Rotten From Within

Matthew 15:10–19 “And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”

Commentaries

Context: Jesus’ reputation of His mighty acts and teaching had spread throughout the land, so much so that officials in Jerusalem were aware of all Jesus were, so they send people to question Jesus and in doing so a confrontation broke out. The religious leaders accused Jesus disciples of not caring about Jewish tradition, where as Jesus turns it on them by saying that they didn't care about God’s commands that were even punishable by death. Their religion had become purely a matter of action and man-made rules, while their hearts were far from God.

Jesus then would turned and warn the crowd against the religious leader’s teachings. He said a man is not defiled by what goes into his mouth, but rather his defiled condition is evidenced by what comes out of his mouth.

The Pharisees were wrong in thinking their washings kept them spiritual clean.

The disciples told Jesus how the Pharisees were offended by what He had just said, seeing that His words were directed against them. Jesus, then takes it an extra step, and added that since the Pharisees had not been planted by His heavenly Father, they were headed for uprooting (judgment).

Jesus said to leave them alone, for the had chosen their path and nothing would deter them. They were blind guides, trying to lead blind people; they would fall into a pit.

So Peter, as for more clarity, so Jesus explains what this parable meant. Defilement on a person does not come from outside. What comes from the outside is simply passed through the digestive system and is eventually eliminated. But what comes out of the mouth represents what is actually inside one’s heart, and these may make him (or show him to be) unclean. Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander, these kind of things rise from within the one’s evil heart. These matters no whether one eat food with unwashed hands, reveal spiritual uncleanness.

Points

Introduction

Our biggest issue isn’t just what we do… it’s what’s in us.

The rotten potato in the van. She keeps her cars pretty clean. but we couldn’t figure out why it smell so bad. We thought it was a dead animal.

4. Warning about the religious leaders: “If it is not from God, it’s not going to last.” “

Matthew–Luke Comment

This had to be startling to Jesus’ first hearers, since Mosaic law says it is possible to be defiled by touching an unclean person or eating unclean food (

In Matthew 15:1–9, the Pharisees confront Jesus because His disciples don’t follow their tradition of ceremonial handwashing. They see this as disrespecting religious customs.

Jesus responds by turning the accusation back on them. He shows that they prioritize their man-made traditions over God’s actual commands—specifically exposing how they use religious excuses to avoid honoring their parents.

Then Jesus calls them out for their hypocrisy, quoting Isaiah: they honor God with their words, but their hearts are far from Him. Their worship, He says, is empty because it’s based on human rules rather than God’s truth.

In short: The Pharisees focus on external religion, but Jesus exposes that God cares about the heart—and theirs was rotten because it was not truly devoted to Him.

Jesus compares them to bad plants and blind guides:

“If they are not from God, then it will not last” - bad plant

“The desperate leading the desperate” - Blind guide

Peter and the disciples still didn’t get it, so they ask for clarification.

It is out of the wickedness of our heart that comes evil thought, and from there comes everything else

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Romans 3:10–12 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.””

“You ever snap at someone and immediately think, ‘That’s not me… I don’t know where that came from’?”

“Jesus would say—it came from somewhere. It came from within.”

“That didn’t come out of nowhere—it came out of your heart.”

“You ever make a decision youwasn’t right—and did it anyway?” knew 

“You didn’t need more information… something in you overrode what you knew.”

“You ever say, ‘I’m done with this… I’m not going back to that again’—and then find yourself right back in it?”

“Different week, same struggle.”

Ephesians 2:1–5 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”