Do you have a toxic mouth or heart or both?
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| JUDAEA, Herodians. Herod Antipas. 4 BCE-39 CE. Æ 18mm (4.98 g). Dated year 34 (30 CE). Palm branch; L LD (date) across fields / Legend in two lines within wreath. Hendin 517; RPC I 4926. VF, black patina with reddish earthen deposits, a little rough. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Herod Antipas is not the only Palestinian whose curiosity is piqued when he
hears of Christ’s ministry (Matt. 14:1–2). Some of the religious authorities
in Jerusalem also want to investigate the carpenter’s son from Nazareth.
Pharisees and scribes from the capital city confront our Lord in today’s
passage (15:1). These men are likely official representatives of the Pharisaic
and scribal movements, both of which the common folk hold in high esteem.
Our Savior has encountered little but antagonism from the scribes and
Pharisees in Galilee (12:1–14, 22–32), and the Jerusalem scholars treat Him no differently. They criticize Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands
according to the oral laws (15:2). As we have seen, the scribes and Pharisees
carefully observed a fence many of their forefathers had built around the
Mosaic law (Torah). This fence was made up of oral traditions that, if kept,
ensured that the letter of the Law would not be broken. For example, consider
the separation of meat and dairy still observed by Orthodox Jews today. This
practice is based ultimately on an oral tradition designed to guarantee
compliance with Deuteronomy 14:21. If meat and dairy are never consumed
together, there is no way a young animal could ever be cooked in its mother’s
milk.
Hand-washing was intended to protect the dietary laws (Lev. 11); eating
without washed hands was not evil in itself. The problem was that such
traditions were put above the weightier matters of the Law (Matt. 23:23). It
is no surprise, then, that Jesus correctly condemns the scribes and Pharisees
for insisting upon the observance of oral traditions (Matt. 15:3–9). They have
been content to keep their money and property for themselves according to an
oral law that allows them to will these things to the Creator after their
death even if an impoverished parent needs support before then. Yet in
exalting this tradition, these scholars actually violate Exodus 20:12, which
orders them to honor their fathers and mothers. They hypocritically accuse
Jesus’ disciples of sin for not obeying a tradition with no divine
authorization while they themselves break the very Word of God for the sake of their man-made commandments.
The concern with outward acts and not the intent of God’s law manifested these particular Pharisees’ blindness to the ultimate source of impurity. Jesus
therefore reminded them that the heart is the true source of corruption, not
the hands, a truth to which the Torah points (Matt. 15:10–20). We manifest a
legalistic heart every time we are critical of others for not observing that
which we love even though they are indifferent matters as far as the Bible is
concerned.
