마태복음 Chapter 15

Translation: ESV

1

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,

Key Message

Official religious opposition to Jesus escalates as Jerusalem sends its representatives to challenge his authority and practice.

▸The delegation from Jerusalem — the center of religious authority — signals a formal and hostile inquiry.

The delegation from Jerusalem — the center of religious authority — signals a formal and hostile inquiry. These are not local observers but officials sent (or who came) specifically to challenge Jesus. The geographic note 'from Jerusalem' heightens the gravity: this is an institutional confrontation, not a casual question.

Related Verses

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, 'Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.'Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem...
2

'Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.'

Key Message

The conflict is between human religious tradition and divine commandment — a tension Jesus will resolve in favor of the latter.

▸The charge concerns the 'tradition of the elders' — the oral Torah, or halakah, which had developed alongside the written Mosaic law.

3

He answered them, 'And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?'

Key Message

Human religious tradition, however venerable, loses its authority when it contradicts the clear commandment of God.

▸Jesus meets their accusation with a counter-accusation of far greater weight: they are breaking God's commandment for the sake of their tradition.

4

'For God commanded, "Honor your father and your mother," and, "Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die."'

Key Message

God's written commandment to honor parents is unambiguous; Jesus holds it up as the standard against which the Pharisees' tradition is measured.

▸Jesus cites two Old Testament texts: the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12) and the penalty-clause for cursing parents (Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9).

5

'But you say, "If anyone tells his father or his mother, "What you would have gained from me is given to God,"'

Key Message

Religiosity can be weaponized to circumvent human obligations; piety that harms parents is not piety at all.

▸Jesus describes the Corban practice — declaring one's resources as 'given to God' (dedicated as an offering) in order to avoid using them to support one's parents.

6

'he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.

Key Message

No tradition, however religious, has the authority to nullify the word of God; when it does, it has become idolatry.

▸The devastating conclusion: through the Corban loophole, the Pharisees have effectively nullified ('made void') the word of God.

7

'You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:'

Key Message

Hypocrisy — performing religion outwardly without inward devotion — is not a new problem; the prophets diagnosed it, and Jesus confronts it directly.

▸Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites — a word (hypokrites) that originally referred to stage actors who wore masks.

8

'"This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;'

Key Message

God looks past religious performance to the heart; distance of heart renders worship empty, whatever the lips say.

▸The first line of the Isaiah citation captures the essence of religious hypocrisy: verbal honor that does not reflect the heart.

9

'in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."'

Key Message

When human tradition is taught as divine doctrine, worship becomes empty; distinguishing God's word from human additions is essential to authentic faith.

▸The word 'vain' (matēn) means empty, purposeless, without result.

10

And he called the people to him and said to them, 'Hear and understand:'

Key Message

True hearing of Jesus' teaching requires not just audition but understanding — a posture of the whole person, not just the ears.

▸Jesus turns from the Pharisees to address the crowd directly — a rhetorical shift that signals a public teaching moment.

11

'it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.'

Key Message

True defilement is moral, not ritual; what flows from the heart through the mouth reveals and shapes a person's spiritual condition.

▸This statement is revolutionary within Second Temple Judaism: what enters the mouth (food, ritual impurity) does not defile a person; what comes out of the mouth (speech flowing from the heart) defiles.

12

Then the disciples came and said to him, 'Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?'

Key Message

Prophetic truth will always offend those whose religious identity depends on what it challenges; offending the powerful is sometimes the cost of speaking clearly.

▸The disciples' concern reveals their awareness of the social and religious consequences of Jesus' teaching.

13

He answered, 'Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.'

Key Message

Religious systems and traditions not planted by God will ultimately be uprooted; only what God has established endures.

▸Jesus responds to the disciples' concern with an agricultural metaphor: plants not planted by the Father will be uprooted.

14

'Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.'

Key Message

Spiritual blindness in leadership is more dangerous than ordinary blindness; false guides bring their followers to ruin along with themselves.

▸Jesus commands the disciples not to worry about offending the Pharisees — 'let them alone.

15

But Peter said to him, 'Explain the parable to us.'

Key Message

The disciples' hunger for deeper understanding of Jesus' teaching reflects the posture that receives greater illumination.

▸Peter, as spokesman for the Twelve, asks for an explanation of the saying about defilement (v.

16

And he said, 'Are you also still without understanding?'

Key Message

Progress in understanding requires patient instruction; Jesus' mild rebuke invites growth rather than condemning slowness.

▸Jesus' mild rebuke — 'are you also still without understanding?' — reveals both his patience and his expectation that by now the disciples should be able to grasp such a principle.

17

'Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?'

Key Message

Physical processes cannot produce moral defilement; the location of defilement is the heart, not the stomach.

▸Jesus begins his explanation with a physiological observation: food is a matter of digestion, not moral defilement.

18

'But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.'

Key Message

The heart is the source of all defilement; external purity practices cannot cleanse what must be cleansed from within.

▸The heart is the source of all that comes from the mouth — and therefore the source of all that truly defiles.

19

'For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.'

Key Message

The heart is the seedbed of all sin; transformation of the heart is therefore the fundamental need of every human being.

▸Jesus provides a catalog of sins — all of which originate in the heart.

20

'These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a person.'

Key Message

Ritual purity cannot substitute for moral purity; the defilement that matters is the one that flows from the heart.

