismiss the importance of obedience. However, right action as an end in itself without grounding it in a heart regenerated by the kingdom’s power of love loses the moral worth of the action. As John Piper adroitly asks, what would be the morally better action, and which would be appreciated more by a man’s wife—bringing her roses on their anniversary because it was his duty or because he delights in bringing her this little show of devotion?24 So it is with our life with God and our worship of him. As Piper contends,
If God’s reality is displayed to us in his Word or his world, and we do not then feel in our heart any grief or longing or hope or fear or awe or joy or gratitude or confidence, then we may dutifully sing and pray and recite and gesture as much as we like, but it will not be real worship. We cannot honor God if our “heart is far from him.”25
Religious obedience, whether demanded by first-century Pharisees or twenty-first century legalists, is only as worthy as is the impulse of the heart.
Great faith and ungrateful privilege. In this passage, it is initially shocking that Jesus seems ready to ignore the request of the woman simply because she is a non-Israelite, and some commentators have been scathing in their criticism of Jesus for his lack of ethnic sensitivity.26 But as noted above, Jesus does not demonstrate ethnic bigotry against Gentiles but salvation-historical privilege for Israel. His mission is initially to Israel, but eventually the whole world will be blessed through Israel. Jesus will develop this plan further, but we get a peek of the broader picture here that has as its scope the entire world (28:19) and all people groups (21:43).
While there is no real evidence that Jesus lifts his particularistic priority of Israel during his earthly ministry,27 we can see an initial hint of Jesus’ desire to reach beyond the ethnic borders of Israel to help the non-Israelite woman (cf. also the centurion’s son, 8:5). This shows his heart. In the same way that he had compassion on the harassed and helpless people of Israel, who were like sheep without a shepherd (9:36), he has compassion on a little girl and her mother, who are like dogs without a scrap of hope, and he responds. In either case, his response is to those who have opened eyes of faith to see and respond to him. The vast majority of those within Israel who are privileged to see and hear him first ultimately reject him. So this woman of great faith gives us due warning and instruction.
Privilege demands accountability, and faith in Jesus’ identity and mission brings the touch of the kingdom’s blessing. This blessing is not that of wealth—quite possibly the woman already had that—or even that of health, for the mother herself receives nothing, and her little daughter will eventually die physically. Rather, like the centurion, this Gentile woman of great faith is a foretaste of the promise of the eschatological feast of salvation that all those from every point of the compass will enjoy who respond to Jesus’ summons to the kingdom (8:10–12).
I live in great privilege, both materially and physically. I also have been blessed to grow up in a culture where the gospel has been freely proclaimed. But privilege can also be a hindrance to spiritual realities. The kingdom’s blessing turns upside-down many of our typical concepts of privilege. I have been remarkably touched by a different kind of advantage I have seen in men and women of great faith around the world. The sheer delight of poor church people in the slums outside Manila in the Philippines results from an understanding of their privilege to experience their newfound eternal life in Christ. The steadfast courage of a group of pastors from Muslim countries in central Asia results as they rejoice in their “gift” of being able to suffer for the name of Jesus. The unfathomable peace of patients in intensive care wards in hospitals around the world results from their recognition that they are loved by the One who holds the health of their souls in his tender hands.
This wonderful story of the persistent mother warns and instructs us that Jesus always responds to those who have the courage to come to him with their desperate need, because true privilege comes through openness to him in faith.