Matthew 15
15
The Tradition of the Elders
Mk 7:1–23
1Then scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2#Lk 11:38; Col 2:8“Why do Your disciples violate the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
3But He answered them, “Why do you also violate the commandment of God by your tradition? 4#Ex 20:12; 21:17; Dt 5:16For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and mother,’#Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16. and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’#Ex 21:17; Lev 20:9. 5But you say, ‘Whoever shall say to his father or his mother, “What you would have profited from me is a gift to God,” 6will be free from honoring his father or his mother.’ So you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7You hypocrites, Isaiah well prophesied of you, saying:
8#Isa 29:13; Eze 33:31 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips,
but their heart is far from Me.
9#Isa 29:13; Titus 1:14 In vain they do worship Me,
teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”
10He called the crowds and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11#Ac 10:14–15That which goes into the mouth does not defile a man, but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
12Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?”
13#Isa 60:21; Jn 15:2But He answered, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14#Lk 6:39; Isa 56:10Leave them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch.”
15#Mt 13:36Then Peter said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
16#Mt 16:9Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17#1Co 6:13Do you not yet understand that whatever enters at the mouth goes into the stomach and is cast out into the sewer? 18#Mt 12:34But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile the man. 19#Gal 5:19–21For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immorality, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. 20These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”
The Faith of the Canaanite Woman
Mk 7:24–30
21Then Jesus went from there and departed into the regions of Tyre and Sidon. 22#Mt 9:27; 17:15There, a woman of Canaan came out of the same regions and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. My daughter is severely possessed by a demon.”
23#Mt 14:15But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and begged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
24#Ro 15:8; Mt 10:5–6But He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25#Mt 8:2Then she came and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
26#Mt 7:6; Rev 22:15But He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and to throw it to dogs.”
27#Lk 16:21She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28#Mt 8:13; 9:22Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
The Healing of Many People
29#Mt 4:18; 5:1Jesus departed from there, and passed by the Sea of Galilee, and went up on a mountain and sat down there. 30Great crowds came to Him, having with them those who were lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and placed them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them, 31#Mt 9:8; 9:33so that the crowds wondered when they saw the mute speak, the maimed made whole, the lame walk, and the blind see. And they glorified the God of Israel.
The Feeding of the Four Thousand
Mk 8:1–10
32#Mt 9:36Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have remained with Me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I will not send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
33His disciples said to Him, “Where will we get enough bread in the wilderness to feed such a great crowd?”
34Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
And they said, “Seven and a few little fish.”
35He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36#Lk 22:19; Jn 6:11He took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to His disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowd. 37They all ate and were filled. And they collected seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left. 38Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39#Mk 8:10He sent the crowd away, and got into the boat, and went to the region of Magdala.
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Matthew 15: MEV
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Military Bible Association
Matthew 15
15
What Pollutes Your Life
1-2After that, Pharisees and religion scholars came to Jesus all the way from Jerusalem, criticizing, “Why do your disciples play fast and loose with the rules?”
3-9But Jesus put it right back on them. “Why do you use your rules to play fast and loose with God’s commands? God clearly says, ‘Respect your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.’ But you weasel around that by saying, ‘Whoever wants to, can say to father and mother, What I owed to you I’ve given to God.’ That can hardly be called respecting a parent. You cancel God’s command by your rules. Frauds! Isaiah’s prophecy of you hit the bull’s-eye:
These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
but their heart isn’t in it.
They act like they’re worshiping me,
but they don’t mean it.
They just use me as a cover
for teaching whatever suits their fancy.”
10-11He then called the crowd together and said, “Listen, and take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life, but what you vomit up.”
12Later his disciples came and told him, “Did you know how upset the Pharisees were when they heard what you said?”
13-14Jesus shrugged it off. “Every tree that wasn’t planted by my Father in heaven will be pulled up by its roots. Forget them. They are blind men leading blind men. When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up in the ditch.”
15Peter said, “I don’t get it. Put it in plain language.”
16-20Jesus replied, “You, too? Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That’s what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that’s neither here nor there.”
Healing the People
21-22From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.”
23Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.”
24Jesus refused, telling them, “I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel.”
25Then the woman came back to Jesus, dropped to her knees, and begged. “Master, help me.”
26He said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to dogs.”
27She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.”
28Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well.
29-31After Jesus returned, he walked along Lake Galilee and then climbed a mountain and took his place, ready to receive visitors. They came, tons of them, bringing along the paraplegic, the blind, the maimed, the mute—all sorts of people in need—and more or less threw them down at Jesus’ feet to see what he would do with them. He healed them. When the people saw the mutes speaking, the maimed healthy, the paraplegics walking around, the blind looking around, they were astonished and let everyone know that God was blazingly alive among them.
* * *
32But Jesus wasn’t finished with them. He called his disciples and said, “I hurt for these people. For three days now they’ve been with me, and now they have nothing to eat. I can’t send them away without a meal—they’d probably collapse on the road.”
33His disciples said, “But where in this deserted place are you going to dig up enough food for a meal?”
34-39Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
“Seven loaves,” they said, “plus a few fish.” At that, Jesus directed the people to sit down. He took the seven loaves and the fish. After giving thanks, he divided it up and gave it to the people. Everyone ate. They had all they wanted. It took seven large baskets to collect the leftovers. Over four thousand people ate their fill at that meal. After Jesus sent them away, he climbed in the boat and crossed over to the Magadan hills.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.