Traditions and Commandments
1 1Then Pharisees and
2scribes came to Jesus
3from Jerusalem and said,
2
4"Why do your disciples break
5the tradition of the elders?
6For they do not wash their hands when they eat."
3
He answered them,
"And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
4
For God commanded, 7'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 8'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.'
5
But you say, 'If anyone tells his father or his mother, "What you would have gained from me is given to God,"
6
he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have 9made void the word of God.
7
10You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8
11"'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9
in vain do they worship me, teaching as 12doctrines the commandments of men.'"
What Defiles a Person
10 And he called the people to him and said to them,
13"Hear and understand:
11
14it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person."
12
Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were
15offended when they heard this saying?"
13
He answered,
16"Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted 17will be rooted up.
14
Let them alone; 18they are blind guides. And 19if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
15
But Peter said to him,
20"Explain the parable to us."
16
And he said,
21"Are you also still without understanding?
17
Do you not see that 22whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?
18
But 23what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
19
For out of the heart come 24evil thoughts, 25murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, 26slander.
20
27These are what defile a person. But 28to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."
The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21 29And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
22
And behold,
30a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying,
31"Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon."
23
But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying,
32"Send her away, for she is crying out after us."
24
He answered,
33"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
25
But she came and
34knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."
26
And he answered,
"It is not right to take the children's bread and 35throw it to the dogs."
27
She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat
36the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
28
Then Jesus answered her,
"O woman, 37great is your faith! 38Be it done for you as you desire." 39And her daughter was
40healed instantly.