SC Sermon - 7.26.26 (Matthew 15:1-20)

Let me pray.

Last week I mentioned that we need to be led by the Spirit of God. He gives us light and understanding. How? By the unfolding of his Word? I mentioned that becoming flourishing, fruit bearing trees, growing in the likeness of the Christ is a slow process, and it is the result of a lot of quality time in God’s Word. The Spirit gave us this book as his chosen means to form his people. It was implied lat week, but I’ll say it plainly now. These realities inform my understanding of preaching. In the Bible the elders and preachers are said to be busy about the ministry of the Word. My goal in preaching is that you understand the Bible better, because this will help you see and savor the triune God of the Bible.

So let’s jump into Matthew 15 today.

SLIDE 1

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’

SLIDE 2

Our old friends, the Pharisees and Scribes are back on stage. But this isn’t the B-team from Capernaum, this is the A-team from the Holy City. But why? Why did the big wigs come all the way up from Jerusalem to speak with Jesus? It’s probably because at least some people are starting to see Jesus for who he really is, and that’s a big deal.

The Pharisees and Scribes are the uncontested, self-appointed shepherds of Israel, and all of a sudden they are starting to lose sheep on the northern edges of their pasture. They have come to see who it is stealing their sheep. They see a sheep-eating wolf come from the Devil (“He casts out demons by the prince of demons!”).

Now, we already know who it is. It’s the Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the long-awaited, everlasting King who has come to end the exile and gather up the scattered and confused families of the earth. He’s the Son of Man from Daniel’s dreams,

SLIDE 3

I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven     there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days     and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion     and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages     should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion,     which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one     that shall not be destroyed.

Jesus is a King with a kingdom, and that kingdom will be inhabited by citizens - peoples, nations, and languages that see and savour the Saving King. Who’s is stealing sheep from the Pharisees and Scribes? We know! It’s the God of the Exodus, he’s Yahweh in the flesh, who sits enthroned and speaks divine wisdom and instruction from the mountain top, who rescues his people in miraculous water crossings, who feeds thousands in the wilderness. He’s the storm silencer, the wave walker, the one with awe-inspiring authority over the physical and spiritual realm! Who is “stealing” their sheep? The Good Shepherd come to gather up the lost sheep of the house of Israel!

SLIDE 4 In Ezekiel 34:22-24 Yahweh says: I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one Shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am Yahweh; I have spoken.

Yahweh says, I will rescue my flock, but who is Yahweh rescuing his sheep from?

SLIDE 5

He says it right there in Ezekiel 34: 2-4: Thus says Yahweh God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

SLIDE 6

If you listen to David Suchet read Matthew’s gospel account on the Dwell Bible app it takes about 2.5 hours. He have been in Matthew’s account since January 4th. This is the 27th sermon in this series. Studying a text over the course of a long time means that we constantly need reminders and recaps, we need to remember what Matthew just said leading up to this moment. These bad shepherds popping up here in Matthew 15:1 are not new characters, we’ve seen them before. We know who they are. We know that they’re bad shepherds. And we already know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

SLIDE 7

Matthew 9 told us that when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

SLIDE 8

So here come the big shot shepherds strolling into backwater Galilee from Jerusalem. Here come the bad shepherds to question the Good Shepherd. If they could only see who it is they’re approaching. But they can’t see, they are not good soil, so they are not good shepherds. They are the weeds, and the disciples they complain about are the wheat. They are the wolves ravaging the people of God. They will be rooted out. They will be struck down. Do you see how these themes are developing? Do you see Jesus for who he truly is? Matthew, moved by the Spirit, has written a literary masterpiece so that you and I can see and savor the Master.

SLIDE 9

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?  The Pharisees and Scribes come with accusations, they come accusing (like their true father). “The traditions of the elders are not to be broken sir, and your disciples are breaking them! Why?”

How stupid does this sound in light of everything I’ve said so far? In Ezekiel Yahweh says that he will come to shepherd his lost sheep. He will cast aside the bad shepherds. When I read that in Ezekiel I don’t tend to think much about the bad shepherds not realizing what’s going on and talking back and accusing Yahweh of taking their sheep. But that’s exactly what happened.

