(Text and Audio)
Title: Defilement From Within
- 16 “Are you also still without understanding?”
I think the interesting work here is “also.” Jesus had an expectation that the masses would be confused by his teaching, for not all of them had been given ears to hear.
He had an expectation that the Scribes and Pharisees would also not understand, for he clearly tells them in verses 8 and 9 that they are whom Isaiah was speaking when he said “they honor me with their mouth, but their hearts are far from me and they worship me in vain because they teach their doctrines as if they were commandments from God.”
But it seems that he also had an expectation that his own apostles, his chosen 12, would at least begin to grasp these concepts without him having to explain it. But Jesus, even if he’s frustrated, is still a master teacher. He still slows down and explains what he means by these things again. His main concern is that these men, his apostles grasp fully these concepts, because He knows they will be ones the carry on the Kingdom once he’s gone.
And thank goodness for Peter here, right? There is a small lesson with what he asks, but I certainly don’t want us to miss it. If you don’t understand something, ask for clarification. How often do we keep silent because we think “I’m the only one here that doesn’t understand so I’m just going to keep my mouth shut.”
Fortunately for Peter and the rest of the apostles (chances are good that several of them were thinking what Peter actually asked) he speaks up and gets clarification. That’s not the main point of the passage, but it’s also one not to miss.
I remember when I transitioned from 6th grade into the big junior high in 7th grade and, because of my grades in the elementary years I was placed in advanced algebra. Math had always come pretty easy to me, but this class, but this class, and the Italian caked-on makeup wearing teacher, Mrs. Paonsha, where kicking my butt.
I expressed my frustration to my step-father, who was naturally good with numbers (being an accountant) and he said something to me I’ll never forget, and it relates to what Peter does here. My step father said, “Do you know who the smartest kid in class is? It’s not the kid who gets the best grade. It’s the kid who, when he doesn’t understand something, is smart enough to ask for more explanation.”
I needed to hear that because I had gone weeks without raising my hand. I was so scared of looking stupid in that new arena of coolness, Jr. High, that I said nothing and my grades were suffering.
Finally, sitting in class, terrified that I’d look stupid, I raised my hand and said, “Mrs. Paonsha, I not sure I get that, can you go over it again?” And something incredible happened. Instantly, like four of five other kids echoed, “Yeah, me too. Could you go over that again?”
Years later, I heard a philosopher’s words echo that same sediment from my step-father when he wrote, “You will only grow when you desire to learn outweighs your desire to win.”
- 17 “whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated…”
Jesus answers Peter’s question using medical and physical terminology that is absolutely true. Whatever enters our body is processed. The useful parts are absorbed, the non useful parts are eliminated.
Our food does not define us. Now you might counter and say, “But what about the glutton, or the person who eats for comfort when they are sad or mad at something?” Fair points, but their sin is not in the eating (or overeating) of the food.
“What about the alcoholic, or the drug addict, or the sex addict?”
Fair points, but again, their sin is not in the consumption of these things, their sin is in the need to be fulfilled by what these things offer.
For the glutton, the sin is finding comfort in something temporary, like food, instead of Christ.
For the addict, the sin is in allowing something of this world to be your God, instead of knowing God through Christ, and you joy being fully and exclusively in him.
- 18 “but those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart…”
Let me ask you a question. Let’s say you want to know more about a person. What will tell you more, what they have to eat every day for a week, or having a written transcript of every thing they say to every person they come into contact with for that same week?
Which will tell you more, having a log of their weekly hygiene practices; how often they shower, how often they brush their teeth, if they floss, how often they launder their clothes?
Or watching them in the workplace, watching them interact with co-workers, their family, children, or those they call friends?
Obviously, the latter, right?
- 19 “for out of the heart proceed…”
What we do says, what we produce, what comes out of us says much more than what goes into us, or what customs we keep.
Jesus gives a brief list here: evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies and He concludes, these things, which come from a man’s heart defile a man, not eating with unwashed hands.
And this list itself is pretty interesting when considered against the things that Matthew has already recorded Jesus saying in his Gospel. Consider:
evil thoughts: Matthew 9:4
murder: Matthew 5:21-22
adultery: Matthew 5:27-28
fornication: Matthew 5:32
theft: This is the only one without a direct parallel, but appears in teachings all over Scripture, including the 10 commandments
false witness: Matthew 7:15
blasphemies: Matthew 12:31
When you see this list, and realize that every single one of these topics (except stealing, which was basic to Hebrew society) is a topic that Jesus has already taught extensively on, you might get a better picture of Jesus being a bit flustered, not necessarily at Peter himself, but at the question.
We’ve all been there as teachers. If not in the classroom, than at work, or certainly with our own children. Everyone here has had an experience where we slowly teach something to someone and they ask them to demonstrate what we’ve just taught, and they look at us like they have no idea what we are talking about.
Good teachers stick with it, good students will get it, eventually.
(Story of Catherine and Silas in Children’s Church.)
pray.