SHARING BREAD
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’”
Matt
15:15-20 (NIV)
Confused over Jesus’ Words - though clear – the spokesman
for the group - Peter – asks the Master to explain the parable. Surprised by their dullness – their lack of
ability to get it - Jesus tells them plainly Words similar to those He spoke to
the Pharisees earlier in Matthew as well as those He spoke in Luke. What comes out of the mouth comes directly from
the heart. What makes a man unclean,
common, polluted or defiled is not found outside of him – external hand washing
rituals never make one clean or unclean - rather it is found inside of him, in
the condition of his inner being. In
reality, the mouth is merely the heart’s microphone.
34 “You brood of vipers, how can you who are
evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the
good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil
stored up in him. 36 But
I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every
careless word they have spoken. 37 For
by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be
condemned.” Matt 12:34-37
(NIV)
45 “The good man brings good things out of the
good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the
evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth
speaks.” Luke 6:45
(NIV)
Paul tells us clearly in Romans that it is impossible for
those who are controlled by the sinful nature to please God. The unbelieving heart cares only for his
sinful interests with no regard for God and His ways of life and peace. When our mindsets and aspirations are of the
sinful nature it leads to death in all its forms – physical and spiritual. There is no defilement in the products of
God’s goodness only in the products of our corrupted hearts. Every word or deed flowing from the mouth and
hands – whether good or evil - finds their source from within the spring of the
heart:
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind
controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit
to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those
controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. Romans 8:6-8 (NIV)
“A
baptism of holiness, a demonstration of godly living is the crying need of our
day.” Duncan Campbell
Further, Paul warns us in Galatians that those who
consistently choose to live according to the sinful nature will not inherit the
kingdom of God. These are the things
which defile a person. Paul’s list is
much akin to our Lord’s in our verses for today which Jesus states makes a man
unclean:
19 The
acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and
debauchery; 20 idolatry
and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions 21 and
envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that
those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal 5:19-21 (NIV)
Yet,
praise God, we no longer have to be enslaved in these ways – held captive in
this death sentence of our own choosing.
Out of love, Jesus came to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and heal
us of all our transgressions – saving us, as King David states, from being
ensnared by the work of our hands. He
came to set the captives free from the death of these actions – purifying us by
His blood and giving us life in abundance through the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians:
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters
nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor
slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were
washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1
Cor 6:9-11 (NIV)
“The
heart is constituted such that the only way to dispossess it of an old
affection is by the expulsive power of a new one…and when God stands revealed
as an object of confidence to sinners—and where our desire after Him is not
chilled into apathy by that barrier of human guilt which intercepts every
approach that is not made to Him through the appointed Mediator…it is when
released from the spirit of bondage…and admitted into the number of God’s
children, through the faith that is in Christ Jesus, the Spirit of adoption is
poured upon us—it is then that the heart, brought under the mastery of one
great and predominant affection, is delivered from the tyranny of its former
desires and the only way in which
deliverance is possible”. Scottish
Pastor, Thomas Chalmers, 1780-1847
“Make and keep me pure within.”
Charles Wesley
What I glean from this:
· What comes out of my mouth is
directly from my heart.
· The sinful nature cannot
please God.
· Jesus came to set the captive
free.
