"Pharisee's Blasphemy of The Holy Spirit

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THE PARABLES OF JESUS, #023
A Chronological Study

"To Him who opened His mouth in parables and
uttered things hidden since the creation of the world."
Psalm 78:2

Parable #23

"The Heart of Man"
Matthew 15:10-20; Mark 7:14-23

Mt 15:1-9; (background to the Parable)

The Question: What rules your life, The Word of God or traditions? The answer has to do with the condition of the human heart.

A Brief Summary – so that we may know where we’re heading:

Man was created by God with free will for it would be the determining factor as to whether one truly belonged to God or not. God’s program included “the Fall,” the demonstration of His power to “sort” people by placing them into a world that required both good and bad choices, decisions, and actions. He had also placed this world under the dominion of the evil one, Satan, who had been cast here, out of heaven, for the outworking of God’s plan for man. Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisees from Jerusalem (they had come to Galilee in order to “catch” Him in a religious blaspheme and have Him tried and found guilty… and killed) would demonstrate to His disciples the importance of God’s Word over the falsehoods of these false religious leaders. Then He would move on to demonstrate that, because of the fall, the human heart was “desperately wicked,” and then teach His disciples the importance of allowing the Holy Spirit of God to have rule over your human heart in order to choose and make decisions, that result in holy (being according to God’s perfect will) actions. The whole story is brought about to remind them of the coming transition from an old covenant of Law to a New Covenant of Grace, where man’s heart is overseen by the Spirit of God.

First we need to back up to the beginning of the chapter.

THE TEXT and Comment:

[15:1-2] Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

In the background of this question is that there is no law in the Law of God given at Mt. Sinai that says you must wash your hands before eating bread (or any part of a meal). The only statement is to the priesthood in the handling of all things holy, especially their responsibilities in the Tabernacle. The Jewish religious leadership, even from the earliest of times, wrote comments on God’s Law and began the process of making their comment’s decisions into laws they referred to as “Traditions.” The problem with activities like this is that they are brought about as ways to attempt to control the people who are under them. It gives the leadership power. This corruption of God’s word allows leaders to offer a deeper kind of holiness, at least in the minds of their followers. In fact, just the opposite is true, for these leaders disregard the expressed Law of God and seek to offer their corruptions as the way to satisfy the demands of God – thus this is a form of idolatry - God’s word just isn’t good enough for His people.

[15:3-9] And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. ‘But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men’” [Isaiah 29:13].

Your first thought was probably, “What does honoring my father and mother have to do with washing my hands before eating bread?” First, we have Jesus, the very Son of God. The one who breathed the entire universe into existence. The one who would know everything there is to know about the Law of God and any attempted perversion of it. Immediately He sees the totality of this problem. What the Pharisees said to Him was a perversion of God’s Law.

The flow is a little complicated but…

1. The Law in Leviticus 20:9 states:

‘If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his bloodguiltiness is upon him.’

You must also remember that the nation of Israel was no ordinary nation. They were specifically chosen by God to be His holy nation, guided by His holy Law. As His chosen people they were to be holy. They were under a unilateral covenant with almighty God and absolutely responsible under the Law of God. Under God’s holy law – you could not curse your father or mother, if you did… the penalty was death.

2. The rabbis added by oral tradition:
"A son is bound to provide his father meat and drink, to clothe him, to cover him, to lead him in and out, to wash his face, hands and feet. A son is bound to nourish his father, yea, to beg for him."

3. The scriptures and the new oral tradition made life too hard for some who did not want the responsibilities of their parents placed upon them (or their wallets), and they modified their oral tradition so they could avoid any responsibility for their parents. They could say that their resources had been dedicated (as a sacrifice) to God or the Temple… thus, a brand new tradition… called, “Corban” (Heb. “Drawing near” to God) [Mark 7:11].