The traditions of the elders are the commandments of Men, not God. Religious leaders tend to come up with rules and regulations for the people. Now this isn’t automatically bad. There are plenty of religious traditions that are good and beautiful. The colors of our candles are a long standing tradition in the Church, but you’ll not find them in the Scriptures. You’ll also not find a wholesale rejection of man-made tradition in our passage. That’s silly.

What is in view is two corruptions of traditions.

First, you hold the commandments of men on par with the Word of God. You don’t have green in your Church during Ordinary Time? You’re out! How dare you? You are a wolf! You use otherwise beautiful traditions as a mean of lording over and abusing others.

The second sort of corruption of tradition is a little more sinister than this first one. Men can create religious traditions that are themselves contrary to the Word of God. Green candles don’t contradict God’s word. Taken well, in their proper place they can compliment our service to God.

SLIDE 10

But, bowing down and venerating images sure seems to me to be a pretty direct violation of the Second Commandment. I love my Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters, but according to their traditions I’m under the curse of God for rejecting this practice. It’s a pretty big bummer. I personally am very ecumenically minded when it comes to the Body of Christ, but I am very grateful that as a Protestant I can choose God’s commands over Men’s commands.

SLIDE 11

“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”

Man, I wish I had this text on hand when I was growing up. “Mom, stop forcing your man-made traditions on me!”

Seriously, you need to know that this is actually not about hygiene, this is about defilement and purity. This is about maintaining a ritually pure status. Now, you may be thinking that that is not such a bad thing, but here’s the thing there is no commandment in the Bible about washing your hands when you eat. So where did this tradition of the elders come from? You need to know that the Pharisees wanted Israel to be hyper-holy. They wanted all the people to have a priestly purity. You see in the Torah the people of Israel had regulations for purity and defilement, but the priests who worked in the tabernacle (and later the Temple), in close proximity to God’s own holy presence were held to higher standards of purity. There are more regulations for them than the regular folks.

The Pharisees took it upon themselves to try to force those priestly regulations on everyone. Over time, extra purity-like regulations would be invented and everyone would be expected to hold to those laws like they were from God. You see the priest is supposed to wash his hands before he offers a sacrifice, and normal folks are supposed to wash themselves after certain acts or conditions, so somewhere along the line (after the Old Testament but before the New Testament, in those 400 years) these got conflated by the elders and put on the people.

But the particular tradition isn’t actually all that important, what is important is that these false shepherds are putting burdens on the backs of the people that were never meant to be there. And Jesus condemns it. Jesus doesn’t even give them the answer their question. He’s the one asking questions.

SLIDE 12

He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

Here Jesus is both establishing a hierarchy of authority between their tradition and God’s command (remember blurring the line between what God has commanded and what God has commanded is that first corruption of tradition) and he’s going straight to the second corruption which was creating traditions that contradicted God’s commands.

Jesus is Yahweh, he’s the Davidic King with everlasting dominion, he’s asking the questions, not these false shepherds.

To make his point he points out a corrupt man-made tradition.

SLIDE 13

For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’

Briefly, the command to honor your father and mother is a life long command. You obey them when you’re young, and you care for them when they are old. The Pharisees and the scribes had fashioned a way for you to get out from under the burden of caring for your elderly parents. This practice is a corruption and perversion of what is called corban. I will offer a gift to God (sounds pious and good) so that I don’t have to honor my father and mother (hmm, sounds wicked).

The Pharisees and Scribes are the piety police. They are in a position of authority over the people, but they use that position to burden the people and to glorify themselves. Here they are asking Jesus about his disciples breaking their stupid hand washing law that they made up while Jesus is asking them why they are breaking God’s commandments for the sake of their tradition. They are so concerned with the outward appearance of piety that they have neglected the weightier matters of the law “justice and mercy and faithfulness.”

SLIDE 14

So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. I like the King James language here: Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. (NKJV)

The traditions of the elders are not the commands of God. In fact, many of them void out the blessings that would have come if the people following men would have obeyed God instead. How many elderly people perished in destitution while the Pharisees and Scribes promised their children that their financial “gifts to God,” in lieu of the care for their parents, was a good an viable option? Wicked. How many elderly people are sitting right now, almost completely forgotten in nursing homes while their kids go on with life as though they don’t exist?

