Tradition & Hypocrisy of the Elders (Mt. 15:1-20)

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash [their] hands when they eat a meal.”  3 He said to them in reply, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?  4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’  5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is dedicated to God,” 6 need not honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God for the sake of your tradition.  7 Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said:  8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.’”  10 He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand.  11 It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”  12 Then his disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”  13 He said in reply, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.  14 Let them alone; they are blind guides (of the blind). If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit.”  15 Then Peter said to him in reply, “Explain [this] parable to us.”  16 He said to them, “Are even you still without understanding?  17 Do you not realize that everything that enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine?  18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile.  19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy.  20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.'

The Pharisees and scribes who were scholars of the Law came from Jerusalem to attack Jesus.  They complained that his disciples did not follow the oral ceremonial tradition of the elders by washing their hands before, during, and after meals.  Jesus responded first to the Pharisees and Scribes, then to the crowd, and finally, he explained the parable to his Disciples.  He turned the complaint of the Pharisees and scribes into a much broader discussion on what true defilement is.

Jesus accused the Pharisees and scribes of transgressing God’s law (the Torah) to comply with their human traditions and rules which were interpretations of the Torah by the early Rabbis.  Those interpretations had been handed down orally and were blindly followed by the religious leaders.  Their blind adherence to those oral traditions had led them to transgress God’s Law.  Jesus gave them an example where the oral tradition allowed them to circumvent the commandment to honor one’s mother and father (Ex. 20:12, 21:17; Deut. 5:16) by taking a vow dedicating their property to God – ‘Qorban’ (Mk. 7:11-12).  That allowed them to isolate the property from claims and avoid the responsibility of caring for their parents.  The prophet Isaiah had accused the Israelites of observing the Law through human motives and Jesus accused the Pharisees and scribes of observing the Law through human traditions (Is. 29:13).  By so doing they showed contempt for God’s Law.  They outwardly expressed devotion but did not have genuine devotion to God in their hearts.

Jesus explained to the crowd and to the disciples that it is not ritual cleanliness that defiled a person but the words and intentions from the heart that defiled a person (vv. 10-11).  The disciples realized that the Pharisees and the experts in the Law were offended by Jesus’ words.  The disciples would not understand the deeper meaning of Jesus’ words until Jesus had ascended and Peter was given a vision indicating that no food was profane (Acts 10:9-15).  Jesus told the disciples that the Pharisees were blind and only those who were blind themselves would follow them on the path of spiritual destruction.  Peter asked Jesus to explain the parable.  Jesus told the disciples that food goes through a digestive process but has no impact on the soul therefore it does not defile a person.  However, the thoughts and words that come from the depths of the heart are what defile (Mt. 12:34).  The evangelist then gave examples of thoughts and actions that defiled a person.

Almighty God, our deepest yearning is to be with you and to serve you in the way you want to be served.  Grant us the grace to live the commandments in truth and with pure hearts.  This we pray through Christ our Lord.  Amen!

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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.

                Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.