Matthew 15
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 15
Traditions That Falsify the Law of God. 1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 [a]“Why do your disciples ignore the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before eating.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “Anything I might have used for your support is dedicated to God,” 6 then he is excused from his duty to honor his father or mother.’ To uphold your tradition you have made God’s word null and void. 7 You hypocrites! How rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said:
8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
10 Clean and Unclean.[b] Then he called the people to him and said to them, “Listen and understand. 11 It is not what goes into one’s mouth that defiles a person; what comes out of the mouth is what defiles him.”
12 The disciples approached and said to him, “Do you realize that the Pharisees were greatly offended when they heard what you said?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Leave them alone. They are blind guides. And if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said to him, “Explain that parable to us.” 16 Jesus replied, “Are even you still without understanding? 17 Do you not realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes through the stomach and is discharged into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth originates in the heart, and this is what defiles a person. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. 20 These are the things that defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not make anyone unclean.”
21 The Faith of a Pagan Woman.[c] Jesus then left that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.[d] 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out to meet him and cried out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David. My daughter is sorely tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not say a word to her in reply.
So his disciples came and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt at his feet, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She replied, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, you have great faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.
29 Jesus Heals Many People.[e]After leaving that region, Jesus walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and going up onto the mountain, he sat down. 30 Large crowds flocked to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. 31 The crowds were amazed when they observed the mute speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind with their sight restored, and they gave praise to the God of Israel.
32 Jesus Feeds Four Thousand Men. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I am moved with compassion for these people, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
33 The disciples said to him, “Where can we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to feed such a great crowd?” 34 Jesus asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”
35 He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward, they picked up seven baskets full of what remained. 38 Those who had eaten numbered four thousand men, not counting women and children. 39 And when he had sent away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
Footnotes
- Matthew 15:2 The “oral” tradition consisted of practices and regulations meant to fill out the written Law of Moses; many Pharisaic Jews did not hesitate to claim that this tradition, like the Torah, had been revealed on Sinai. The oral tradition allowed for a vow by which a man could free himself from his obligations to his own parents: the material goods meant for them were promised to God and thus declared “sacred offerings.”
- Matthew 15:10 Every ancient religion attempted to distinguish clearly the two notions of clean and unclean as regards objects and affairs of life. The Book of Leviticus proposes a developed code of ritual purity, which was above all a way of expressing the grandeur of God and of establishing laws of respect in the behavior of human beings. However, as time went on, this great inspiration was lost in a soulless formalism. In the tightly regulated life of the Jews of the first century A.D., the dispositions of the heart held such a small place that even the apostles have trouble understanding the teaching of Jesus. He unmasks hypocrisy. How can one not be shocked by his words, which overturn even the religious assurance of humans!
- Matthew 15:21 The Israelites regarded themselves as children of God because they were heirs of the promises made to the patriarchs and depositaries of the divine revelation. On the contrary, they called the Gentiles dogs out of contempt for their idolatrous and immoral practices. Jesus makes use of these two terms but softens the second, which in the Greek is “little dogs,” i.e., pet dogs in the home. His point was that the Gospel was to be offered first to the Jews. The woman understood his implication and was willing to settle for the “crumbs.” Jesus rewarded her faith.
- Matthew 15:21 Tyre and Sidon: these were Phoenician cities; Canaanite was the ancient name of their populations.
- Matthew 15:29 This second miracle of the loaves has many analogies with the first multiplication of the loaves. Therefore, some exegetes speak of a duplication, i.e., a different reporting of the same episode. However, there are so many diverse circumstances in the two episodes that Matthew and Mark believe in two distinct miracles.
Matthew 15
New Century Version
Obey God’s Law
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem. They asked him, 2 “Why don’t your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? They don’t wash their hands before they eat.”
3 Jesus answered, “And why do you refuse to obey God’s command so that you can follow your own teachings? 4 God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[a] and ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but I have given it to God already.’ 6 You teach that person not to honor his father or his mother. You rejected what God said for the sake of your own rules. 7 You are hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he said about you:
8 ‘These people show honor to me with words,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 Their worship of me is worthless.
The things they teach are nothing but human rules.’” Isaiah 29:13
10 After Jesus called the crowd to him, he said, “Listen and understand what I am saying. 11 It is not what people put into their mouths that makes them unclean. It is what comes out of their mouths that makes them unclean.”
12 Then his followers came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees are angry because of what you said?”
13 Jesus answered, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Stay away from the Pharisees; they are blind leaders.[c] And if a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a ditch.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the example to us.”
16 Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? 17 Surely you know that all the food that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then goes out of the body. 18 But what people say with their mouths comes from the way they think; these are the things that make people unclean. 19 Out of the mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and speaking evil of others. 20 These things make people unclean; eating with unwashed hands does not make them unclean.”
Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman
21 Jesus left that place and went to the area of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that area came to Jesus and cried out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter has a demon, and she is suffering very much.”
23 But Jesus did not answer the woman. So his followers came to Jesus and begged him, “Tell the woman to go away. She is following us and shouting.”
24 Jesus answered, “God sent me only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.”
25 Then the woman came to Jesus again and bowed before him and said, “Lord, help me!”
26 Jesus answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.”
27 The woman said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! I will do what you asked.” And at that moment the woman’s daughter was healed.
Jesus Heals Many People
29 After leaving there, Jesus went along the shore of Lake Galilee. He went up on a hill and sat there.
30 Great crowds came to Jesus, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, those who could not speak, and many others. They put them at Jesus’ feet, and he healed them. 31 The crowd was amazed when they saw that people who could not speak before were now able to speak. The crippled were made strong. The lame could walk, and the blind could see. And they praised the God of Israel for this.
More than Four Thousand Fed
32 Jesus called his followers to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have already been with me three days, and they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry. They might faint while going home.”
33 His followers asked him, “How can we get enough bread to feed all these people? We are far away from any town.”
34 Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”
They answered, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
35 Jesus told the people to sit on the ground. 36 He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks to God. Then he divided the food and gave it to his followers, and they gave it to the people. 37 All the people ate and were satisfied. Then his followers filled seven baskets with the leftover pieces of food. 38 There were about four thousand men there who ate, besides women and children. 39 After sending the people home, Jesus got into the boat and went to the area of Magadan.
Footnotes
- 15:4 ‘Honor . . . mother.’ Quotation from Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16.
- 15:4 ‘Anyone . . . death.’ Quotation from Exodus 21:17.
- 15:14 leaders Some Greek copies continue, “of blind people.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
