Religious Leaders Quiz Yeshua
15 Then some Pharisees and Torah scholars came to Yeshua from Jerusalem. They said, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not do the ritual handwashing when they eat bread.”
3 And answering, He said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.’ [b] 5 But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever you might have gained from me is a gift to God,” [c] 6 he need not honor his father.’ On account of your tradition, you made void the word of God. 7 Hypocrites! Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying,
8 ‘This people honors 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.’”[d]
10 Then Yeshua called the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand. 11 It’s not what goes into the mouth that makes the man unholy; but what comes out of the mouth, this makes the man unholy.”[e]
12 Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard this saying?”
13 But He replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Leave them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
16 “Are you also still lacking understanding?” Yeshua said. 17 “Don’t you grasp that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and then is ejected into the sewer? 18 But the things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and those things make the man unholy. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. [f] 20 These are the things that make the man unholy; but to eat with unwashed hands does not make the man unholy.”
A Reward for a Humble Woman
21 Now Yeshua left from there and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that district came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, O Master, Ben-David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”
23 But He did not answer her a word. And when His disciples came, they were urging Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.”
24 But He responded, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 So she came and got down on her knees before Him, saying, “Master, help me!”
26 And answering, He said, “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27 But she said, “Yes, Master, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then answering, Yeshua said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed in that very hour.
29 After Yeshua left there, He went along the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up on a mountainside and was sitting there. 30 And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them the lame, blind, disabled, mute, and many others. And they laid them at His feet, and He healed them. 31 So the crowd marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the disabled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing.[g] And they praised the God of Israel.
Feeding More Hungry Followers
32 Yeshua called His disciples and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they’ve stayed with Me for three days now and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, because they might pass out on the way.”
33 The disciples said to Him, “Where in this wasteland is enough bread to satisfy such a large crowd?”
34 Yeshua said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”
35 After directing the crowd to recline on the ground, 36 He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks, He broke them. And He began giving them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up the broken pieces left over—seven baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And after sending away the crowds, Yeshua got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
Footnotes
- Matthew 15:4 Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16.
- Matthew 15:5 Exod. 21:17; Lev. 20:9.
- Matthew 15:6 cf. M. Ned. 1, 9, 11.
- Matthew 15:9 Isa. 29:13.
- Matthew 15:11 cf. Lev. 10:10.
- Matthew 15:20 cf. Jer. 17:9.
- Matthew 15:31 cf. Isa. 35:5-6.