WEEKLY
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An
international Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday June 17, 2018
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164,000 readers worldwide
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JESUS
TEACHES ABOUT THE LAW AND INNER PURITY
(Don’t
let human traditions be a substitute for honoring GOD)
(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 HIMSELF (John 14:26 and 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 of the other denominations of the world, including the
so-called Christian ones, are just mere products of a men’s mind, and are only
instruments of the devil that he uses to separate or block people from gaining
complete knowledge of GOD.
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” (NLT) (They called it Corban for GOD). This is just one example JESUS says, for
there are many, many more (Mark 7:13 - NLT).
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” (yeast) 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 into 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 physically and 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 Website
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