What Defiles a Person?

Matthew 14:23-15:20

I. A Charge is brought Against Jesus.

A. Jesus and the disciples travel to Gennesaret.

1. It’s possible they were going there to rest. Would have been suitable for rest. It was a small beautiful place. Located between Capernaum and Magdala. It was full of fields and vineyards. There were at least four large springs there used to benefit the large amount of farming that took place there. The soil was very rich. Would have been a perfect place to just rest.

2. But there was no rest to be found. When it was discovered Jesus was there word spread and people began to come from everywhere. They came to be healed. Only if we could have this passion to get the sin sick people to Jesus. These were superficial people, like the multitude that Jesus fed. They just wanted a physical healing.

3. The people were being healed in an interesting way. If they would only touch the edge of his cloak they would be healed. There is a great truth for us here. It is this: It took no effort for Jesus to heal people. He did not have to work at it. He was God in the flesh and the power merely flowed from Him. There was no prayer, formula, or ritual.

B. The people were being miraculously healed.

1. These were serious diseases. Diseases without a cure. Diseases that were contagious. Diseases that would kill a person. We’re not talking about headaches and runny noses here. We are talking about things such as missing limbs, blindness, crippled, leprosy, hemorrhaging, deaf, etc.

2. When they touched Jesus they would be completely healed. Look at verse 36. They were made perfectly whole. They were not being saved, but they were being healed. The supernatural aspect of Jesus ministry is what drew many people to hear the message He shared. That along with His compassion for the sick and Hi desire to verify that he is the Messiah is why he performed so many miracles.

C. Jesus is confronted by the religious establishment.

1. They came from Jerusalem. This would have been at least a 70 mile trip. Jerusalem was the religious center of the Jews. It was where the elite lived because the Temple was there. The most educated in the Law and esteemed in Judaism spent their time there. This group of Scribes and Pharisees were commissioned with the task of finding Jesus and collecting evidence that He was a blasphemer. The same type of group was sent to John the Baptist (John 1:19).

2. The religious elite viewed Jesus and His disciples as unclean. The reason was simple. They were touching so many unclean people. Look at 14:36. Jesus was allowing the diseased to touch Him. If they were touching Jesus they would have certainly been touching the disciples as well. The crowds were so large you couldn’t help but rub shoulders with people. Why is it that we are so afraid of the dirty and the diseased? It is because we don’t want to be like them. Ministry takes compassion folks. When you love people more than you fear their dirtiness or disease you will minister to them.

3. The religious elite of Jesus day were repulsed at Jesus and His disciples. Mainly because the diseased of the day repulsed them. You see, if a person touched, let’s say a leper. Or if a woman was menstruating, a person had a specific disease they had to go through a ceremonial cleansing before they could go into the Temple and worship. These things were not sinful. It was not sinful to be a leper, menstruate or have a disease. They just made a person ceremonially unclean. They were picture of the defilement of sin, but they were not sin. God uses this as a lesson to teach us to prepare ourselves before we come to worship.

4. This proves the hypocrisy of the religious elite. It would have been scandalous for them to have to wait to go into a worship service. The Temple was their life. It was where they found their worth. They loved the Temple, they loved religion. But they did not love God and they did not love people. If they did, they would have no problem rubbing shoulders with the dirty and the diseased.

II. Jesus Responds to the Charges.

A. The charge was in the form of a question: Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? The basis of the charge was that Jesus disciples ate bread without washing their hands. I think they probably heard about the feeding of the five thousand. Remember the disciples handed out the bread to all of those dirty sinners? Some were diseased as well. It would have been impossible for the disciples to feed so many people without touching them.

1. Notice that Jesus enemies do not even claim to have Scripture to back up what they are saying. They reference the “tradition of the elders”. This would be what we would consider a commentary n the Law developed by the Rabbi’s over time. It was in Jesus day an oral tradition. It was eventually written down and is known today as the Mishnah by Jews. They viewed the tradition of the elders as equal with God’s word.

2. Some interesting teachings developed. Some Rabbi’s taught that a demon named Shibtah attached himself to your hands while you slept. If you didn’t wash him off he would enter your body when you ate. One Rabbi taught that it would be better to walk four miles out of the way to get water than to eat with unwashed hands. Another was imprisoned and given a small ration of water to drink. Instead he used it to wash his hands saying “I would rather die than transgress the tradition.”

3. There was an important way that one had to wash the hands. The minimum amount of water was enough to fill an eggshell and a half. The water would be poured on both hands with fingers pointing up. The water had to run down as far as the wrist and drop off there. The water was deemed as unclean once it touched the hands. If it ran down the fingers again the hands would be defiled by it. Then the process was repeated with the fingers pointed downward. Then each hand was cleansed with the opposing fist. For the strict Jew this was done before every meal and sometimes between courses as well.

