Mathayo 15

The elders’ tradition and God’s command

¹Then Pharisees and scribes arrived from Jerusalem and put a question to Jesus: ²“Why do your disciples go against the tradition handed down by the elders? They eat their meals without first washing their hands.” ³He answered them, “And why do you go against God’s commandment for the sake of your tradition? ⁴For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and also, ‘Anyone who reviles father or mother must be put to death.’ ⁵But you teach that if someone says to father or mother, ‘Any support you could have received from me is set apart as a gift to God,’ ⁶then that person is excused from honoring their father. So for the sake of your tradition you have cancelled God’s word.^{a 7}You are hypocrites, and Isaiah’s prophecy about you was exactly right. He said: ⁸‘With their lips this people honors me, but their heart keeps far away from me.^{b 9}Their worship of me is empty, for the doctrines they teach are commands made by human beings.’”

What makes a person unclean

¹⁰Then Jesus called the crowd over to him and said, “Hear this, and understand it. ¹¹A person is not made unclean by what goes into the mouth. What makes a person unclean is what comes out of it.”

¹²Then the disciples came to him and said, “Are you aware that the Pharisees took offense at what you said?” ¹³He answered, “Any plant that my Father in heaven did not plant will be torn out, roots and all. ¹⁴Pay no attention to them. They are blind, yet they guide others who are blind. When one blind person guides another, the two of them end up in a ditch.”

¹⁵Peter spoke up: “Tell us what this parable means.” ¹⁶He said, “Are even you still so slow to understand? ¹⁷Can you not see that everything taken in by the mouth goes down into the stomach and is then passed out into the latrine? ¹⁸But what comes out of the mouth has its source in the heart, and that is what makes a person unclean. ¹⁹It is from the heart that evil schemes come, and murder, adultery and other sexual sin, theft, false witness and abusive speech. ²⁰These are what make a person unclean. Eating without washing one’s hands does not make anyone unclean.”

A Canaanite mother’s faith

²¹Jesus left that place and went away to the region around Tyre and Sidon. ²²A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came out and kept calling out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! A demon has my daughter in its grip, and she suffers terribly.” ²³But he gave her no answer, not even a word. His disciples came and kept pressing him: “Send her away, because she keeps shouting behind us.” ²⁴He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.” ²⁵But she came and bowed low before him. “Lord,” she said, “help me!” ²⁶He replied, “It is not good to take bread away from the children and toss it to the little dogs.”^{c 27}She said, “That is true, Lord. Still, the little dogs eat some of the crumbs that drop from the table where their masters eat.” ²⁸Then Jesus told her, “Woman, your faith is great. May it be done for you as you wish.” And from that moment her daughter was well.

Healing on the mountain by the lake

²⁹From there Jesus moved on and came along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He went up onto the mountain and sat down there. ³⁰Large crowds came to him, bringing people who could not speak, the blind, the lame, the crippled, and many others. They laid them down at his feet, and he healed them. ³¹The crowd was amazed to see the mute speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking and the blind able to see. And they glorified the God of Israel.^d

Bread for four thousand

³²Jesus called his disciples together and said, “I feel deep pity for the crowd. For three days now they have stayed with me, and they have nothing left to eat. If I send them off without food, they may give out on the way, and I am not willing to do that.” ³³The disciples said to him, “Here in this lonely place, where could we find enough bread to feed such a crowd?” ³⁴Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you got?” “Seven,” they said, “and a few little fish.” ³⁵He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, and broke them. He kept handing them to the disciples, and the disciples handed them to the people. ³⁷Everyone ate until they were full. Then they gathered up the leftover pieces, and these filled seven large baskets. ³⁸Those who ate numbered 4,000 men, and there were women and children besides. ³⁹After sending the crowds away, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.^e