Matthew 15:14-24

14 Forget them. They are blind men leading blind men. When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up in the ditch."
15 Peter said, "I don't get it. Put it in plain language."
16 Jesus replied, "You too? Are you being willfully stupid?
17 Don't you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated?
18 But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart.
19 It's from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing.
20 That's what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands - that's neither here nor there." Healing the People
21 From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon.
22 They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, "Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit."
23 Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, "Now she's bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She's driving us crazy."
24 Jesus refused, telling them, "I've got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel."

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Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.