Matthew 15–16

The Tradition of the Elders

15Then ^cPharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked, ^d2“Why do Your disciples ^ebreak the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat!” ^fg

³He answered them, “And why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? ⁴For God said: ^h

Honor your father and your mother; ^ij and,

The one who speaks evil of father or mother

must be put to death. ^kl

⁵But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple”— ⁶he does not have to honor his father.’ ^mIn this way, you have revoked God’s word ⁿbecause of your tradition. ⁷Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:

⁸These people ^ohonor Me with their lips,

but their heart is far from Me.

⁹They worship Me in vain,

teaching as doctrines the commands of men.” ^pq

Defilement Is from Within

¹⁰Summoning the crowd, He told them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles ^ra man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” ^s

¹²Then the disciples came up and told Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard this statement?”

¹³He replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted. ^t14Leave them alone! They are blind guides. ^uAnd if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.” ^v

¹⁵Then Peter replied to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” ^w

¹⁶“Are even you still lacking in understanding?” He ^xasked. ¹⁷“Don’t you realize ^ythat whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? ^z18But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a man. ^a19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, ^bblasphemies. ^c20These are the things that defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” ^d

A Gentile Mother’s Faith

²¹When Jesus left there, ^eHe withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon. ^f22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, ^g“Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly tormented by a demon.” ^h

²³Yet He did not say a word to her. So His disciples ⁱapproached Him and urged Him, “Send her away because she cries out after us.” ^j

²⁴He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ^k

²⁵But she came, knelt before Him, and said, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs.” ^l

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table!”

²⁸Then Jesus replied to her, “^•Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment ^mher daughter was cured. ⁿ

Healing Many People

²⁹Moving on from there, ^oJesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. ^pHe went up on a mountain and sat there, ³⁰and large crowds came to Him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at His feet, and He healed them. ³¹So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the deformed restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. ^qAnd they gave glory to the God of Israel.

Feeding 4,000

³²Now Jesus summoned His disciples and said, ^r“I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry; otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

³³The disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place ^sto fill such a crowd?”

³⁴“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.

“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶He took the seven loaves and the fish, and He gave thanks, broke them, and kept on giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ^t37They all ate and were filled. Then they collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. ³⁸Now those who ate were 4,000 men, besides women and children. ³⁹After dismissing the crowds, He got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. ^uv

The Yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees

16The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, ^wand as a test, asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. ^x

²He answered them: “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.’ ³And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You ^yknow how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times. ^z4An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of ^aJonah.” ^bThen He left them and went away.

⁵The disciples reached the other shore, ^cand they had forgotten to take bread.

⁶Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the yeast ^dof the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ^e

⁷And they discussed among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith! ^fWhy are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? ⁹Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you collected? ¹⁰Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many large baskets you collected? ^g11Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?” ^{h 12}Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the yeast in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. ⁱ

Peter’s Confession of the Messiah

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, ^jkHe asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the ^•Son of Man is?” ^l

¹⁴And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ^m

¹⁵“But you,” He asked them, “who do you say that I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” ⁿ

¹⁷And Jesus responded, “Simon son of Jonah, ^opyou are blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in heaven. ^q18And I also say to you that you are Peter, ^rand on this rock ^sI will build My church, ^tand the forces ^uof ^•Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, ^vand whatever you bind on earth is already bound ^win heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed ^xin heaven.”

²⁰And He gave the disciples orders to tell no one that He was ^ythe Messiah. ^z

His Death and Resurrection Predicted

²¹From ^athen on Jesus began to point out to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day. ^b22Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, “Oh no, ^cLord! This will never happen to You!”

²³But He turned and told Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, ^dbut man’s.” ^e

Take Up Your Cross

²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. ^f25For whoever wants to save his ^•life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it. ^g26What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? ^h27For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, ⁱand then He will reward each according to what he has done. ^28•I assure you: There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” ^j