By Douglas K. Wilson, Ph. D.
Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Mobile
REAL DEVOTION
Matthew 15:1–11, 16–20
During the time of Jesus’ physical life and ministry, various religious groups represented different approaches to practicing their faith. There were Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, Essenes, Zealots and others. Sadducees, for example, were Jewish practitioners who followed the religious rituals of Second Temple Judaism, but they denied bodily resurrection, angels and miracles. (See Acts 23:8.)
By contrast, Pharisees were theologically conservative, holding to 613 laws written in the Torah to be kept, along with the traditions of the oral law. These were kept as the outward measure of real devotion to God.
Broken Rules (1–6)
The scribes were men whose life work was to read and write copies of the Scriptures, and the Pharisees were men whose life work was to live according to those Scriptures. Together, they went to Jesus to ask why His disciples did not observe the traditions that came from outside the Scriptures.
Of course, they did not verbalize their concern in those words, but Jesus saw the weakness in their inquiry. Rather than adhering to the authority of the Word of God, they focused on the traditions of the elders. Jesus pointed out their error.
Jesus answered their question with a question. Then He presented evidence from the Torah, and He concluded by quoting from their own traditions. Jesus answered them as a lawyer, arguing His case by laying out the evidence before them.
Consider our traditions. How many of our practices — at home and when congregations gather — are based on traditions rather than the Scriptures?
As Baptists, we pride ourselves on the fact that we don’t hold to High Church liturgies, empty rituals or prescribed prayers. In reality, though, we follow our own traditions: “That’s not how Brother So-and-So did it,” or “We’ve never done it that way before” or “I don’t remember having a business meeting vote to move the piano.”
Lip Service (7–11)
Throughout Isaiah’s prophecies, he warned Israel and Judah of impending judgment for practicing their covenant rituals without living in covenant relationship.
Jesus picked up on this theme, quoting from Isaiah 29 and indicting them as hypocrites — actors playing a role before an audience. Matthew recorded Jesus warning against hypocrisy elsewhere when He affirmed spiritual disciplines — giving, praying and fasting — while warning that these practices must not be done to be seen by others (6:1–18).
Real Problem (16–20)
In the intervening verses, the reader discovers that Jesus’ hearers took offense at His warning. This is the normal response to prophecy — the regenerate receive the rebuke and repent and the unrepentant reject it. They take offense, being ignorant that it is God who is the offended party.
After Peter requested an explanation of the teaching, Jesus introduced the principle that defilement comes from expressing rather than from ingesting, from coming out of the body rather than going into the body.
Ritual hand-washing does not cleanse a person from defilement. The attitudes and actions of an unrepentant heart defile the person, breaking the written commandments revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai concerning “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.” The Apostle Paul offered a similar list, referring to them as works of the flesh. (See Gal. 5:19–21.)
Every believer needs to learn from Jesus’ teaching here. The real problems we face are religion without regeneration, information without transformation and ritual without relationship. May the Lord teach us to know the difference.
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