External and Internal Cleanliness Compared (Matthew 15:1-20)
Sermon Summary
A Reformation Sunday sermon.
Pastor David Yan
31 October 2021
There is an external appearance of purity which counts for nothing before God. There is an internal cleanliness which comes from the heart. This inner purity is acceptable to God.
The Pharisees and scribes had an external cleanliness and came to Jesus to test him. They asked why Jesus’s disciples did not wash their hands before meals as was the tradition of the Jews.
Their tradition was entrenched. Similarly in Martin Luther's day the Roman Catholic Church's tradition was entrenched.
The tradition of the Pharisees and scribes was intolerant. They could not tolerate the disciples of Jesus. So also the Catholic Church was intolerant of Martin Luther.
Their tradition of the Pharisees and scribes was judgmental. They judged the disciples of Jesus to be unclean for the disciples did not follow tradition. The Roman Catholic Church passed judgement on Luther. It tried him for heresy with the possibility of being burnt at the stake.
Crucially, the tradition of the Pharisees and scribes became absolutely authoritative. No other authority but theirs was acceptable. In Luther's day the Catholic Church gave lip service to the authority of the Bible but also gave authority to their traditions. At the heart of the Reformation was the issue of authority. Luther stood for the sole authority of the Bible and was immediately at odds with the Catholic Church.
Jesus exposed the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders. He did this by upholding the Ten Commandments. By the law comes the knowledge of sin. The Jewish leaders misread the law and in so doing removed their obligation to honour their parents. They had an outward conformity to the law but inwardly were unclean.
Jesus exposed the futility of outward religion. In vain the Pharisees and scribes worshipped God teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
What defiles a man? Not what goes into the mouth but what comes out of the mouth defiles a man. Jesus taught the importance of inner purity. He directly challenged the position of the Jewish leaders who focused on outward ceremonial purity with little regard for inner purity.
No wonder the leaders were offended by Jesus's teaching. But Jesus did not hold back from his condemnation of the Jewish leaders. He describes them as the blind leading the blind and that they would fall into a ditch. They would be doomed. They were unteachable.
Jesus concludes this encounter with the Pharisees and scribes by explaining to his disciples that inner purity is vital. Out of the heart come all types of evil.
The lesson is that we should focus on the heart and not on external appearances. It is Jesus who gives us a new heart. Through faith in him and through the workings of the Holy Spirit our hearts are made anew and pure. In Christ we become new people the work of God having been done in our hearts.
We are not perfect but Jesus helps us live with a clean heart. All praise to him.
All praise to God that we, like Martin Luther, can say sola scriptura (the Bible only); sola gratia (by grace alone); sola fide (by faith alone).