Matthew 15:12

12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?"

Matthew 15:12 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 15:12

Then came his disciples, and said unto him
That is, after he had dismissed the people, and was come into a private house; see ( Mark 7:17 ) his disciples came to him, being alone, full of concern, for what he had said to the Pharisees, and before all the people; and not so well understanding it themselves.

Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this
saying?,
that they set aside the commandments of God, by observing the traditions of the elders; or that they were hypocrites; and that the prophecy of Isaiah, which describes such persons, belonging to them; or that not what goes into, but what comes out of a man, defiles him: whichever it was they have respect unto, or it may be to the whole, they seem to wish Christ had not said it; because the Pharisees were, as they thought, grieved and troubled at it, as being contrary to true religion and piety; and lest they should be so stumbled, as no more to attend, and so all hopes of bringing them over to the faith of Christ be lost; and chiefly, because they perceived they were made exceeding angry, and were highly provoked; so that they might fear that both Christ, and they themselves, would feel the effects of their wrath and rage; and perhaps it was with some such view, that he would take some prudential step that he might not fall into their hands, that they acquaint him with it.

Matthew 15:12 In-Context

10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand:
11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."
12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?"
13 He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.
14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.