WHAT FLOWS FROM WITHIN.
Matthew 15:10-28.
I). The War Against Sin.
Matthew 15:10-20.
MATTHEW 15:10-11. Jesus turned away from the Pharisees and summoned the crowd to Himself. “Hear and understand,” He taught. Despite what the Pharisees might teach, “it is NOT that which goes into the mouth which defiles a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, THIS defiles a man.”
MATTHEW 15:12-13. The disciples informed Jesus that the Pharisees were offended at this saying, but Jesus answered with timeless teaching concerning the root of evil. We show no mercy to the weeds in our garden, and likewise we must recognise that the Lord will ultimately uproot all false teachers.
MATTHEW 15:14. “Let them alone,” He continued. Such “blind leaders of the blind” will fall into the ditch of their own error, taking their victims with them!
MATTHEW 15:15-16. Peter, no doubt speaking on behalf of all the disciples, asked for further clarification of what Jesus was teaching. It remained “a parable” to them. Jesus scolded their lack of understanding.
MATTHEW 15:17-20. The answer is that sin does not consist in that which we put in our mouths (cf. Matthew 15:11). Sin begins in the heart, and from thence proceeds out of the mouth, thus defiling the man.
‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked’ (cf. Jeremiah 17:9). We speak the wickedness within into existence without. Words are powerful!
Jesus taught elsewhere that adultery begins in the heart when a man looks lustfully on a woman. The sin is entertained in the heart long before it gives expression in the deed (cf. Matthew 5:28). There is a clarion call to engage the enemy of our souls in the war against sin (cf. Hebrews 12:4).
Since sin begins in the heart, we must place the remedy there. That remedy is the Word of God (cf. Psalm 119:11). We renew our minds as we meditate upon the revealed will of God (cf. Romans 12:2).
And the ultimate cure for all evil is found in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Cross of Calvary. And His subsequent resurrection.
II). A Crumb From the Table.
Matthew 15:21-28.
In the earlier part of the chapter, Jesus had disputed with some Scribes and Pharisees about ritual and tradition; and had taught those who would hear that defilement does not come from without, but from within. It is also true to say that FAITH flows from within, as the next incident demonstrates. Faith arises in the heart and comes forth out of the mouth (cf. Romans 10:8-10).
MATTHEW 15:21. Our Lord travelled northwards into the region of Tyre and Sidon, in modern-day Lebanon.
MATTHEW 15:22. We meet here "a woman of Canaan" whose daughter was “grievously vexed with a devil.” This alerts us to the fact, straight away, that the girl had a spiritual battle going on within her. Our battle is not against flesh and blood (cf. Ephesians 6:12). Sometimes, often, that battle is going on within us.
It is good when parents bring the needs of their children to Jesus. We should pray for them constantly and, like this woman, persistently. Her cry amounted to a statement of faith: “O Lord, thou son of David…”
MATTHEW 15:23. Now this woman was a Gentile, a non-Jew, and strictly speaking had no claim upon Jesus. Initially, Jesus ignored her. Then His disciples besought Him to send her away.
MATTHEW 15:24. Jesus now explained to the woman, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” When Jesus had sent out the twelve Apostles, He had warned them not to go into the way of the Gentiles, nor to enter any city of the Samaritans (cf. Matthew 10:5). This was His priority for the time being: the gospel was ‘to the Jew first;’ and only then, thankfully, ‘also to the Gentiles’ (cf. Romans 1:16).
MATTHEW 15:25. The faith of the Canaanite woman emerged as she persisted in her petition. “Lord, help me.” This woman’s importunity has much about it to be admired. She was willing to be discouraged, insulted and all but turned away, holding out in her negotiations for her daughter until she got a result.
MATTHEW 15:26. Next Jesus said that it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to (literally) “the little dogs.” The picture is of puppies, waiting to catch the scraps that fall from their masters’ hands. We are reminded, too, that the Jewish leadership often referred to Gentiles as ‘dogs.’
MATTHEW 15:27. However, such was the faith of the woman that she simply accepted the insult and turned it to her advantage. The faith in her heart knew that even a crumb would suffice: such was the power of Jesus.
MATTHEW 15:28. What came out of her mouth arose from within, and Jesus acknowledged, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” She no doubt went home, and found that it just as she had asked: ‘the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed’ (cf. Mark 7:30). A miracle conducted at a distance.
There is hope for us, even as there was hope for this woman from the margins of life. There is hope for our children as there was for hers. Who knows what blessings the Lord yet has for those whom we uphold in prayer before Him day by day?
