Unwashed Hands, Unclean Hearts
—Jesus in Matthew 15:1-20
Our text for study is about an occasion in which some scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus and asked why his disciples ate food without washing their hands. Jesus in reply asked them about why they paid lipservice to God but their hearts were far from him (Matthew 15:1-20).
INTRODUCTION
There were three elements among the people gathered, and Jesus addressed each.
- (1) the scribes and Pharisees who came to Jesus with the question about the washing of hands;
- (2) the crowd who gathered to listen to Jesus’s teaching;
- (3) the disciples whom Jesus had chosen.
Matthew 15:1-20
1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat." (Matthew 15:1-2 BSB).
We have divided our text for study (Matthew 15:1-20) into the above introduction, and five more parts as follows...
1 Jesus Answers the Pharisees
Matthew 15:3-6
3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 5 But you say that if anyone says to his father or mother, 'Whatever you would have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6 he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition" (Matthew 15:3-6 BSB).
Jesus answered their question with a question of his own. He did not directly address the subject of washing hands which the scribes and Pharisees questioned him about. Rather he confronted them about a ruse by which they avoided their obligation to honour and support their fathers and mothers (Matthew 15:3-6 BSB).
When Jesus says, "You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition" (Matthew 15:6), that would apply not only directly to the case he stated, about honouring parents, but also to many rules and regulations of the Pharisees’ legal tradition, including handwashing regulations.
Of course we may want to wash our hands before eating, but that's a matter of the flesh, not a matter of the spirit —such as giving thanks to God before we eat. We might teach our children to wash hands before a meal, but that act is of the flesh. Their obedience to parents is of the heart, but the act itself is incidental and not commanded like obedience is (Ephesians 6:1).
When Jesus tells the Pharisees, "You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition" (Matthew 15:3-6) Jesus makes that distinction between God’s word and human rules of the flesh. In his church we are to honour and teach the word of God not the teachings of men. Now Jesus takes this further with a blistering rebuke...
2 Jesus Rebukes the Pharisees
Matthew 15:7-9
7 "You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8 'These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.'" (Matthew 15:7-9 BSB Isaiah 29:13).
In the above passage, notice the four accusations, or we might say the four "buts" that our Lord makes against the scribes and Pharisees...
- They looked righteous on the outside, but most were hypocrites. Their hearts and minds were corrupt.
- They mouthed honour to God, but they moved their hearts far away from him.
- They worshipped God, but their worship was vain.
- They taught the people, but they spoke human precepts rather than the word of God.
This sort of thing was not confined to the religious leaders of Jesus's day. Jesus was quoting Isaiah a prophet of long ago. Even in his day there was the same hypocrisy and corruption of alienated hearts (Isaiah 29:13).
Although Jesus did not engage with the Pharisees directly about defilement through unwashed hands, he wanted the crowd to know the plain and simple truth. So he called the crowd and set them straight...
3 Jesus Addresses the Crowd
Matthew 15:10-11
10 Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, "Listen and understand. 11 A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it." (Matthew 15:10-11 BSB).
Jesus is not saying that if a man swallows poison it won't hurt him. That was true only of miraculous signs (Mark 15:15-18). Jesus is saying that whatever goes into the mouth does not defile a man spiritually. It is the heart that thinks evil, and causes the mouth to speak evil, and that defiles the man. We will come back to that in the 5th part of our lesson.
4 Jesus Warns His Disciples
Matthew 15:12-14
12 Then the disciples came to Him and said, "Are You aware that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" 13 But Jesus replied, "Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots. 14 Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." (Matthew 15:12-14 BSB).
Jesus likens the Pharisees’ doctrine to bad fruit trees. (Matthew 15:13). On another occasion Jesus said, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit" (Matthew 12:33, BSB). The bad trees were not planted by his Father but by men.
To that parable, Jesus adds the metaphor of the blind leading the blind and both falling into the ditch (Matthew 15:14). The disciples must learn, as Paul later put it, "not to think beyond what is written" (1Corinthians 4:6). Beyond the written word of God, among the doctrines of men, there are many ditches for the spiritually blind to fall into.
5 Jesus Teaches His Disciples
Matthew 15:15-20
15 Peter said to Him, 'Explain this parable to us.' 16 Jesus asked, "Do you still not understand? 17 Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. 20 These are what defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile him" (Matthew 15:15-20 BSB).
Jesus saw that the disciples still did not understand the issue of eating with unwashed hands and why the Pharisees were hypocritical teachers. He set the disciples straight on that, using plain speech.
Jesus is not talking about hands that have contacted a toxic chemical, pathogen, or contagious disease. Of course any sensible person would immediately and thoroughly wash those hands, not as a religious rule, just an act of sensible precaution.
Jesus is talking about forbidding people to eat unless they have gone through the prescribed hand washing ceremony. Jesus regards this demand as a violation of God’s word.
Cleansing the Heart
The main concern in this passage is what defiles a man making him evil? It is not what goes into the mouth to be swallowed, but the lies and the evil thoughts that come from the spiritual heart, defiling itself and its fleshly man (Matthew 15:15-20).
Can the spiritual heart be cleansed? Yes, our Lord Jesus suffered and died on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (Hebrews 9:24-28, 1John 2:1-2).
He was buried and arose so that one’s spiritual heart could be cleansed of all its evil and inherit eternal life. The words of grace and truth, coming from that clean heart, bless the outward man with a new life of service to God (Matthew 16:21, Romans ch.6).