It always fascinates me that the Pharisees were so critical of Jesus and so blind to who He was. In this chapter they criticize Jesus and His disciples for breaking the tradition of the elders, to which Jesus promptly criticizes them for breaking the commandments of God on the basis of their tradition (Matt. 15:1-3). The commandments of men became more important to the religious folk than the commandments of God. Their goal of being self-righteous took precedence over being actually righteous. If they looked religiously devout in the eyes of others, this trumped true, genuine obedience to God.
Jesus responds with a powerful quotation of Isaiah, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:8-9). Their hearts were more focused on what others thought of them than what God thought of them. To this, Jesus responds with a parable.
The issue at hand was Jesus’ disciples not washing their hands when they ate food, a tradition of the elders. Jesus points out that what goes into a man, that is, food, doesn’t defile him. What defiles a man is what comes out of a man, that which springs from a corrupt heart. A heart filled with evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander is a much greater concern than whether or not one’s hands are clean (see Matt. 15:19-20).
This is the state of the human heart apart from Christ. The Lord once spoke through the prophet Jeremiah and said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Truly, only the Lord can search the heart and mind (Jer. 17:10). In the world today, we frequently hear people say things like, “Follow your heart” but apart from Christ the human heart is filled with corruption and sin. This is why under the new covenant God promised a heart transplant (see Ez. 36:26-27; Jer. 31:31-33). This is how dire our situation was. We didn’t need a band-aid but open-heart surgery. Thank God for His mercy in saving us.
However, this heart, although new, must still be kept in check. Solomon once remarked, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life” (Pro. 4:23). The Pharisees and religious leaders of that day very frequently missed the forest for the trees. In an effort to be sure to tithe on spices, a small matter, they, “neglected the weightier matters of the law” (Matt. 23:23). Their righteousness didn’t spring from a heart’s desire to obey God, but from a desire to be observed to be righteous by others. They were more concerned with the praise of men than the praise of God. The challenge then comes to those who would follow Jesus, those with new hearts, to keep our hearts with all vigilance. Truly, we ought to regularly give ourselves a spiritual check-up to see the state of our hearts. People often go to the doctor for an annual checkup to make sure they’re healthy and there aren’t any matters of concern that might be flying under the radar. When it comes to the heart, we have to check ourselves and we ought to do it more than once a year. We don’t want to find that all our acts of righteousness are done to be seen by others. Likewise, we don’t want to find that our acts of righteousness are done so that we feel good about ourselves. Instead, anything we do on the outside should spring from a redeemed and new heart that delights to do God’s will on the inside. It should spring from a desire to glorify God in all we do and to walk in a manner that is pleasing to Him. Truly, a heart check-up should be a regular part of our spiritual lives.
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