1Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
The scribes and Pharisees came with the wrong question. Their standard of righteousness was the tradition of the Jewish elders rather than the Word of God. They were not asking about the washing of hands because they were concerned about personal hygiene. We know that Jesus Himself complained to a Pharisee named Simon that when He came to his house Simon had given Him no water to wash His feet (Luke 7:44). The scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem were not concerned about dirty hands; they were concerned about ritual cleansing. These ritual cleansings are described in Mark 7:4: And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. In this verse in Mark, the Greek word translated “wash” and “washing” is “baptize.” The scribes and Pharisees wanted Jesus’ disciples to perform a ritual cleansing of their hands before eating because this was the tradition of the Jewish elders.
3But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6and honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
Jesus answered the scribes and Pharisees by citing the true meaning of transgression. A transgression is a breach of a commandment of God, not a breach of a tradition of men. Also, He turned the tables to indict the scribes and Pharisees for transgressing the commandment of God on account of their tradition. In the example which Jesus chose, He opened the issue of honoring one’s parents. In verse 8, He will speak of the failure of the Jews to honor God. He cited the fifth commandment, found in Exodus 20:12, and also cited Exodus 21:17 concerning the cursing or reviling (Greek: “κακολογων”) of one’s father or mother. In Matthew 12:31 Jesus implied that the Jews were in danger of blaspheming the Spirit of God. The parallel between the Jews’ failure to honor their parents and their failure to honor God and of their reviling their parents and reviling the Spirit of God may be the reason that Jesus chose this commandment. The Jews were teaching that people could withhold rightful support from their parents if they told their parents that they were giving their gift to God instead.
7Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Jesus called these scribes and Pharisees hypocrites and rebuked them using the words of God found in Isaiah 29:13 (see Greek Septuagint). He said that the Jews were honoring God with their lips, but that their heart was far from Him. This word seems to parallel Jesus’ rebuke of the Jewish leaders in the previous verses. They were in effect teaching the people to honor their parents with their words while distancing themselves from their parents in their hearts.
10And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: 11not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
At this point Jesus summoned the crowd of people and addressed in broader terms the issue of defilement. He said that what a person eats does not defile the person. Rather, what a person says defiles a person. These words of Jesus seem startling because at the time they were spoken the Old Covenant dietary laws (see Leviticus 11, for example) were still in effect. Certainly Jesus was not telling the people that day that they were free to ignore the Mosaic Law. So what did He mean?
As He did in addressing the law of the Sabbath in chapter 12, Jesus here focuses on the intent of the dietary laws. He teaches the people that God did not give the dietary laws because the foods themselves would bring moral defilement. Jesus said that the foods themselves do not bring moral defilement.
So why were the dietary laws given? We find help in answering this question in Leviticus 20:22-26:
Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out. And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people. Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
God said that by the dietary laws He was making His people separate from the nations whose land He was giving to them. The dietary laws themselves did not constitute issues of morality, but the other peoples in Canaan were immoral. By the dietary laws, God was teaching His people to make a distinction between clean and unclean, between holy and unholy. God was making His people different from the other peoples around them.
12Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? 13But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 14Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
The disciples were concerned that the Pharisees had been offended by Jesus’ words. Jesus recognized that the Pharisees were not genuine believers; they were not plants which His Father had planted. As religious leaders, they were also harming other people by leading them away from the truth. Though they were doing much harm, in the end they would be judged by God.
15Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. 16And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? 17Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20these are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Jesus said that what a person says comes from what is in that person’s heart. The real issue is defilement of heart. Physical food itself or the failure to keep a religious tradition do not morally defile anyone. But when sin has place in a person’s heart and the sin gets carried out in the person’s behavior, then the person is defiled.
Jesus was not counseling the people listening to Him to ignore the commands of the Old Covenant, and He Himself kept the Law perfectly. But His words probably do anticipate the changing of the Law (as is spoken of in Hebrews 7:12) and the coming of the New Covenant. Concerning foods today under the New Covenant, Paul said, For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer (I Timothy 4:4-5).
21Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs. 27And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
The cities of Tyre and Sidon were outside Israel. The woman who came to Jesus in these verses was a Canaanite, not a Jew. But she had heard about Jesus and came to plead with Him to cast out a demon from her daughter. The woman said, “O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.” But Jesus gave her no answer.
Her plea was very similar to that of two blind men in chapter 9. The two blind men said, “Thou son of David, have mercy on us.” Jesus answered them and gave them sight (9:27-29). Why did Jesus answer the two blind men in chapter 9 but not the woman in chapter 15? The woman in chapter 15 was not an Israelite, yet she cried out to Jesus using His title as the son of David. She was wrongly trying to come to Him with the approach of an Israelite.