It is good to be shepherded by the Good Shepherd. The flock thrives in the care of the Christ. It is bad to be shepherded by bad shepherds. The flock suffers when the corrupt traditions of men are held on par with or over and above the commandments of God.

SLIDE 15

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

“‘This people honors me with their lips,     but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me,     teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

You hypocrites, you phony actors (that’s what hypocrites are). You pretend to be one thing but you are another. Like a wolf dressed up in sheeps clothing.

Matthew loves the book of Isaiah, but that’s because he wants to be like his Master who also loved the book of Isaiah.

You honor me with your lips. You say the things, you do some things, but your heart is a million miles away. Remember when Jesus talked about a righteousness that surpassed that of the Pharisees back in Matthew chapter 5? The righteousness Jesus is looking for is heart-deep righteousness. The Pharisees are all buttoned up on the outside, but a train wreck on the inside. They are white washed tombs full of dead men’s bones.

Look, you can fool people. But you can’t fool God.

They worship me in vain, God says. “Lord, Lord we did all this stuff in your name, and said all the right things.” I never knew you, depart from me you workers of lawlessness. Jesus has a category for religious saying and doing that can be so disconnected from the heart of God that that very saying and doing can be called lawlessness.

Jesus, wants our hearts!

These false shepherds, the hypocrites, teach as doctrines the commandments of men. We MUST hold the word of God over and above any and all traditions of men. If we fail to do this we remove the light and loving yoke of Christ and put our selves under the heavy yoke of men and jeopardize our very souls!

But let me give you a word of hope and encouragement. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, quotes Isaiah 29:13 here. But let’s look at verse 14 too.

SLIDE 16

therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

God is faithful. He is good and his loyal love is everlasting!

The people are burdened, harshly ruled by bad shepherds. Yahweh says that he will rescue his flock! He will put a Good Shepherd over his people, his servant David will tend to them and care for them. The people’s hearts are far from God, but God will respond in wonder! Mercy and judgment. Wonder upon wonder. The “wisdom” of their “wise men” will perish, the “discernment” of their “discerning men” will be hidden away. In Isaiah, Yahweh looks forward to a day when he will do these wonders in the land. In Matthew we are reading about those very wonders! Jesus is healing the broken, wandering hearts hearts of his lost sheep.

In vain have they been worshipping him, but what did we see the disciples doing last week in response to the wonder working Jesus? They saw him for who he truly is, and the fell down and worshipped him.

SLIDE 17

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.”

Jesus shifts his attention away from the false shepherds and towards the people of Israel. If you have ears to hear, then hear this (Peter will call this a parable in just a minute). Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 13

SLIDE 18

For this people's heart has grown dull,     and with their ears they can barely hear,     and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes     and hear with their ears and understand with their heart     and turn, and I would heal them.’

Jesus wants these dull-hearted people to stop listening to the Pharisees and Scribes and to hear and understand. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is here and eager to heal them. Jesus will explain this parable here in a minute.

SLIDE 19

But first let’s hear what the disciples have to say.

Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 

Noticed that Jesus first talks to the Scribes and Pharisees, then he moves to the people, and now his disciples are in view. Now these are the same disciples that the Pharisees are accusing of breaking the traditions of the elders, and are thus defiled.

The last time we saw them they were worshiping Jesus in the boat. Now they’re asking the wave walker if he knows that he just offended the Pharisees? We want to chuckle because we know we’re just as dumb as these guys are. We will be worshipping Jesus as God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, this morning and then doubting him between lunch and dinner in a few hours.

Jesus, I think you offended those guys. They are the big shots around here. Those were the guys from Jerusalem.

SLIDE 20

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.”

Is Jesus concerned that the Pharisees and scribes might be offended by what Jesus said to them? No. It’s why he came. Jesus is rebuking the very people that have led his sheep astray. The people who claim to be serving God’s people are actually the ones harming them. Think of a pastor that abuses God’s children. The utter betrayal. Would you be worried that that pastor might be offended if someone stormed in an rebuked him? I hope not! Wicked people need strong words. This isn’t my way, or the way of some toxic manosphere guru. This is the way of Jesus!

