clean (Mt 15:1-20)

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Psalm 122; Matthew 15:1-20




In this passage about traditions and defilement, Jesus seems to connect it all with what is being said or what has been said. He accuses the Pharisees and scribes of breaking the commandment of God (what God has said), making void the word of God with their traditions. He accuses them of hypocrisy and worshiping in vain, saying the right words perhaps but not truly worshiping. Well did Isaiah prophesy (speaking out words for God) of you, when he said:

"This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me."
(Matthew 15:8)

What Jesus says, his rebuke, his riddle-like parable, or "saying" (v. 12), offends them. Again, they make void the word of God, treasuring the traditions of the elders (the Oral Law) over his words. His parable emphasizes that it is not what we eat or how we eat it that defiles us (what goes in your mouth), but what comes out of the mouth, the words we speak as well as the actions we perform (not to mention evil thoughts also). These proceed from the heart and these defile a person. Again (as in 12:23-37) Jesus connects the heart with our words, and (as in 7:15-23) with our actions.

He removes the issue of ceremonial, or ritual, defilement as an issue to be concerned with - such as eating with ceremonially unwashed hands or kitchenware. This is one of the things that could make someone ritually unclean - not as in sinful, but as in unfit in that state to worship in the synagogue or Temple. Their hands could become unclean if they touched Roman coins, for example, or had some other dealing with a Gentile in which they had to touch them or something of theirs. Touching a dead person would also make one ritually unclean (so a compassionate act like burying a parent could make you ritually unclean - but not stained with sin). In which case, They would have to "wash", which might include the "mikva" (cleansing pool), or preferably a stream or river.

Jesus says that what defiles is evil or unlawful thoughts and actions. We know from previous teaching that these result from a "diseased tree" (7:17), or come out of one's "evil treasure" (12:35). Perhaps Jesus' point is that sin makes you unfit for anything, really - from eating to worship.

Jesus is not a blind guide, nor a hypocrite. His words are true, his words can heal, his words will guide his disciples, his words can change the heart. Let's treasure them, let's treasure him - not with lip service and a distant heart, but hearing and understanding, and having our hearts (not our hands or utensils) washed in his word, in his love, in his Spirit, in his sacrificial blood.