The Lord had crossed the sea and had entered the land of Gennesaret. Here He was met by “the scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem.” They prided themselves in being superior in holiness, in devotion to God and in learning, but the Lord rebuked them for their pretensions and laid bare their hypocrisy. They wanted to know, “Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” The washing of hands was only an outward thing, but the Lord goes deeper and seeks to reach their conscience. He shows that their traditions were from man — fallen man — and had their root in the desire to set aside the Word of God and bring in the words of men. But there is nothing from fallen man which is not evil. There is nothing really good but what is from God.
The Lord cited a case in which they positively set aside the law of God with respect to honoring one’s father and mother. In the law God commanded, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” But these religious leaders allowed, and perhaps encouraged, sons to devote certain things they possessed, supposedly to God, and then refuse to assist their parents with the excuse that their possessions were “corban” or devoted. The Lord criticized them for this as one of their traditions, by which they made the Word of God of no effect. He called them hypocrites and quotes from Isaiah 29:1313Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: (Isaiah 29:13), “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.” There are many in the world today of whom this is true.
The Heart of Man
The Lord then calls the multitude at this point and tells them: “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth” — that which proceeds from the heart. The disciples were concerned because the Lord’s words offended the Pharisees, for even His disciples looked up to them as the leaders of their nation. But the Lord tells them, “Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” These Pharisees were not of His planting. Furthermore He says, “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
The Lord then goes on to speak of all the evil things that proceed from the human heart. It is good to notice that He doesn’t mention anything good as coming from the heart of man. It is hard for one to believe that there is not some good in him, but it is not until he comes to Christ that he finds out “that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:1818For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (Romans 7:18)). Until this truth is known, the heart is not reached and all is futile. The truth of the gospel is connected with the truth of the complete ruin of man. The Lord then explains that what came out of the mouth really came from the heart. The heart was far more important to watch than whether they washed their hands before eating, according to their traditions.
Further Meditation
1. What other traditions set aside the truth of God?
2. What other scriptures describe the natural heart of man?
3. An excellent work on this subject can be found in The Beauty of Humility by G. V. Wigram.