I wish more Christians would read the gospels so they would know Jesus better. Jesus isn’t concerned about offending people that are offensive. Not even a little bit. Go read Matthew 23 if you want to see how Jesus really feels about the Pharisees and the Scribes.

Now of course I’m not saying this is license to be a jerk in Jesus’ name. Remember what Paul tells Timothy, “And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth”

Gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit. Jesus himself is gentle and lowly, but guess what? Jesus is also Yahweh. Think of his tone in the Prophets. It can be quite harsh. But in his strong speech he does not sin. We need to go and do likewise. We must have self-control and trust the Spirit for guidance.

Jesus answers his disciples with a call back to the parable of the weeds. We didn’t spend a ton of time in this parable, but listen to it again (from Matthew 13), and while I read it think about what Jesus says here. There are plants planted by someone other than the Father.

SLIDE 21

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’

SLIDE 22

Back to our text today, Jesus answered his disciples, “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.”

In John 8 Jesus tells the Pharisees that their father is the Devil, in Matthew 23 Jesus tells them that the are children of Hell. Ouch. There are plants in the field that have been planted by the enemy. Those plants will be rooted up in the great harvest. you don’t need to root them up now, because you might actually injure the wheat. Let them alone, let them grow together. They will eventually end up in the pit.

Now listen, the theme of seeing is still right here on top of our passage. This is a theme we’ve been tracing ever sense Jesus came off the mountain. Do you see Jesus for who he really is? Do you have eyes to see? These false Shepherds are blind guides! Do not follow them! You know who follows blind shepherds? Blind sheep. It’s the blind leading the blind.

Now in my house it’s the blonde leading the blonde, and that’s ok, but here Jesus is talking about blind leading the blind, and that’s not good.

Now, let me say this. Paul was a Pharisee who murdered Christians. God can turn weeds into wheat! He can turn bad soil into good soil. In fact he has to, because there is no wheat, there is no good soil. You weren’t made just naturally better than your unbelieving friend. No! You are a new creation. You’ve been born again. Don’t go trying to root up weeds, just focus on the wheat.

Ok, I know I’m testing the limits of how long you can sit still in these seats. Let me wrap this up by reading the final verses and saying some closing thoughts. Listen carefully as I read.

SLIDE 23

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. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Peter! Remember the last time we saw him? He was walking on water, now he’s struggling to see and understand. Disciples of Jesus are people that have been forgiven, we are not a people that immdeiately have everything figured out. We need the Spirit to guide us always.

The parable is what Jesus said to the people in verses 10 and 11. “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.”

Now Jesus explains the parables to his disciples. It’s not what you eat that defiles you (Peter will be challenged again on this very point on Simon the tanner’s roof in Act’s 10), it’s what is in the heart. The thing that defiles you is not found outside of you, it’s not an outer contaminate you must avoid. What defiles you is inside of you. Let that sink in.

Jesus already taught this in Matthew 12 when he was speaking to the Pharisees: You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

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

I know that’s not a pretty thought, but that’s God, not some crotchety old reformed theologian, telling us about the human heart this side of the fall. Jesus, who is God maker of all things, says that if you cracked open the fallen human heart all sorts of evils would come tumbling out. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

The prognosis is pretty grim, but the Great Physician is pretty great! Our sins they are many, but his mercy is more.

You and I are sinners. Our hearts are desperately sick, a fount of all sorts of evils, we have all like dumb blind sheep gone astray. But Jesus, the Saving King, the Good Shepherd has called us into his fold, he is eager to heal us. He has laid his life down for his sheep, and he has taken it back up again.

The only people who see and savor the Saving King for who he truly is, are people so first see that they are sinners in desperate need of a savior.

Jesus wants our hearts. He wants to renew our minds and remake our hearts. This is who he is and this is what he does. Let us, the sheep of his fold, hear his voice, see his saving wonders, and sing his praise from our new hearts. Amen?