It’s right here that we need to mention Jesus bringing up Isaiah’s prophecy (from the Spirit of God) about the Jewish religious leadership [Isaiah 29:13].
A. This people honors Me with their lips
B. But their heart is far away from Me
C. They worship me in vain, because
D. They teach the precepts of men as My doctrine

4. Jesus labels them “Hypocrites [people with masks on hiding their true faces],” in the act of attempting to appear holy by calling their selfishness “a gift to God.”

The Pharisees had neglected to remember Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can understand it."

The Pharisees were looking to find blame to place upon Jesus – blame that would accumulate into a Jewish court that could find Him guilty with a death penalty. Jesus’ response finds his persecutors guilty of disregarding the holiness of God’s word and Law and replacing it with rules that would be like being blind and leading others (who choose to follow the blind) who are blind themselves.

The Heart Of Man – The Root Cause

Matthew 15:10-20 and Mark 7:14-23

We’ll still use our method of taking the best sentences, and ideas, from both of the two places in the scriptures where this story is told. Matthew 15:10-20 and Mark 7:14-23. Here’s the result.

THE TEXT
[Mt 15:10-14] After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

Jesus tells His disciples that they need to be aware that this problem is a human problem. He refers them to Jeremiah 17:9, which is in a revelation by Almighty God that begins back in chapter 16. The whole book is about the stark differences between the Glory of the Lord and the unrighteousness and failure of the nation of Israel. In God’s revelation He tells us that without the Spirit of God directing a man’s (woman’s or child’s) brain and heart (thoughts and feelings) nothing will result that is not “desperately wicked,” for that is the fallen human condition.

Jesus tells His disciples, and us centuries later, that this was the problem with Israel (and the Pharisaic heart) in His day. Their minds and their emotions are devoid of the Spirit of God and therefore contaminated fully, and “desperately wicked.” Their problem is not what they eat or drink, or whether their hands are clean or not… Their problem is what comes out of their mouths as the result of their minds and hearts being, once again, “desperately wicked.” Wicked enough to desire the death of God’s own Son, their promised “Anointed One, Messiah,” for their own purposes.

Then the disciples *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended [lit., caused to stumble] when they heard this statement?”

I’m always amazed, and probably shouldn’t be, at the words and actions of Jesus’ disciples. Really?... the Pharisees were offended when He told them they were blind guides guiding a blind people? But then again, Jesus has just explained to them the much bigger problem – a problem that the disciples are in too. They have been under the desperately wicked teaching of these Pharisees for all of their lives – until Jesus came alongside them. How clouded their minds must have been as they grappled with what they knew and felt versus what Jesus was teaching them to know and feel. And, as of yet, they have not yet been introduced to God’s indwelling Spirit – that is yet to come for them.

But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides [“of the blind” – added later]. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

I can just imagine the disciples just staring at Jesus after He said this. I’m sure it is a lot easier for us to discern what He meant that it was for them. His statement about plants is quite profound, but said in the simplest of terms. The Father sows the seed, it falls on different kinds of soil, Weeds grow up that look like the planted plants, and Jesus tells His disciples, “Leave them alone.” I was brought up on a farm. It is if I can hear my father’s words concerning farm animals who refuse to get along with each other, “Leave them alone, they’re headed for the slaughter.” Jesus says, “Leave them alone…” they are destined to fall into the Pit.”

There are things we cannot change. One of those things is when the blind leads the blind. The inference is the Pharisees. Jesus is not concerned that they were offended by His answer… They were already lost in their oral traditions that deviated away from God’s written Law given through Moses. God’s will was not to their liking, so they wrote their own laws to replace God’s will. They were blind, they led the Jews who were blind, and “If a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Perhaps we should say, “The Pit,” because this blind guides would lead Jesus to the Cross and they would forever bear that responsibility… in the Pit… of Hell.

[Mk 7:14-17] again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.” “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” [this last statement is not in the earliest manuscripts, however it is the words of Jesus found elsewhere and an it is important thread in our studies of the parables – so I’ll leave it in.]

When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him once again about the parable.

[Mt 15:15-18] Peter [lit., answered and] said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.”

Jesus said [lit., and He said], “Are you still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? [lit., thrown out into the latrine]. But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.” [Mk7:19b] (Thus He declared all foods clean.)

