Matthew 15 begins with the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asking Jesus why his disciples didn't wash their hands before they eat. The issue of washing hands before eating is more than a hygiene or sanitary issue. This was an issue dealing with ceremonial cleanness or uncleanness. The text notes in the NIV Archaeological Study Bible inform us that after the Babylonian exile, the Jewish rabbis began to make meticulous rules and regulations governing the daily life of the people. These were interpretations and applications of the Law of Moses, handed down from generation to generation. In Jesus' day this "tradition of the elders" was in oral form. It was not until about AD 200 that it was put into writing in the Mishnah. *The Pharisees, but not the Sadducees, viewed the Mishnah as having very nearly the same level of authority as Scripture. The Mishnah even stated how much water was to be used in washing one's hands. *It states that, "If a man poured water of the one hand with a single rinsing, his hand is clean; but if both hands with a single rinsing, [his hands are] unclean unless he pours over them a quarter-log or more."

When the writer was in seminary, a Reformed Jewish rabbi visited his New Testament history class to talk about the Mishnah. In the two-hour class, we discussed four verses from the Mishnah. The Mishnah is comprised of six volumes. This illustrates the level of detail that the Jewish rabbis gave to the application of the Law of Moses.

Jesus responded by asking the Pharisees and teachers of the Law why they break the command of God for the sake of their tradition. Jesus reminded them that God said, "Honor your father and mother" and, "Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death." The Pharisees, however, taught that if anyone tells his father and mother that whatever help they might have received is given as a gift to God instead, he was not to give it to his father or mother. By doing this, the Pharisees would forsake God's command for the sake of their tradition.

As we all know, in American culture today, the issue of washing hands isn't a matter of obedience or disobedience to God. We can, however, be guilty of the same charge of forsaking the command of God for the sake of tradition. We are admonished today against discussing politics or religion. However, in Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus tells us to make disciples of all nations. In order for us to make disciples of all nations, we are going to have to discuss religion at some point. Here we must make a choice between following the tradition of not discussing politics or religion or following Jesus' command to share our faith with others.

This presents problems in some areas of life, such as the workplace or at school, where we are barred from discussing religion. The writer is not advocating discussing religion recklessly and risking getting fired or disciplined by the administration. During the Middle Ages, Francis of Assisi had a wonderful preaching ministry. Francis once advised that we should "preach Christ at all times, and when necessary, use words." This is the reason that it is so important that our walk matches our preaching. We can certainly pray that God would provide us with more opportune moments to talk about our faith in Christ more bluntly. We should use the time until then to pray that God would prepare the hearts of those with whom we share our faith for receiving the truth of Scripture. Jesus also told us to be persistent in prayer. Don't give up praying until God answers one way or the other. As Christians, we tend to give up in prayer far too early.

Jesus made the case that Isaiah's preaching applied to the Pharisees when he said that these people honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. Therefore they worship God in vain and their teachings are but rules taught by men. *The charge is that, while they make a show of devotion to God, their religious traditions took precedence over God's will. Even though Isaiah originally spoke of Jews of his day, the Pharisees were also Jews, were also from Jerusalem, and practiced a religion dominated by rules that sometimes circumvented God's revealed will. *The judgment is so sweeping that it calls into question not only the Jews' walk (called their "Halakah", since "halak" is Hebrew for "walk") but their entire worship and teaching.

Jesus then explained that what goes into a man's mouth doesn't make him unclean, but rather he is made unclean by what comes out of his mouth. What goes on in our minds and hearts matters, as do our words and actions. Incidentally, it is this verse that makes all foods clean for us today. This verse is the reason that we don't follow Jewish dietary law today, *which the Gospel of Mark more explicitly points out.

In verse 12, the disciples became concerned that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this. That is certainly not the aim of preaching and teaching, but it does happen. It doesn't mean that we have preached or taught wrongly. It is possible that this may happen even when we got the teaching exactly right. *It needs to be pointed out that the Pharisees were held in high regard in ancient Israel, so the disciples wanted to know what Jesus had said that offended them so badly. Jesus must disillusion his disciples as to the reliability of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law as spiritual guides.

Jesus told the disciples that every plant that God has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Jesus said to leave the Pharisees, because they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into the pit. The image of the weeds reminds us of the parable of the weeds in Matthew 13:24-30, in which weeds are gathered together and burned. This is an image of what will happen to those who do not have salvation in Christ.

The disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable in verse 13 to them. Jesus told them that whatever goes into the body goes into the stomach and then out of the body. This makes all foods clean. But the things which come out of the mouth originate in the heart and this is what makes a person unclean. Jesus said out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander. These things, which are disobedience to God's commands, make a person unclean rather than eating with unwashed hands.

We need to be careful to use discretion in determining which things we are taught are cultural and which are Scriptural. Teachings that are cultural are open to debate. Scriptural teachings are not. Of course, to determine which teachings are Scriptural, we need to be well-versed in Scripture. The only way that happens is to spend time in Bible study and prayer on a regular basis. We need to make sure that our walk matches our preaching. Remember that you may be the only Bible that some people ever read.

*= Denotes taken from Expositor's Bible Commentary