Matthew 15

15 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.” ³ He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said,^[a] ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ ⁵ But you say that whoever tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,’^[b] then that person need not honor the father.^{[c] 6} So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word^[d] of God. ⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly 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 human precepts as doctrines.’”

Things That Defile

¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” ¹² Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” ¹³ He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.^[e] And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵ But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶ Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

The Canaanite Woman’s Faith

²¹ Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Jesus Cures Many People

²⁹ After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. ³⁰ Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, ³¹ so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Feeding the Four Thousand

³² Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” ³³ The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” ³⁴ Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ³⁸ Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹ After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.^[f]

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^{At what point do you think that the disciples feel bad about themselves and how much of Jesus' message they are absorbing?  I mean...on top of just not getting some simple teaching and trying to remove people who are seeking healing they look at the crowd and lament, "Where could we possibly get enough food to feed this group of 4,000?"  It was not that long ago...just last chapter, in fact, that they were faced with a group of over 5,000.  This time they have fewer people, more food and the experience of having seen Jesus perform just this kind of miracle...yet they still see it as impossible.}

^{Granted, even though there are fewer people and more food, there is still no earthly way that you can stretch 7 loaves of bread and a few fish into a meal for thousands of people.  They still need a miracle; they just should be able to remember what Jesus can do with "just barely enough."}

^{Memory is a funny thing.  It is fluid, not solid.  Our memories reflect our priorities and perspectives as well as our interpretation of how and why different events happened.  If you listen to my wife and I tell our versions of the same events, you will get wildly different accounts.}

^{It is easy for us to forget what God can do and what God has done for us.  The pressures and stresses of today make us question whether God will come through, even though He has repeatedly (in the exact same way).  This is true for me in three significant arenas: prayer, rest and money.  Every month I wonder if we will have enough money come in at work and at home in order for us to survive.  For 15 years money has been tight and for 15 years we have made it to the next month.  At some point it will sink in.} 

^{Prayer and rest are forgotten in the torrent of life.  I forget how good they both are for me and my family.  I forget that they are the foundation that is required for all the work that I do through the week.  God repeatedly calls me back to prayer and I am amazed by how good it is for my soul and how much easier my daily work becomes.  And then I get too busy and my soul and daily routine become frenzied and stressful again.  God invites me to rest, to sabbath, and I promise that I will get around to it as soon as I get a few more things done.  I forget over and over again about the good things that God wants to do in me and through me.}  

^{Why is that?  Well, I have kids.  I know what selective hearing looks like and it looks a lot like this "forgetting."  I do not think we forget.  I think we choose not to believe.  We have a paradigm of how the world works and what our place is in it.  We have a belief of how God is supposed to work.  The pieces of our experience that confirm those opinions, we hold onto.  The pieces of our experience that contradict those opinions give us two choices: dismiss them and cling to our views OR be changed by them.}  

^{My paradigm is centered upon earning.  Earning money.  Earning respect.  Earning acceptance and love and grace.  It is dependent upon me and my skills and my effort and my success.  There is an idolatry located not too far under the surface that God is eager to break me of, so I find myself in jobs and situations where we rely on donations and give away opportunities for respect.  I find myself called to accept freely given love and grace.  It chafes, but it is the only way to life and the deepest desires of my heart.  May we be transformed and move past our "forgetting."}