Jesus’ disciples just wanted Him to send the woman away. Her shouting was an annoyance. They had earlier also wanted Him to send away the 5000 (14:15). Jesus’ words to His disciples at this point are striking because they don’t seem to fit with what they had said to Him. Jesus answered them, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Jesus seems to have answered the question that the disciples should have asked. Instead of their wanting Jesus to send the woman away, the disciples should have asked Him why He didn’t help her. Jesus answered that question. He said that He was not responding to the woman’s plea because His Father had sent Him to the people of Israel, not to the Canaanites. Jesus had earlier told His disciples the same thing when He sent them out in chapter 10. At that time He told them, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:5-6).
But the woman did not give up. She came and kneeled before Him and just said, “Lord, help me.” This time Jesus responded to her. This time she had not spoken as if she were an Israelite; she just asked for help. But in His answer Jesus still remained unmoved from the plan of His Father. He said, “It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs.” The word He used for “dogs” is a diminutive form, meaning “little dogs” or “puppies.” It’s not a harsh word. And yet He made the point that the woman was a Canaanite and not a Jew. The woman’s answer expressed a wonderful combination of humility and hope. She said, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.” The word “yet” in her answer is normally translated “for.” The woman was saying, “Yes, Lord, and that very fact gives me hope that You will help me, too.” Jesus said to her, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” And the woman’s daughter was immediately healed.
In chapter 8 Jesus said that the Roman centurion had much faith, and in chapter 15 that this woman had great faith. Neither the Roman centurion nor the woman was a Jew. What is it that made the woman’s faith “great” ? This Canaanite woman was willing to come to the God of Israel on His terms in the confidence that He would help her. The same is true for us today. If we try to come to God on our terms, that is presumption, but if we come to God on His terms in the confidence that He will receive us, He will.
Especially in chapters 14 and following, Jesus is giving instruction to His disciples to prepare them for His departure. The disciples just wanted the woman to go away and stop annoying them. They probably thought of her as unclean like the Pharisees thought of them in verse 2. Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that a person who has faith is not to be counted unclean just because that person is a Gentile, just like foods that the Law forbade are not not in themselves unclean. Also, the perspective of the Pharisees stands in great contrast to the perspective of the woman. The Pharisees were preoccupied with having the disciples wash their hands before they ate. The woman only asked for the crumbs that fell to the floor. Jesus said that the Pharisees were blind leaders of the blind, but He said that the faith of the woman was great. The blind Pharisees would fall into a pit, but the woman was blessed.
29And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. 30And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them: 31insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus returned from the region of Tyre and Sidon to the area near the Sea of Galilee. Many crowds of people followed Him to the mountainside where He was. What wonderful healings Jesus worked! Surely His healings at that time speak of the world that will someday be when He returns as King. People who were crippled were made able to walk normally, people who were blind were made able to see, people whose bodies were deformed were made whole, people who were mute were made able to speak, and many others with other afflictions were healed. No one questioned Jesus’ miracles. There were many and they were obviously real. Those who witnessed them praised God for the wonderful healings that took place.
32Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
Jesus is continuing to give lessons to His disciples to prepare them for His departure. In His words in this verse, He is telling His disciples how they ought to think. The disciples had earlier wanted Jesus to send the 5000 away (14:15) and had also wanted Him to send away the Canaanite woman whose daughter had a demon (15:23). This time Jesus starts the conversation by telling them that He doesn’t want to send these people away hungry. This large number of people had stayed with Him for three days and had no food left. Mark tells us that some of them had come from far away (Mark 8:3). Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and He takes care of those who are with Him.
33And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? 34And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.
Jesus did not ask the disciples if they had enough bread to feed the multitude. He only asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They had only seven loaves and a few little fish. They knew that they didn’t have enough, and Jesus knew that they didn’t have enough. But His asking made two important points: (1) it was obvious that the disciples had very little to offer, and (2) their insufficient resources did not limit what He could do. Today also He knows and we know that the spiritual and physical needs in the churches, and the need to faithfully present God’s Word to the world are too great for our wisdom, strength, courage, knowledge, and finances. But our limited resources do not limit His ability to work.
35And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 37And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. 38And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. 39And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.
The procedure in this feeding is the same as it was in the feeding of the 5000. The disciples gave what they had to Jesus, He blessed it, He gave it back to them, and they gave what He had blessed to the multitude. This time seven baskets of bread were taken up after everyone had eaten all that they wanted – one basket of bread left for each loaf of bread that the disciples had brought to Jesus. Probably the disciples gave away this extra bread to others as they traveled on to Magdala.
That Jesus should give the same lesson to His disciples twice, once in the feeding of the 5000 in chapter 14 and then again in the feeding of the 4000 in this chapter surely indicates that this lesson was very important for them and is very important for us today. The working of the Lord Jesus is not limited by our limitations or by the size of the need or crisis that we face.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.