Matthew 15–16

That Which Defiles

15:1–20pp—Mk 7:1–23

15Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ²“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”^q

³Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’^ar and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’^{bs 5}But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ ⁶they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

⁸“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

⁹They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules.^t’^cu”

¹⁰Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them,^v but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”^w

¹²Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

¹³He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted^x will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴Leave them; they are blind guides.^dy If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”^z

¹⁵Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”^a

¹⁶“Are you still so dull?”^b Jesus asked them. ¹⁷“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? ¹⁸But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart,^c and these defile them. ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.^{d 20}These are what defile a person;^e but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

15:21–28pp—Mk 7:24–30

²¹Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.^{f 22}A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David,^g have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”^h

²³Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

²⁴He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”ⁱ

²⁵The woman came and knelt before him.^j “Lord, help me!” she said.

²⁶He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁷“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

²⁸Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith!^k Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

15:29–31pp—Mk 7:31–37 15:32–39pp—Mk 8:1–10 15:32–39Ref—Mt 14:13–21

²⁹Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. ³⁰Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.^{l 31}The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.^m

³²Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people;ⁿ they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

³³His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”

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

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

³⁵He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them^o and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. ³⁷They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.^{p 38}The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

The Demand for a Sign

16:1–12pp—Mk 8:11–21

16The Pharisees and Sadducees^q came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.^r

²He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ ³and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.^{as 4}A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.”^t Jesus then left them and went away.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

⁵When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. ⁶“Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”^u

⁷They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith,^v why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? ⁹Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?^{w 10}Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?^{x 11}How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹²Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.^y

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

16:13–16pp—Mk 8:27–29; Lk 9:18–20

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist;^z others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”^a

¹⁵“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”^b

¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood,^c but by my Father in heaven.^{d 18}And I tell you that you are Peter,^be and on this rock I will build my church,^f and the gates of Hades^c will not overcome it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys^g of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^d bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^e loosed in heaven.”^{h 20}Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyoneⁱ that he was the Messiah.

Jesus Predicts His Death

16:21–28pp—Mk 8:31–9:1; Lk 9:22–27

²¹From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem^j and suffer many things^k at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law,^l and that he must be killed^m and on the third dayⁿ be raised to life.^o

²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

²³Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!^p You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.^{q 25}For whoever wants to save their life^f will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.^{r 26}What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man^s is going to come^t in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.^u

²⁸“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”