These last few Memos have focused on Jesus' attempts to help His disciples have new thoughts that would enable them and us to unlock the power of our thinking. This week, we go to Matthew 15 and find another encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees, whose thinking was distorted by tradition and assumptions of what God would want in certain situations. As you read on, do not look to add to your already negative view of the Pharisees but with an eye to determine if you are like they were in this story.
WASHED UP
The Pharisees approached the finest teacher of their day who was impacting the entire nation to ask Him a question. Did they choose to ask something important that would contribute to a deeper understanding of God? They did not, but instead wanted to know why He didn't wash His hands:
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” (Matthew 15:1-2).
When the Pharisees washed, they scrubbed carefully all the way up to their elbows, but they never observed Jesus doing the same. Therefore, they approached the King of the universe to talk about their tradition of how far up their arm one should cleanse before eating. That is the power tradition has not only on your thinking but on your ability to discern God's priorities. You eventually assume your tradition is what God wants and should be observed by everyone.
Jesus summarized what they had done by saying, "Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition" (15:6b). Jesus then turned to the crowd and delivered a short teaching: “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them (15:10-11). His words had the double effect of teaching the people and rebuking the Pharisees, who were increasingly becoming "washed up" and irrelevant to God and the people because of their useless traditions.
"YOU DON'T GET IT"
The disciples came to Jesus and inquired, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” (15:12). Jesus then gave them some advice that you would be wise to follow as well: "Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit" (15:14). Jesus essentially told them to stop paying attention to the voice of tradition and listen to Him! At this point, I am sure you are thinking if not saying aloud, "Yes, that's right. Listen to the voice of God!" Before you get too smug in your appraisal, however, look a little farther:
Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them" (15:16-18).
The disciples did not get the real message because they were as steeped in the tradition as the Pharisees. They didn't get what Jesus was saying and He went on to explain that He wasn't referring to hand washing or foods to eat (or not) but the condition of the heart. What did Jesus do next? He took the men on a field trip to demonstrate His lesson, just like He is trying to do for you:
"Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly'" (15:21-22). After hearing her request, Jesus said, "“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs" (15:26). Isn't it interesting that Matthew connected this story in his gospel narrative so closely to the hand-washing, heart-condition lesson Jesus had just taught? He did so to clearly show them the bottom line of His teaching.
When Jesus spoke to this woman in what seemed to be such a harsh way, He was mirroring for the men their own heart attitude toward women, Gentiles, and people in need. They heard it, saw it, and saw Jesus' response in healing the woman's daughter, but still didn't get it." How do I know this? I know because in Acts 10:13-15, a vision of a sheet came to Peter:
Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
Peter had heard Jesus' teaching in Matthew 15 but still a few years later he was clinging to his kosher ways while also considering Gentiles unclean. Just like in Matthew 15 when Jesus took the men to the encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman, after his sheet vision Jesus took Peter to the home of the Roman centurion Cornelius. Even though Jesus had spoken to Peter and taught him face to face, he still didn't get it. There is a good chance we are in the same condition.
Where is your tradition, whether it be what you do or believe, keeping you from hearing and doing the will of God? Where have you assumed that your tradition is the absolute will of God for all people, not just you? Where is your thinking dull like Peter's was? Where is your prejudice keeping your from seeing others as God sees them? From seeing yourself as God sees you?
If you are going to unlock the power of your thinking, you have to ruthlessly examine your thoughts and jettison any that you got from a bad teaching or the result of the way you processed a good teaching. Hearing from the Lord is not enough, as Matthew 15 shows us. We must hear and then examine all our thoughts and ways in the light of what we've heard to determine if we are walking in a way pleasing to the Lord or in the way of tradition. Have a blessed week.
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GIVE A KID A CHRISTMAS: I ask you to consider a $25 gift to help an orphan in Kenya celebrate Christmas this year. The money will buy one a new set of clothes, have a Christmas dinner, and perhaps received some candy. Please read more here and then give as the Lord leads. Thank you and Merry Christmas!
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