WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday May 18, 2014
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JESUS’ TEACHING ON THE LAW
(Learning GOD’s heart through HIS Word)
(Matthew 15:1-20)
In our Christian Churches today, just like in biblical times, man
tends to put his laws and traditions ahead of the Word of GOD through their
various so-called Christian denominations. Instead of training people to be
Christians, we spend all of our time trying to teach our members how to be
Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist, etc. We all tend to look
into Scripture and draw our own personal theology from them, instead of letting
the bible interpret itself to us through long and careful study and assistance
from the HOLY SPIRIT, WHOM JESUS says, will teach us all things and remind us
of all things that JESUS taught about the Word of GOD HIMKSELF (John 14:26
&16:13-15).
GOD did not leave it to “sinful man” to
interpret HIS Word to the world or to the Church. Why would HE do such a stupid
thing? HE’s an all wise GOD WHO can’t help but show wisdom, and to do such a
thing obviously would not be in keeping with HIS superior wisdom. Christianity
is the only true religion because it is the only religion that is a product of
GOD’s mind. All other denominations (including the aforementioned), so-called
Christian, or otherwise, are only mere products of a man’s mind.
In Matthew 15:1-11, a group of Pharisees
and teachers of religious law came to Jerusalem to interview JESUS and question
HIM about HIS teachings in general, and the first thing they wanted to know is
why HE and HIS disciples were disobeying, or ignoring their laws and traditions
(i.e., ceremonial hand-washing) which they obviously placed above GOD’s law.
In verse 3, in response to their ludicrous
question, JESUS poses a question and lecture of HIS OWN. Here HE asks them, “And
why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of GOD?” For
instance, GOD says, “Honor your father and mother”, and anyone who speaks evil
of father or mother must be put to death”. But you say, “You don’t need to
honor your parents by caring for their needs if you give the money to GOD instead”
(They called it Corban for GOD). This is just one example JESUS says, for there
are many, many more (Mark 7:13)
And so, by your own tradition, you nullify
the direct commandment of GOD. You hypocrites! Isaiah was prophesying about you
when he said, “These people honor ME with their lips, but their hearts are far
from ME. Their worship is a farce, for they replace GOD’s commands with their
own man-made teachings”. And even today we continue to “make stuff up” about
GOD, because our Christian denominations are in many ways, a farce also.
In verse 10 JESUS continues HIS teachings
as HE turns to the crowd and says, “Listen to what I say and try to understand.
You are not defiled by what you eat; you are defiled by what you say and do”.
These statements by JESUS began to concern HIS disciples who were also among
the brainwashed parishioners of the Church of Israel in those days. They too
had become victims of the “false teachings” of the religious hierarchy in the
Church.
In verse 12 we see how the disciples’
concerns are very much misplaced, as they seem to be more worried about
“offending the Church leaders” with the Word of GOD, than they are about the
Church leaders accepting the truth of GOD’s words. In verse 13 JESUS admonishes
HIS wayward students that “Every plant that is not planted by GOD the FATHER
will be rooted up”. HE then advises HIS followers to “Ignore them. They are
like blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another,
they will both fall into the ditch”. Here
JESUS is saying that all Church leaders who are not called by GOD will be
eventually eliminated from HIS Church. A person who does not himself know the
Word of GOD cannot possibly teach anyone else the Word of GOD. In such cases
both individuals will fall down to the pits of hell (Vs. 13-14).
In the biblical Greek, the word used for
“heart” is “kardia”, and it is “one’s thoughts”, motives, or way of thinking”.
And so, in the biblical sense, “heart” is not just an organ in one’s chest. As
Christians, we must come to understand that “sin begins in “the thinking
stages”, and therefore, so must “repent”. This holy idealism goes to the heart
of all of JESUS’ teaching.
In verse 15, the Apostle Peter asks JESUS
to expound on one of the statements HE had made earlier, when HE said, “People
are not defiled by what they eat, but rather, by what they say and do”. In
verses 16-20 JESUS explains it to Peter this way, “Anything you eat passes
through the stomach and then goes out of the body. On the other hand, “evil
thoughts” that produce such sins as murder, adultery, all sexual immorality,
theft, lying and slander are what defiles a person spiritually, morally, and
physically in the sight of GOD. What one eats, or, whether or not one washes
his or her hands before or after eating, can never make a person unacceptable
to GOD.
If we are, in any sense, to become true
followers of CHRIST, we must learn to, first, hear the Word spiritually, and then,
do the Word physically. We also have to lay down our “human ingenuity” when it
comes to doing the work of GOD. GOD does not need us to re-think HIS plan, and
try to improve upon it. HIS plan is already perfect, and written out in HIS
Word for all to see. HE just needs us to carry out that, “already perfect plan”
sacrificially in and with our own bodies that HE gave us.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
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