The Filth of the Pharisees
Introduction: The Tyranny of Pious Pretensions
Every generation of Christians faces the same temptation, and it is a subtle one. It is the temptation to improve on God. It does not present itself as a rebellion, but rather as an act of supreme piety. We take God's perfect law, a spacious and beautiful garden, and we decide it needs a few more fences. We build hedges around the commands, for safety's sake. We add traditions, customs, and applications, and we declare them to be the measure of true righteousness. Before long, we are no longer tending the garden but are instead spending all our time whitewashing the fences. The tradition, which was meant to serve the law, becomes the master of the law. This is the ever-present danger of legalism.
Our modern evangelical world is rife with it, though it takes different forms. We have our own versions of hand-washing. It might be a particular method of "quiet time," a certain style of worship, a rigid political litmus test, or a set of cultural taboos that have nothing to do with biblical commands. These things become the uniform of the righteous, and we start judging our brothers not by their faithfulness to Scripture, but by how well they wear the uniform. We become experts in the traditions of the elders.
In this passage, Jesus confronts this religious impulse head-on. The Pharisees and scribes come down from Jerusalem, the theological big guns, to challenge Him on just such a point of tradition. But Jesus does not get bogged down in a debate about ceremonial hand-washing. He uses their accusation as a scalpel to cut straight to the heart of their religion, exposing it for what it is: a hollow sham. He reveals that their pious traditions are not a supplement to God's law, but a substitute for it. And a substitute for God's law is, by definition, rebellion against God. This is not a minor disagreement. It is a clash between two antithetical religions: the religion of divine revelation and the religion of human tradition.
The Text
Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever you might benefit from me is given to God," he need not honor his father.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDS OF MEN.' " After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, "Hear and understand. It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." Then the disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?" But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
(Matthew 15:1-14 LSB)
The Accusation of the Piety Police (vv. 1-2)
The conflict begins with a delegation from the religious establishment.
"Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 'Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.'" (Matthew 15:1-2)
These are not local synagogue leaders. This is the A-team, sent from the headquarters of religious orthodoxy in Jerusalem. Their purpose is to investigate and challenge this rogue rabbi from Galilee. Their charge is very specific: "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders?" Notice the standard they appeal to. It is not the law of Moses, but the "tradition of the elders." This was the vast body of oral interpretations and applications of the law that had grown over the centuries. In their minds, this oral law was just as authoritative as the written law.
The specific infraction was a failure to perform a ceremonial hand-washing before eating. This had nothing to do with hygiene. It was a ritual designed to remove any potential ceremonial defilement one might have picked up in the marketplace. It was a fence they had built around the dietary laws. But the problem with such fences is that people inevitably begin to trust in the fence for their righteousness, rather than in the God who gave the law. The Pharisees had made their tradition the test of faithfulness, and Jesus' disciples failed the test.
The Divine Law versus Human Loophole (vv. 3-6)
Jesus' response is not defensive, but offensive. He ignores their specific charge and launches a devastating counter-attack.
"And He answered and said to them, 'Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?'" (Matthew 15:3)
He turns the tables completely. The issue is not His disciples' relationship to their tradition, but their relationship to God's commandment. He accuses them of the far greater sin. They are not just adding to God's law; their additions actively cause them to break God's law. He then provides a specific, damning example.
"For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,'... But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever you might benefit from me is given to God," he need not honor his father.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition." (Matthew 15:4-6)
Jesus appeals directly to the fifth commandment, a cornerstone of the Decalogue. This command included the financial responsibility of adult children to care for their elderly parents. But the Pharisees had engineered a pious loophole. A man could declare his property "Corban," or dedicated to God. By doing this, he could tell his needy parents, "Sorry, I can't help you. All my resources are dedicated to God." It was a way to sound supremely spiritual while simultaneously disobeying a direct command from God and neglecting one's most basic familial duties. Their tradition did not just sit alongside the Word of God; it actively "invalidated" it. It rendered it null and void. This is the essence of legalism: it uses man-made rules as a clever way to get out of obeying God's rules.
The Prophet's X-Ray (vv. 7-9)
Having exposed their practice, Jesus now exposes their hearts, bringing the prophet Isaiah to the witness stand.
"You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDS OF MEN.'" (Matthew 15:7-9)
He calls them "hypocrites," which in the Greek means stage-actors. Their religion is a performance for a human audience. They have the script down, they say all the right lines, but their hearts are not in it. God has always had this problem with His people. Isaiah diagnosed it centuries before: the fatal disconnect between outward profession and inward reality. Lip-service is not heart-worship.
And the result of this hypocrisy is that their worship is "in vain." It is useless, empty, and accomplishes nothing. Why? Because the curriculum in their school of righteousness is not the doctrines of God, but the "commands of men." When human tradition is elevated to the level of divine doctrine, the worship offered is worthless. It is an insult to the God who has clearly spoken His will in His Word.
The Source of True Defilement (vv. 10-14)
Jesus then turns from the leaders to the crowd, to teach a fundamental principle that demolishes the entire Pharisaical system.
"Hear and understand. It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." (Matthew 15:10-11)
This is a bombshell. The entire framework of Jewish ceremonial purity, with its intricate rules about clean and unclean foods, was based on the idea that external things could defile a person. Jesus sweeps that all away. True defilement, true sinfulness, is not an external issue; it is an internal one. It is not about what you eat, but about what you are. The real filth is not on your hands, but in your heart. Sin is what "proceeds out of the mouth," the overflow of a corrupt heart: blasphemy, lies, gossip, hatred, and foolishness.
The disciples, ever-sensitive to the political climate, are alarmed. They report that the Pharisees were "offended." Jesus' response shows how little He cares for the opinions of the entrenched, ungodly establishment.
"But He answered and said, 'Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.'" (Matthew 15:13-14)
Jesus describes the entire system of Pharisaical tradition as a weed in God's field. It may look green and prosperous, but it was not planted by the Father, and therefore its destiny is to be violently uprooted in judgment. The pastoral strategy for dealing with such men is simple: "Let them alone." Do not join their party. Do not play their games. They present themselves as guides, but they are spiritually blind. And those who follow them will share their fate: a common ditch of destruction.
Conclusion: Washed from the Inside Out
The fundamental error of the Pharisees is the fundamental error of every false religion, and every legalistic version of true religion. It is the belief that man can be made right with God through external performance. It is the attempt to clean the outside of the cup while the inside remains full of filth.
We must be ruthless in rooting out this same weed from the soil of our own hearts and our churches. Whenever we are tempted to measure our spiritual health, or the spiritual health of others, by some man-made standard, some tradition of the elders, we are walking the path of the Pharisees. We are honoring God with our lips, while our hearts are trusting in our own performance.
The gospel is the only answer to this. The problem Jesus identifies is a heart problem. What proceeds from the mouth defiles the man because the heart is a fountain of corruption. You cannot fix this with a new set of rules. You need a new heart. This is precisely what the new covenant promises.
The Pharisees were obsessed with washing their hands. But Jesus Christ came to wash our hearts. True purity does not come from our rituals, but from His blood. He does not hand us a better rulebook; He gives us a new life. He does not call us to invalidate God's Word with our traditions, but to submit to God's Word because He has written it on our hearts. The choice before us is the same one that was before that crowd. Will we follow the blind guides, with their man-made traditions that lead to a pit? Or will we follow the one who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, who cleanses us from all our filth, from the inside out?