Matthew 15:1-20
Jesus Teaches about Inner Purity
"Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him,2 “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”3 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 4 For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[a] and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ 6 In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents.[c] And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.9 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’[d]”10 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. 11 It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?”13 Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, 14 so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”15 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.”16 “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. 17 “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. 18 But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20 These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”
- Jesus' main point here is that it isn't what we do or don't do that makes us impure. It is the state of our heart. Impure, sinful actions are the outward sign of a heart that isn't in tune with God.
- I believe that God is really less concerned with whether or not your actions are pure and more concerned with whether or not your heart belongs completely to Him.
- When we are genuinely making our relationship with God a priority, our heart will begin to be in tune with His will, and our actions will be an outward expression of His work within us.
If you are struggling with impure actions/thoughts, evaluate the state of your heart. Have you surrendered your heart to God? Are you spending time in His presence daily? Are you allowing Him to change you and make you more like Him? If not, spend some time in prayer and let Jesus speak to you about what things in your heart He might need to change or rearrange.
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