Defiled with sweetness
This week's study is on Matthew 15:7-14:
These verses come from a time when some respected church leaders came from Jerusalem to see Jesus in action. They were upset that Jesus and his disciples were doing things differently and were like "Why are you guys reinventing the wheel? We have a system and it works. You guys are in rebellion." In actuality, the Pharisees were the ones to have rebelled against God, and Jesus gives them an example, which then leads us up to these verses.
Always a Bible quiz champion, Jesus is able to quote some verses from Isaiah that apply to the situation. But then he goes on to say that what comes out of your mouth can defile you. But what the Pharisees were saying was religious and clean. How can you defile yourself by saying good things and trying to help others?
The problem for the Pharisees was that they had set up a system of religious control, and forgot about the holy God they were there to serve. They would tell people "If you don't do X, Y, and Z, you're offending God," when God wasn't offended. They would do great acts of charity and give great religious speeches, but only to boost their reputation and thereby boost their power. Their lips praised God, but not with sincerity. Their words trumpeted their lack of love instead.
The system of control had continued to the point where the Pharisees relied on their system more than they relied on God. "We wash our hands before we eat." "We fast during this festival and celebrate during that one." "We only eat organic fair trade food and always recycle." The result was that when they encountered Jesus, the holy and flawless perfect son of God himself, they came to him as self-appointed missionaries to tell him how he and his group were falling short of their precious system of rules and taboos.
The Pharisees' self righteousness came from a bunch of practices that had been handed down from men like them, not from the revelation and love of God himself. One revered leader had decided one day "We should do X." Another decided "We should do Y instead of Q." Another simply did Z and everyone followed along without knowing why. It was like a snowball that rolled downhill, accumulating more and more rules and taboos, until it reached Jesus.
Jesus' response to them is plain and simple. He points out their complete lack of love. The Pharisees are offended. They may have had thoughts like "Who is this guy who thinks he has a better idea?!" or "Who is this guy who hasn't studied under any of us, who suddenly has the audacity to tell us how to be righteous!" But even to express offense at Jesus' rebuke of their rebuke is defiling. How can a man or group of men set themselves up as the broker of God's righteousness and approval? At best they could be star players, but never the referees! The offense they took at being corrected shows that they saw themselves as God's mediators and referees, not fellow players with the rest of Israel.
This isn't to say that we should look down on the Pharisees with contempt. Quite the opposite. If we're looking down on the Pharisees for their religious behavior, it's as good a sign as any that we're just like the Pharisees! The Pharisees wanted to be righteous like the rest of us, but had simply wandered onto the wrong path and gotten caught up in it. When Jesus calls them blind guides, that's what he's saying. They were on the wrong track without knowing it, and anyone who followed them would end up trapped along with them. Even if they were following them just to keep yelling at them for being lost!
Jesus' advice for dealing with Pharisees is simple. Leave them. If you run into someone who is full of sweetness, but seems to want to run your life for you, leave them. You're not going to out-pharisee a pharisee. The risk is that you'll turn into one trying to please them or trying to fight them. They say "We all need to be doing X, Y, and Z," but it's their vision, not God's. But God says that anything he hasn't planted will be pulled up by the roots. Why invest into something that is going to be pulled up by the roots?
If a guide leads you blindly into a trap, you're both trapped. But who is going to take the greater blame, the leader or the follower? To follow someone who is on the wrong path, you're not loving them. Is it love to risk getting more blame put on them if you both fall? Isn't the more compassionate choice to leave them, removing the millstone of blame that will be put around their neck? Jesus' words, while seeming to call for rebellion, are words of love both for the Pharisee and the people in bondage to them. Why should both be defiled?
If we follow mere rules of men, or the men who make those rules, our worship is in vain. All of the good things our mouths say, and the good intentions we have, are for nothing.
You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’”
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “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.”
Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
These verses come from a time when some respected church leaders came from Jerusalem to see Jesus in action. They were upset that Jesus and his disciples were doing things differently and were like "Why are you guys reinventing the wheel? We have a system and it works. You guys are in rebellion." In actuality, the Pharisees were the ones to have rebelled against God, and Jesus gives them an example, which then leads us up to these verses.
Always a Bible quiz champion, Jesus is able to quote some verses from Isaiah that apply to the situation. But then he goes on to say that what comes out of your mouth can defile you. But what the Pharisees were saying was religious and clean. How can you defile yourself by saying good things and trying to help others?
The problem for the Pharisees was that they had set up a system of religious control, and forgot about the holy God they were there to serve. They would tell people "If you don't do X, Y, and Z, you're offending God," when God wasn't offended. They would do great acts of charity and give great religious speeches, but only to boost their reputation and thereby boost their power. Their lips praised God, but not with sincerity. Their words trumpeted their lack of love instead.
The system of control had continued to the point where the Pharisees relied on their system more than they relied on God. "We wash our hands before we eat." "We fast during this festival and celebrate during that one." "We only eat organic fair trade food and always recycle." The result was that when they encountered Jesus, the holy and flawless perfect son of God himself, they came to him as self-appointed missionaries to tell him how he and his group were falling short of their precious system of rules and taboos.
The Pharisees' self righteousness came from a bunch of practices that had been handed down from men like them, not from the revelation and love of God himself. One revered leader had decided one day "We should do X." Another decided "We should do Y instead of Q." Another simply did Z and everyone followed along without knowing why. It was like a snowball that rolled downhill, accumulating more and more rules and taboos, until it reached Jesus.
Jesus' response to them is plain and simple. He points out their complete lack of love. The Pharisees are offended. They may have had thoughts like "Who is this guy who thinks he has a better idea?!" or "Who is this guy who hasn't studied under any of us, who suddenly has the audacity to tell us how to be righteous!" But even to express offense at Jesus' rebuke of their rebuke is defiling. How can a man or group of men set themselves up as the broker of God's righteousness and approval? At best they could be star players, but never the referees! The offense they took at being corrected shows that they saw themselves as God's mediators and referees, not fellow players with the rest of Israel.
This isn't to say that we should look down on the Pharisees with contempt. Quite the opposite. If we're looking down on the Pharisees for their religious behavior, it's as good a sign as any that we're just like the Pharisees! The Pharisees wanted to be righteous like the rest of us, but had simply wandered onto the wrong path and gotten caught up in it. When Jesus calls them blind guides, that's what he's saying. They were on the wrong track without knowing it, and anyone who followed them would end up trapped along with them. Even if they were following them just to keep yelling at them for being lost!
Jesus' advice for dealing with Pharisees is simple. Leave them. If you run into someone who is full of sweetness, but seems to want to run your life for you, leave them. You're not going to out-pharisee a pharisee. The risk is that you'll turn into one trying to please them or trying to fight them. They say "We all need to be doing X, Y, and Z," but it's their vision, not God's. But God says that anything he hasn't planted will be pulled up by the roots. Why invest into something that is going to be pulled up by the roots?
If a guide leads you blindly into a trap, you're both trapped. But who is going to take the greater blame, the leader or the follower? To follow someone who is on the wrong path, you're not loving them. Is it love to risk getting more blame put on them if you both fall? Isn't the more compassionate choice to leave them, removing the millstone of blame that will be put around their neck? Jesus' words, while seeming to call for rebellion, are words of love both for the Pharisee and the people in bondage to them. Why should both be defiled?
If we follow mere rules of men, or the men who make those rules, our worship is in vain. All of the good things our mouths say, and the good intentions we have, are for nothing.
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