NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Part IV

Verses 15-16: Peter then said, “Explain to us what you said earlier to the people.” Jesus replied, “Do you still have trouble understanding?”

Just when our Lord thought He had explained it clearly and sensibly enough for anyone to comprehend, His own disciples disappointed Him. Their question may have reminded our Lord of what the people of Israel said about His heavenly Father’s teaching: “Who does He think He is trying to teach and explain His message to? Does He think we are babies who were at their mother’s breast only a very short time ago? He speaks to us as though we are infants.”¹ It wasn’t that Jesus’ message was too hard, but that they were too simple to grasp its deeper meaning.

Thank goodness for Peter’s willingness to overcome pride, and with humility ask the Master, “Please explain.” It may not be that Peter was so dense as not to grasp the meaning of the parable, but having had so many parables to assimilate, and most often not understanding the principle spiritual message, he did not want to miss getting the point of another one. Sadly, there are too many believers today who walk out of church or a Bible study not fully discerning the true meaning of what was taught, but are either in too big of a hurry to get somewhere else, or too big in their egos to ask for a clearer explanation, or don’t think it is important, or even lack any interest in seeing the whole picture.

One Patriarch of the early church in Egypt had this to say: “Without understanding is what the Lord calls those who, like the Pharisees, make a fuss about external matters and have not yet discovered the inner life. Therefore, Jesus says, foods have to do with filling up the body, but they do not reach into the heart.”² In other words, too often people are so concerned about those things that only benefit them temporarily that they ignore those things that have an everlasting effect. Do you know how many books have been written since the time of Christ? I would imagine the count runs into the billions. So why then, is the Bible still the top selling book year after year? Because it deals with ageless things.

Verse 17: Surely you know that all the food that enters the mouth goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body as waste.

Now the Master turns to something even the most uneducated person would understand, the human digestive system. Only, in this case, He says that what people feed their minds will come out of their mouths as verbal regurgitation. Jesus was not trying to be a gastroenterologist, dietitian, or nutritionist, but simply pointing out that the food we eat is only with us for a short time. It’s those things we mentally ingest that contribute to the way we think and speak, act and react for years. They come into the body by way of the eyes and ears with connections to our heart, mind, body, soul and spirit, which then provide nutrition for our thoughts, intentions, feelings, and emotions. As such, they are critical in helping us remain mentally, morally, and spiritually healthy.

One early church theologian has this to say: “The Pharisees, as Peter made clear, begrudgingly grasped the opinion of the Lord which says, ‘It is not what enters the mouth that defiles a man.’ God indicated through Moses long ago that not everything about the use of food must be considered clean. He declared that certain things were clean and other things were unclean. But now we must ask why God prohibited the people long ago from eating these things. Since all things created by God to be used as human food were blessed at the very beginning and they remain no less so by their very nature, why is it that divine law later prescribed to the Jewish people certain things as lawful for eating because they were clean and certain things as unlawful because they were unclean?”³

Since that is true of food, our Lord is attempting to teach those who are listening that the same principle applies to what we read and hear. Theologian Chromatius goes on to say: “First, precepts of this type were given by the Lord because of the indiscriminate and immoderate appetite of the people. For since they were overly concerned with eating and drinking, these people began to overlook God’s precepts. They made for themselves a molten calf in Horeb, about which it was written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’⁴ Those necessary things were forbidden by the Lord, so that with the best food having been denied and their immoderate appetites declared unhealthy, the people might abide more easily by the discipline of divine observance. It was only after their disobedience with the molten calf that we find those things were prohibited.”⁵

Chromatius then finishes his thought: “Concerning them, as though to rebuke these stiff-necked people [the Pharisees], the Lord made a mild and merciful declaration: ‘They will be unclean to you.’ Not that they are in themselves unclean, but ‘shall be.’ Nor did He say ‘to all’ but ‘to you.’ He thus made it clear that neither were they unclean nor would they be unclean to people other than themselves. And certainly they deserved this prohibition of many foods, for these people preferred the foods of Egypt, as well as cucumbers and muskmelons, to heavenly manna.”⁶

Why is it that parents are all too willing to warn their children not to touch a hot stove, or run with a knife or fork in their hands, or pick up a spider, or cross the street without first looking both ways, but are so reluctant to issue the same warnings when it comes to music, movies, books, TV programming, the internet, and cell phone texting? The first items mentioned may cause physical injury, and some may even be fatal, but the latter ones can impair and destroy what might be their potential for the future. I remember as a child that most Pentecostals were against the use of tobacco. While some of their own members were tobacco farmers, they pointed to other uses of this plant such as being great for repelling insects in kitchen gardens, and peach trees, garden centipedes, gophers and moles, spiders.

The American Indian used tobacco for skin rashes, Eczema and rheumatism, toothaches, rattlesnake and insect bites and the common cold. In fact, in India tobacco is used as toothpaste. And in the USA, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, those that suffer from mental disorders such as ADHD/ADD, schizophrenia, and other disorders may experience positive effects from smoking. Apparently, doses of nicotine have a short term normalization effect on the EEG (electrical activity in the brain). Also, those that suffer from Alzheimer’s can also benefit from doses of nicotine. According to studies, patients cognitive abilities slightly improved.

Nevertheless, it turns out that this stance against using tobacco for recreational uses, because it was addictive, and that it was a large contributor to lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and heart disease, was a healthy choice. Tobacco use can also trigger strokes, asthma attacks, and effect a women’s reproductive process which produces premature babies enhances the risk of type 2 diabetes, cause blindness, cataracts, age-related Macular degeneration, as well as causing colon, cervix, liver, stomach and pancreatic cancer. So these Pentecostals were saying much the same as what Moses told the Israelites, these things may be good for some purposes, but they are not good for you. And what is said of tobacco, can also be said of drugs and alcohol.