[Mk 7:20-23] And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications [i.e., sexual immorality], thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy [lit., an evil eye], slander, pride [or arrogance] and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS

“Have you understood all these things?”

1. What rules your life, the Word of God or Traditions?

2. Are there any Laws or Traditions that you keep to make yourself more holy?

3. Do you belong to a church that imposes rules on you that are not God’s revelation in His Word?

4. Is your heart desperately wicked?

5. Why did Jesus tell the crowd that it is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth?

6. Why was it that Jesus’ disciples “didn’t get it” when He told them spiritual information?

7. Where does evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness come from?

FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS

“Have you understood all these things?”

1. What rules your life, the Word of God or Traditions?

Many Christians live with rules for themselves because believing that God’s grace has made them ready for His heaven just isn’t enough. We live in a world that is governed by rules. If we don’t keep them… then we are penalized by the law keepers. God doesn’t work that way. In the midst of our sin He has offered us complete forgiveness – if we will love and follow Him, His Son, and His Spirit (He is, after all, One God).

2. Are there any Laws or Traditions that you keep to make yourself more holy?

As an older Christian I can point to a whole generation who would not play cards, go dancing, have a drink, go to the movies… because it would keep us from begin holy – but holy in a different way than reliance upon the saving grace that Jesus on the Cross brought to us.

3. Do you belong to a church that imposes rules on you that are not God’s revelation in His Word?

This is one of those questions that we need to explore deep inside ourselves. There’s no problem with church constitutions and by-laws, as long as they are not a corporate effort to make, and keep, you holier than God’s word asks of you. For attempting to be holy, apart from the desires of God’s word, makes you an idolator – seeking an holiness and righteousness that the Word does not require.

4. Is your heart desperately wicked?

YES! Does Jesus know this? YES! Does Jesus forgive you for it? YES, if you have given Him your heart and will.

5. Why did Jesus tell the crowd that it is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth?

It takes submission to God’s will and His absolute love through His Son, Jesus, the Christ to control what our heart tells us to think, do, and say. That comes with studying God’s Word, and submission to His absolute will, and often—years of dedication and experience.

6. Why was it that Jesus’ disciples “didn’t get it” when He told them spiritual information?

His chosen disciples were brought up in a culture where the grace of God, through a promised savior, was just a saying and a dream. When Jesus came upon the scene they were not prepared. It was God’s ultimate plan for them to be exposed to Jesus’ teachings for about 3 years and then for the disciples to lose Him in Crucifixion. It was God’s plan, as well, for His disciples to become aware of Jesus’ teachings through and after His resurrection and His living re-introduction to them – It certainly changed their lives.

7. Where does evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness come from?

They come from inside the human heart. Since the Fall, our hearts are desperately wicked, and we live in a world owned and operated by a desperately wicked ex-angel – Satan. It is only by the grace of God that we can escape this wickedness and begin a new life of holiness through God’s amazing grace.

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References:

Matt 15:1-20; Mk 7:1-23; Mk 3:22; 7:1; Jn 1:19; Acts 25:7; Luke 11:38

Preceding Account:

Mt 15:1-9 (Refs: Leviticus 22:1-16)

The Pharisees and scribes ... Why do your disciples break tradition... not washing their hands when eating bread?

[Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16; Ex 21:17; Lev 20:9 (law concerning Parents)]

Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and scribes for declaring a tradition that allows them to neglect their fathers and mothers when in need by saying all their wealth has been dedicated to God.

He quotes Isaiah 29:13

"This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." (Refs: Col 2:22)

Mt 15:10-20

15:11 Mt 15:18; Acts 10:14-15; 1 Tim 4:3 External washings could not keep the Pharisees (or anyone else) spiritually clean.

15:13 Is 60:21; 61:3; John 15:2; 1 Cor 3:9

15:14 Mt 23:16, 24; Luke 6:39

15:15 "the parable" The reference is to vs 11

15:18 Mt 12:34; Mk 7:20

15:19 Gal 5:19ff

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