B. Jesus responds with a question. “Why do you transgress the commandment of God by your transgression? Jesus gives a specific example in which tradition was causing people to break God’s command.

1. Jesus references the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12). It was a serious command, breaking it was punishable by death. They were not only to honor their parents when they were young, but when they were old as well. Protect, provide, love, etc. It’s important that we remember that the fifth commandment is not only for children. It is for adults as well.

2. The Jewish leaders had found a way to get around providing for their parents in their old age. Mark 7:11 calls it corban. It was a Hebrew word that described a gift or offering to God. Any possessions a person had could be set apart as corban by simply pronouncing “corban” over them. When this was done the owner couldn’t give them away because they were devoted to God. However, the vow could be reversed and used by the owner.

3. This was simply a loophole for the greedy. They could hide their greediness in their religion. They would say “Well mom and dad I know you need help. But I have given everything I have to God, so I can’t help you. Jesus tells them that they are hypocrites for this. Corban did not come from God, it was an invention of man. The command to honor parents came from God. In fact, this tradition absolutely contradicted God’s command.

C. Jesus denounces the religious leaders. He calls them a bunch of hypocrites.

1. You religion is a sham. It’s not real. You simply pay lip service to God. You have clean hands and a dirty heart!

2. You worship is worthless. We see that in verse 9. “In vain they do worship me.” They went through all of the outward parts but on the inside they were as far from God as you could be.

3. Your teaching is false. He tells them that their teaching does not originate with God but with man. In essence He is telling them that everything they are, do, and teach is completely worthless as far as eternity is concerned. And these were religious people!

III. Jesus Teaches us What Really Defiles a Man (10-20).

A. Jesus addresses the multitude.

1. He calls them back. We get the idea that they had kind of spread out as Jesus and the religious leaders went at it. And remember that the religious leaders believed it was the crowd of people that rendered Jesus and His disciples unclean. But Jesus doesn’t care, He calls them back. Jesus calls them back to correct the false teaching that was so prevalent.

2. He explains what truly defiles a man. Jesus says that the words that come out of a man defile Him. That’s because words reveal the heart. Look at verse 18. The words come from the heart. He also includes actions along with words in verse 19 when He mentions murder & thefts. So the sinful things that a person says and does defile a person.

3. Jesus is calling the religious leaders defiled. The teaching they were spewing forth were lies that revealed a hardened heart. It ddn’t matter how clean these guys were on the outside. Their words reveled that they were dirty!

B. The disciples get concerned about how Jesus responded to the religious leaders.

1. They call Jesus aside (12). “Don’t you know you offended them!” You see they are afraid of what they are going to do to Jesus. They want Jesus to calm down, not be so bold in His preaching. In verse 15 they ask Jesus to explain the parable. They wanted to know if they missed something, what was it that got the Pharisees so upset.

2. Jesus says that the Pharisees are not of God. Look at verse 13. They were not a plant planted by the Lord. They were one of the seeds sown by the enemy (13:39). It doesn’t matter how religious a person is, if they are not a follower of Christ they are not of God!

3. Jesus warns about those that follow the Pharisees. Look at verse 14. He calls the Pharisees blind. That means they can’t see the truth of God. They don’t want to see it. They need to be confronted because they are leading other blind people to the same fate they are headed for. It is the blind leading the blind. They have to be confronted!

C. Practical Instructions for us.

1. Religious activity does not cleanse us from our sin. Charles Spurgeon once asked his congregation “If there were no Sunday morning service at eleven how many of you would be Christians?” Reciting prayers, attending church, baptism, spiritual disciplines, fasting, etc. in and of themselves will not cleanse us from our sin.

2. God is concerned about the defilement of man. We are born defiled Romans 3:23. The blood of Jesus washes us. God is concerned that we keep ourselves from defilement after we are saved. Ephesians 5:27 says that he want us to be without spot or wrinkle or any blemish at all. We are called to be holy. We are defiled if sinful words come out of our mouths and sinful actions are the norm for us. We should wonder do we know Christ. God is concerned about defilement.

3. God has always been more concerned with the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 says “for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance but the LORD looketh on the heart.” The supreme command of the OT was to love God with the heart and soul (Deut. 10:12-13)! We can’t cover up our sin with religious activity. We have to truly love the Lord with our hearts. Nothing reveals a polluted, defiled heart like a dirty mouth. That is important for us to remember. Is our religion real or is it something we take off and put on? Take a good look at verse 19. These things reveal a defiled person. May we come to Christ and be cleansed!