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Jesus antagonizes the Pharisees—29 AD
15
1 Then the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem approached Jesus saying: 2 “Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands whenever they eat bread.” 3 So in answer He said to them: “Why do you even transgress the commandment of God through your tradition? 4 For God commanded saying,* Instead of “commanded saying”, perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of inferior quality, have ‘said’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say: ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever you might be profited by me is a gift to God”— 6 then he must not honor his father or mother.’† Perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “or mother” (as in NIV, LB, TEV, etc.). NASB informs us that “many” manuscripts omit “or his mother”—by ‘many’ they mean three, against some 1700! That is a dishonest use of language. Thus you have nullified the commandment of God through your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying:
8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth
and honor Me with their lips,‡ Perhaps 2% of the Greek manuscripts omit “draw near to me with their mouth and” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).
but their heart is far away from Me.
9 But in vain do they worship Me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”§ See Isaiah 29:13. Are there no such ‘doctrines’ in our churches? The Lord Jesus declares that such worship is in vain—if it does you no good, you are wasting your time (and it may be doing you harm).
That which defiles
10 Then summoning the crowd He said to them: “Hear and understand. 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles the man, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles the man.” 12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do you know that upon hearing this saying the Pharisees were offended?” 13 But in answer He said: “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 14 Leave them alone.* Jesus makes no effort to conciliate or to convert the Pharisees. For all that, some did convert. They are blind guides of the blind; and if the blind guides the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”
15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 So Jesus said: “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is expelled into the sewer? 18 But the things coming out of the mouth actually come from the heart; those are the things that defile the man. 19 Because out of the heart proceed malignant thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,† This is one of a number of places where ‘adultery’ and ‘fornication’ both occur in a list of sins—it is clear that they are distinct in meaning, and so ‘fornication’ does not include ‘adultery’; and so to render ‘fornication’ as ‘sexual sin/immorality’ is misleading. thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things that defile the man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”
A crumb for a little dog
21 Going out from there Jesus withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And then, a Canaanite woman coming from those parts cried out to Him saying: “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demonized.” 23 But He answered her not a word.‡ “Son of David”—as a Canaanite she appealed to the Jewish Messiah, upon whom she had no claim. But how did she know that? I suspect there is more to this story than meets the eye. So His disciples came and urged Him saying, “Send her away, because she is crying out after us.” 24 But in answer He said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”§ Although His ultimate mission included the whole world (see the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20), His earthly ministry was directed to the “house of Israel”. 25 So she came and worshiped Him saying, “Lord, help me!”* Here she drops the appeal to the Messiah—evidently the Lord spoke loudly enough for her to hear. 26 But in answer He said, “It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 27 So she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.”† We may feel that Jesus was harsh with her, but in this way He put into bold relief her faith and humility—and she got her crumb! 28 Then Jesus answered and said to her: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Food for 4,000 men
29 Moving on from there, Jesus went alongside the Sea of Galilee, and going up on the mountain He sat down there. 30 And large crowds approached Him, having with them lame, blind, mute, maimed and many others, and they placed them at Jesus' feet, and He healed them. 31 So the crowds marveled—seeing mutes speaking, maimed made whole, lame walking, and blind seeing—and they kept glorifying the God of Israel.
32 Then Jesus summoned His disciples and said: “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already remained with me three days, and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” 33 So His disciples say to Him, “Where could we get, in an uninhabited place, enough bread so as to satisfy such a great crowd?” 34 Jesus says to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” 35 So He commanded the crowds to recline on the ground. 36 And taking the seven loaves and the fish, He gave thanks, broke and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the crowd. 37 So they all ate and were filled; and they took up seven hampers full of the fragments that remained.‡ Where did the “hampers” come from? Probably from fishing boats that stopped by. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.§ Again, the crowd was much larger than just the 4,000 men; probably at least 10,000 people. 39 And having dismissed the crowds He got into the boat and went to the region of Magdala.* Magdala was Mary Magdalene's hometown; perhaps this was when Jesus delivered her from the demons (Mark 16:9). Less than 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read “Magadan” instead of Magdala (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). The parallel passage in Mark 8:10 has ‘the region of Dalmanutha’—I assume that Magdala was in that region.

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*15:4 Instead of “commanded saying”, perhaps 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of inferior quality, have ‘said’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

†15:6 Perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “or mother” (as in NIV, LB, TEV, etc.). NASB informs us that “many” manuscripts omit “or his mother”—by ‘many’ they mean three, against some 1700! That is a dishonest use of language.

‡15:8 Perhaps 2% of the Greek manuscripts omit “draw near to me with their mouth and” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

§15:9 See Isaiah 29:13. Are there no such ‘doctrines’ in our churches? The Lord Jesus declares that such worship is in vain—if it does you no good, you are wasting your time (and it may be doing you harm).

*15:14 Jesus makes no effort to conciliate or to convert the Pharisees. For all that, some did convert.

†15:19 This is one of a number of places where ‘adultery’ and ‘fornication’ both occur in a list of sins—it is clear that they are distinct in meaning, and so ‘fornication’ does not include ‘adultery’; and so to render ‘fornication’ as ‘sexual sin/immorality’ is misleading.

‡15:23 “Son of David”—as a Canaanite she appealed to the Jewish Messiah, upon whom she had no claim. But how did she know that? I suspect there is more to this story than meets the eye.

§15:24 Although His ultimate mission included the whole world (see the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20), His earthly ministry was directed to the “house of Israel”.

*15:25 Here she drops the appeal to the Messiah—evidently the Lord spoke loudly enough for her to hear.

†15:27 We may feel that Jesus was harsh with her, but in this way He put into bold relief her faith and humility—and she got her crumb!

‡15:37 Where did the “hampers” come from? Probably from fishing boats that stopped by.

§15:38 Again, the crowd was much larger than just the 4,000 men; probably at least 10,000 people.

*15:39 Magdala was Mary Magdalene's hometown; perhaps this was when Jesus delivered her from the demons (Mark 16:9). Less than 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read “Magadan” instead of Magdala (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). The parallel passage in Mark 8:10 has ‘the region of Dalmanutha’—I assume that Magdala was in that region.

© 2016 Wilbur N. Pickering, ThM, PhD