What Is in Your Heart?  (Matthew 15; Mark 7)

Jesus Condemned Hypocrisy (Matthew 15:3-4; Mark 7:6-8) 

Those pious leaders focused on their traditions as though they were God’s commandments, while ignoring the commandments themselves. They were like some religious leaders of our day who replace the principles and precepts of God’s Word with their own traditions.

Jesus ignored the premise of their question and asked, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3).

What a powerful response! Rather than waste precious time debating their ill-founded criticisms, Jesus admonished them. The religious leaders had usurped Scripture’s authority, and Jesus charged them with breaking the fifth commandment, which commands honoring father and mother (Exodus 20:12). The LORD warned, “He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death” (Matthew 15:4b; Exodus 21:17).

Lip Service vs. Heart Service (Matthew 15:7-9; Mark 7:9-13)

The scribes and Pharisees had not only failed to instruct the people but also encouraged them to dismiss their obligation to care for their fathers’ and mothers’ physical needs. By their traditions, they disavowed an adult child’s responsibility for their parents’ welfare. They taught that declaring “Corban” (meaning, a gift; Mark 7:11-12) freed a son or daughter from obligation to their parents, allowing them to dedicate their wealth and possessions to the LORD (Mark 7:12). 

Jesus condemned them as hypocrites (Matthew 15:7). Quoting the prophet Isaiah, He said, “Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, And with their lips do honour me, But have removed their heart far from me, And their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men” (Isaiah 29:13). Because they masked their hypocritical hearts with external rituals, Jesus warned that their worship was in vain (Matthew 15:8-9).

Christ’s Challenge to the Multitude (Matthew 15:10-11; Mark 7:14-16)

After confronting the Pharisees’ hypocrisy (Matthew 15:7), Jesus turned to the people who had witnessed the disagreement and said, “Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man” (Matthew 15:10-11).

The Pharisees emphasized whether a man ate with clean or unclean hands. Jesus, however, warned that it was not what a man put into his mouth but the words that came from his mouth that defiled him (i.e., rendered him sinful and unfit before God; Matthew 15:11).

The Disciples’ Request for an Explanation (Matthew 15:12-19; Mark 7:17-23)

The disciples then came to Jesus, but rather than express concern about the Pharisees’ false doctrine, they voiced alarm that He had offended them (Matthew 15:12).

Jesus then rebuked His disciples and warned that God would uproot what He had not planted (the false teachers and their doctrines and traditions of men, Matthew 15:13). He reproved them, saying, “Let them [the Pharisees] alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14).

Peter, often the spokesman for the Twelve, asked, “Declare unto us this parable” (Matthew 15:15). Which parable? The one Christ taught when He said, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man” (Matthew 15:11).

The disciples were slow to learn and missed the point: Physical food goes in and out of a man as a natural part of life (Matthew 15:16-17). Nevertheless, the things that come out of a man’s mouth reflect the spiritual condition of his heart (Matthew 15:18).

What is the heart? In the Scriptures, the heart is the seat of a man’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions. What sins lie in a man’s heart? “Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). Mark added in his Gospel, “covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:22).

Closing thoughts –

The Pharisees focused on whether a man’s hands were ceremonially clean and ignored the condition of a man’s heart (Matthew 15:20). What is the condition of a man’s heart?

The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus confirmed this when He revealed that evil arises from within man’s heart and defiles him.

Don’t be fooled by spiritual blindness or by piety! The LORD knows your heart, and He alone can purge it of the sin within.

1 John 1:7–9 – ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. ⁸If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.