▸Jesus draws the explicit conclusion: the moral vices cataloged in verse 19 are what defile — and unwashed hands do not.

21

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

Key Message

Jesus' movement toward Gentile territory signals that the scope of his mission ultimately extends beyond Israel.

▸Jesus' withdrawal to Tyre and Sidon — Gentile territory on the Phoenician coast — is significant.

22

And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.'

Key Message

Faith recognizes Jesus for who he is, regardless of ethnic boundaries; this Gentile woman's Christological confession surpasses many insiders.

▸The Canaanite woman's cry is theologically remarkable: she uses Jewish messianic language — 'Son of David' — to address a Jewish teacher from whom she has no legal claim.

23

But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, 'Send her away, for she is crying out after us.'

Key Message

Divine silence is not divine absence; persisting in prayer through seasons of silence is itself the test of genuine faith.

▸Jesus' silence is one of the most startling moments in the Gospels — the healer who immediately responds to all who approach him says nothing.

24

He answered, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'

Key Message

The salvation-historical priority of Israel does not exclude Gentiles; it establishes the framework within which Gentile faith can operate.

▸Jesus' statement of his primary mission — to the lost sheep of Israel — echoes his instruction to the disciples in Matthew 10:5-6.

25

But she came and knelt before him, saying, 'Lord, help me.'

Key Message

Persistent, humble prayer that continues in the face of apparent silence or refusal is the hallmark of genuine faith.

▸The woman's response to what sounds like a firm boundary is not argument but prostration and a stripped-down prayer: 'Lord, help me.

26

And he answered, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.'

Key Message

The metaphor invites engagement rather than shutting the door; true faith finds a way through even the most challenging statement.

▸Jesus' saying is deliberately provocative, using a familiar Jewish designation for Gentiles ('dogs') in a parable about household priorities: the children (Israel) are fed first; it is not right to take their food and give it to pet dogs (Gentiles) first.

27

She said, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.'

Key Message

Genuine faith engages honestly with difficulty and finds within God's purposes a legitimate basis for hope, however marginal the position.

▸The woman accepts the metaphor without protest — 'Yes, Lord' (nai, Kyrie) — and then works within it to find her place: even household pets eat the crumbs that fall from the table.

28

Then Jesus answered her, 'O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.' And her daughter was healed instantly.

Key Message

Persistent faith that endures testing, silence, and difficulty will ultimately hear 'great is your faith' from the Lord himself.

▸Jesus' declaration — 'Great is your faith!' — is unique in Matthew; only one other person receives this designation (the centurion, also a Gentile, 8:10).

29

Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there.

Key Message

Jesus' ministry is both mobile and centered; he returns from Gentile territory to continue his work among the mixed crowds of the Galilee region.

▸Jesus returns from Gentile territory to the Sea of Galilee region, ascending a mountain to sit — the posture of a Jewish teacher.

30

And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them down at his feet, and he healed them,

Key Message

Bringing broken humanity to Jesus' feet is the posture of faith; his response to every category of human brokenness is healing.

▸Great crowds bring their most broken — lame, blind, crippled, mute — and lay them at Jesus' feet.

31

so that the crowd marveled, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

Key Message

Genuine encounter with Jesus' healing power moves people to glorify God; the proper end of all miracle is worship.

▸The crowd's response is twofold: astonishment and doxology.

32

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 'I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.'

Key Message

Jesus is aware of human physical need even before we articulate it; his compassion anticipates our hunger and moves him to provision.

▸Compassion again (splagchnizomai) is the motive for miraculous provision.

33

And the disciples said to him, 'Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?'

Key Message

Witnessing God's provision does not automatically produce unshakeable faith; spiritual understanding requires ongoing cultivation.

▸The disciples' question — after they have witnessed the feeding of five thousand — reveals the remarkable stubborn limits of their memory and faith.

34

And Jesus said to them, 'How many loaves do you have?' They said, 'Seven, and a few small fish.'

Key Message

What we bring to Jesus — however small — becomes the material of miracle; the starting point is our available offering, not our sufficient supply.

▸The inventory is again the starting point: seven loaves and a few small fish.

35

And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground,

Key Message

Jesus prepares his guests to receive; the ordering of the crowd for the meal is an act of pastoral care.

▸Jesus orders the crowd to sit — a preparatory act of hosting.

36

he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

Key Message

The eucharistic action (take/thank/break/give) is the pattern both of Jesus' feeding miracles and of the church's ongoing communion with him.

▸The same fourfold eucharistic action as in 14:19 — took, gave thanks (here eucharistēsas rather than eulogēsen, both terms for the blessing), broke, gave.

37

And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

Key Message

God's provision in the feeding of the four thousand overflows just as in the feeding of the five thousand; divine abundance has no ethnic or cultural limits.

▸All four thousand were satisfied, and seven baskets of fragments remained.

38

Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

Key Message

The scale of God's provision reaches every demographic; no one who comes to Jesus in need is overlooked.

▸As with the five thousand, the count is of men only — women and children are additional.

39

And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Key Message

Jesus' ministry moves constantly between gracious provision and hostile challenge; no moment of abundance guarantees a season without conflict.

▸After the feeding, Jesus dismisses the crowd and crosses the sea to Magadan (called Dalmanutha in Mark 8:10).