Matthew 15:1-20

Jesus was asked by the Pharisees why His disciples didn't wash their hands before eating. (It should be noted that the washing they were referring to is not in the Old Testament law, but was part of what they called "the tradition of the elders" - the oral law passed down from generation to generation.) Jesus answered their accusation by exposing the flaws in their traditions. Their traditions allowed people to ignore the duty of caring for their parents by dedicating that which could help their parents to the temple. Then to the parent in need, the child only needed to say, "I gave what you need to God, so it is not lawful to give it to you." Thus, in trying to be super-holy by giving to God, they neglected God's commandment to honor father and mother.

God doesn't want our sacrifices and offerings if they come at the expense of disobeying His other commandments. We can't please God if we hurt or neglect someone in order to do so. Don't lose sight of the fact that when we help others out of kindness and love for them, we are honoring God as well. When we make up our own rules for how to please God, we invariably run afoul of problems such as this. God has already laid out His perfect will for us. Whatever we add is prone to human error as we do not see the way God does. Each of us should examine the things in our lives that we do in order to please God, test them in light of scripture, and ensure that we have not added our own arbitrary, made-up rules on top of it.


Jesus had harsh criticism for the Pharisees to top it all off. He called them hypocrites who honor God with what they say, but not their hearts. Their worship was in vain and they were teaching man-made rules as true religion. To make His point more clear, Jesus said it's not what goes into the mouth that makes one unclean, but what comes out of it. That is, the disciples eating with unwashed hands did not make them unclean, but the lack of honor towards parents (at least tolerated, at most encouraged) by the Pharisees showed that they were not in right standing with God. As always, Jesus taught that God is concerned with the inside. What comes out of the mouth starts in the heart and that is more important to God than what goes into our mouths.

This angered the Pharisees, but when the disciples brought it up with Jesus, He compared the Pharisees to unwanted plants which will be uprooted. This shows that they will be judged and held accountable one day. He also compared them to the blind leading the blind. They were leading others in ways they did not understand themselves. Therefore they should not be listened to in matters of faith. Why should we care what everyone else thinks of us? Our only goal is to please God. If we worry about what this person or that thinks of what we're doing, we can be distracted from what God thinks of what we're doing. Don't actively seek to offend others, but if they are offended by things that honor God or things that are just irrelevant, there's nothing you can do.