Seeds for 10/03/2023 - Matthew 15:10-20
Scripture: Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Then the disciples came to Him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Observation: We continue observing Jesus’s critique of the Pharisees’ “traditionalism” today—making so much of human customs that they lose sight of the commands and wisdom of scripture.
They are focused on outside-in practices, maintaining purity and avoiding defilement by what enters their body. With less religious connotation, we have similar sensibilities, attaching health and wellness values to what we consume. Purity and defilement by other names, but just barely.
Jesus contrasts the outside-in purity and defilement approach with an inside-out understanding. He even gets quite earthy, pointing out that what enters the body will be processed and passed back out of the body. On the contrary, the inside-out approach recognizes that what comes out of a person’s mouth reveals what is in the heart. It’s displaying the pollution that’s already in the heart and, in expressing it, sort of allowing the rest of our character to marinate in it.
Scripture is filled with metaphors about agriculture and organic life. The fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5 is a good example. The healthy outward appearance is due to trusting obedience in the relationship. Producing fruit is only possible by attending to the inner dynamics of growth, change, and maturity.
If you want to display the fruits of the Spirit, you must tend the interior—heart, mind, and soul.
So, Jesus says, pay much more attention to words, thoughts, and character. Like tossing a stone into the lake, the ripple effect always moves from the center outward.
Application:
When have you observed a difference between the outward appearance and the inward reality of a person (even yourself)?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, purify me within. Transform my heart to be like that of Jesus, and let it radiate outward. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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