Jesus Speaks The Truth

….and let’s God sort out the rest.

My daily Bible Study tonight brought me to Matthew 15. The middle of Matthew’s Gospel is filled with the well known miracles of Jesus. But sandwiched between well known miracles is a powerful exchange between Jesus and some scribes and Pharisees:

Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ ; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God ”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.

9  And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

10 When He had called the multitude to Himself , He said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”

16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

I see months worth of teach from this one passage: false witness, disobedience, guarding our hearts, poor teaching, election, pruning, biblical understanding. Jesus used an attack by the Pharisees to teach a multitude about who He is. But what I wish to focus on is how Jesus answered the Pharisees response to His answer. In verse 12:

Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

They had been caught in their own trap. They tried to pull one over on the man who is God, and he turned it right back around on him. Having been caught in this trap, they must have been throwing quite the fit for the disciples to feel they needed to go to Jesus and fill Him in. What interests me the most out of reading this passage tonight is Jesus’ response to that question:

But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

WOW! Jesus is teaching us an incredibly valuable lesson in this response. It was His job to proclaim God’s truth. If people didn’t like it, that was between them and God. I think we sometimes get caught up on how people respond to us when we talk about our faith or teach God’s Word. It’s our job to proclaim His truth in everything we do, but if those around us are unwilling to listen or believe, let them alone. That is between them and God. That is not to say that we should give up, it’s saying that our responsibility is to tell and teach, not convince and persuade. Our end goal is not to make anyone happy. Our responsibility is to God’s truth, just like Jesus. Our job is to tell everyone we can about Him, and live that life out for all to see. Let God do the rest, and if they reject, let them alone. Jesus sets a fine example in this passage about how we are to handle those to reject His teaching, we should follow Him.