So the point here is that this illustration of what causes physical harm can be used to show what causes spiritual and moral harm. What children see on TV today as everyday fare, years ago could have only been seen in pornographic magazines and movie theaters. The vulgar language and words or phrases that have two meanings, one of which is risqué or indecent, employed by TV late night hosts now were once only heard in bars and brothels. When a child grows up thinking that this is “normal,” its no wonder then that it is carried into both school and Sunday school. Is this new? Jesus knew it way back then

Verse 18: That’s why the bad things people say with their mouth comes from the way they think. And that’s what gives people a filthy mind.

Early church preacher Chrysostom makes this comment: “Note how sharply Jesus deals with them and how He delivers His rebuke. He rebukes with a view to their cure. He appeals to our common human nature when He says, ‘Whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on.’ Even if it did abide for a while, it would not make one unclean. Yet they were not able to hear this. Because of this, the lawgiver allows just so much time for the law to have effect. After it has gone through one’s system, it is dispelled. At evening, He asks you to wash yourself and so be clean. The time of digesting and excreting is a limited time. But in matters of the heart, they stay inside. He is not making a refutation of the goodness of the nature of things. Rather, Jesus is speaking of the difference between what proceeds from the stomach and what proceeds from the heart. One does not remain; the other does. One enters in from the outside. The other goes out from the inside, and having gone forth it may defile, and the more it goes out the more it defiles. They were not yet able to be taught these things.”⁷

We’ve all no doubt heard the statement: “Actions speak louder than words.” In European literature, we can trace this back to French writer Michel de Montaigne, who, in his work called “Essays,” makes the statement: “Saying is one thing and doing is another.”⁸ But our Lord is one step ahead. He is making the point that “Thinking it is one thing, and saying it is another.” Most of us edit what we think before we say it, except for those spur-of-the-moment comments we wish we could take back seconds after we’ve said them. But the main point is that these sayings are not random or impromptu without any source. They all come from what is hidden in our hearts and minds. In examining these thoughts and ideas it can easily prove what we are, not what we say we are. I’ve even heard of preachers using bad language from behind the pulpit, and then trying to apologize by saying they didn’t know where it came from.

Church historian Jerome makes this point: “Out of the heart, Jesus said, come evil thoughts. Therefore, the soul or principle of action is not in the brain, according to Plato, but in the heart, according to Christ. On this point, those who believe that thoughts are introduced by the devil and do not originate from our own will are to be repudiated. The devil can aid and abet evil thoughts but he cannot originate them, even though, ever lying in wait, he kindles a small spark of our thoughts with his matches. We must not hold the opinion that the devil can also probe the depths of our heart. However, he can judge from our demeanor and gestures what we are thinking about. For example, if he sees us gazing often at a beautiful woman, he surmises that our heart has been wounded with the dart of lust.”⁹

Verses 19-20: All these bad things begin in the mind: evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and insulting people. These are the things that make people unfit. Eating without washing their hands will never make people unacceptable to God.

This echoes the old saying: “Bad things come out of bad people.”¹⁰ We find this same proverb quoted in Jewish literature that has been around since the time of the exile.¹¹ Solomon also gives us a list of traits that such people usually possess in varying degrees: “The Lord hates these seven things: eyes that show pride, tongues that tell lies, hands that kill innocent people, hearts that plan evil things to do, feet that run to do evil, witnesses in court who tell lies, and anyone who causes family members to fight.”¹² Then we read: “Good people know the right things to say, but the wicked say things to provoke others.”¹³ Followed by: “Listening to wise people increases your knowledge, but only nonsense comes from the mouths of fools,”¹⁴ and then: “Good people think before they speak, but the wicked do not, and what they do say causes conflict.”¹⁵

So it is clear, Jesus had these people figured out. But even more so, because He knew not only the objects of their wickedness, but also the source of their evil intent. It all comes from the heart, says our Lord. Was this new? Did it only occur in Jesus’ generation? No! We are told: “The LORD saw that the people on the earth were very evil. He saw that they thought only about evil things all the time.”¹⁶ When does this start? We are told: “People have bad tendencies from the time they are young.”¹⁷ The Scripture tells us that God’s knows this, but it takes a long time before a person comes to the same conclusion.

As a father, I never had cause to teach my children how to get mad, roll on the floor and throw a temper tantrum, or lie when they were asked if they broke something, or ate from the cookie jar when they were told not to. And I did not have to wait until they reached their teens to see this develop. Solomon must have faced the same thing because his instructions were this: “Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.”¹⁸ So this wise man had some advice for parents, “Children do foolish things, but if you punish them, they will learn not to do them.”¹⁹ This is important because he goes on to say, “Foolish plans are wrong, and people have no respect for someone who laughs at what is right.”²⁰

Jesus knew who He was dealing with, and He was very much aware of what God said to the prophet Jeremiah, “Nothing can hide its evil as well as the human mind. It can be very sick, and no one really understands it. But I am the LORD, and I can look into a person’s heart.”²¹ These scribes, Pharisees, and other religious leaders were too blind to see that the One standing before them had this same power. Had they realized this, they no doubt would have heeded what Isaiah had to say, “Evil people should stop living evil lives. They should stop thinking bad thoughts. They should come to the Lord again, and He will comfort them. They should come to our God because He will freely forgive them.”²²