Year 9, Day 189: Matthew 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Imagine living in Judea at the time of Jesus.  Imagine being able to see Jesus, listen as a mute man suddenly speaks, see a blindman take his first view of the world, or hear as deaf man gets his first taste of sound!  It would be an incredible thing to witness.

I would imagine that such a spectacle would provide Jesus with many followers.  After all, if you can get close to a person who can cure blindness, why would you ever leave His side?  Remember what just happened in the last chapter.  Remember that at the crucifixion, Jesus is crucified with only a handful of mourners at the cross.  Humanity is a largely “what have you done for me lately” group.

In this light, it makes sense to hear the religious leaders get offended at Jesus’ teaching.  Rather than seeing a miracle, the Pharisees focus on what people are doing wrong.  They accuse Jesus’ followers of breaking with tradition.  Of course, the hidden undertone of this passage is that if the disciples can’t follow tradition, how can Jesus honestly be teaching what is right?

In response to this, Jesus teaches about what makes a person righteous and what shows the unrighteousness in a person.  Jesus teaches that exterior things cannot make us unrighteous.  Nothing I can come in contact within this world can make me lose righteousness!  My heart is good enough at that all on its own.  It is the sinfulness within me that defiles.

This brings us back to the human response.  Why are the Pharisees unable to see Jesus’ miracles for what they are?  They are impure within.  Why are the people whom Jesus heals and commands to say nothing unable to keep quiet?  It is the hardness in their own hearts. 

As human beings go, we are a loveable species.  God loves us enough to send His Son to die for our sake so that we can be in relationship with Him.  As loveable as we are, though, we have one obnoxious quality.  Our hearts love the sinfulness we can do rather than the righteousness that God gives to us.  We sin because of what lies within, not with what lies without.

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