True Defilement

Setting and Overview
Matthew 14 ended with a picture of Jesus’ far-reaching ministry and outreach. Jesus is popular with the crowds and people are coming from all over to hear him and be healed by him. Word is also spreading among the religious authorities, however, and as we have already seen, they have a far different view of Jesus than the crowds. So as his popularity grows with many, so does the opposition from others. We already saw that opposition revealed in the interactions of Matthew 12, but now we see it revealed again as a contingent from Jerusalem to confront Jesus.

Exposition
Pharisees coming from Jerusalem would have been held in high esteem by the people, and so it is a measure of the interest that was aroused by Jesus’ ministry that such a contingent comes to Jesus now. Similar to previous questions about fasting and the Sabbath, the challenge here is more about the oral traditions than it is about the Mosaic law, although the traditions were ostensibly based on the law. Jesus appropriately and masterfully bases his response then in the law. The Pharisees felt that the traditions of ceremonially washing hands before eating were an important way to observe Exodus 30:17-21, but Jesus points out that if they were so concerned about the law, then they would be truly observing the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12, 21:17.) This leads to the first time that the Pharisees are called hypocrites in the Gospels, which Jesus recognizes as placing the Pharisees in the same category as those addressed by Isaiah in Isaiah 29:13.
During this encounter, the crowd has been watching as bystanders, no doubt fascinated by the confrontation of an amazing prophet and this esteemed crowd from Jerusalem. Now Jesus calls the crowd forward to address them directly, with the Pharisees listening in. Although eating unclean foods as not been directly addressed, because the traditions were meant to protect and expound on those laws, this was really the heart of the issue: being defiled by eating something unclean. The Pharisees thought that eating with unwashed hands would defile any food they were eating and thus defile them. Jesus responds by challenging their entire perspective on the law. The Israelites were called to be holy because God is holy (Leviticus 11:44-45, Exodus 19:21-22.) To be holy, however, one must first be clean, and so the people were called to recognize both the difference between holy and common and also clean and unclean (Leviticus 10:10-11.) Being defiled moved someone or something from clean to unclean, and then they could not be sanctified (set apart as holy) until and unless they were first purified (or cleansed.) That defilement could come from ceremonial defilement (Leviticus 11-15) but also from sin. By obsessing about the ceremonial defilement, the Pharisees revealed that they thought that was the bigger concern. Jesus points out that the defilement is ultimately about our hearts and not our ceremonial cleanliness, and nothing they ate could change their hearts. Mark adds the parenthetical note that in saying this Jesus was making all foods clean, and while Matthew does not specify this, it is an unavoidable conclusion of Matthew 15:11.
The Pharisees then are unsurprisingly offended by this teaching, as Jesus’ disciples inform him later on (Mark 7:17.) The disciples likely still have significant respect for the Pharisees and experts in the law, but Jesus does not mince words in his condemnation of them. At issue is not just their understanding, but rather their arrogance and defiance. This sets them apart from the disciples, who also are more limited in their understanding than they should be, as evidenced by Peter’s request for an explanation. Jesus’ response shows that they should have been able to understand his teaching if they had understood what he had been saying and doing to that point. Jesus has already declared that he came to fulfill the law and that breaking a law in our hearts is still breaking the law. Likewise, he has already also declared that our speech reveals what is in our hearts (Matthew 12:34-36.) Therefore, if one was concerned about being defiled before God, then the first place that he or she needed to look was to their own heart, desiring to be cleansed from the inside, rather than accepting cleanliness on the outside and spiritual rottenness in our core.

Examination and Application
The hypocrisy of the Pharisees is sadly relatable to us as well. We may not share their obsession with ceremonial cleanliness, but we do share their need for forgiveness and purification from our defilement. Thankfully, we can look to Hebrews 10:19-22 and see the remarkable promise that those who are in Christ, despite what we have done and what was in our hearts, are given access to the presence of God. This is not because God is now less holy or more indifferent toward sin (I Corinthians 6:9-10) but rather because of the sacrifice of the Son (I Corinthians 6:11.) Now then we are called to live out the status that we have been given by grace (I Corinthians 6:12-20, Philippians 3:12-16, Galatians 5:22-25.) The encounter in Matthew 15:1-20 should then not ultimately remind us of the foolishness of the Pharisees, but rather the defiling aspect of sin, and how Jesus cleanses us from it and then calls us to live as those who are set apart in him.