Matthew 15:10-11 "And he called the multitude, and said unto them, 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."
In the previous verses of this chapter, we saw the scribes and Pharisees coming to Jesus and challenging Him concerning the behavior of His disciples. The scribes and Pharisees had observed Jesus’s disciples eating without first washing their hands. All the scribes and Pharisees wanted to do was to find something to embarrass Jesus over in front of the people. They demanded to know why His disciples transgressed this tradition of the elders (members of their Sanhedrin council).
Jesus ignored the remark about the transgression of eating with unwashed hands because it was a manmade tradition. Instead, He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees over their transgression of God’s commandments. This was by far the weightier matter. He then pointed out the vanity of their false worship and called them hypocrites.
At this point, Jesus called the multitude to pay attention to His words. He expected them to not only hear but to act wisely (understand) what He was about to tell them. We would also do well to hear and act wisely concerning this lesson. What goes into the mouth is not what makes us polluted and unfit for God’s service.
The body has been so designed that it will take available nutrients from what goes into the mouth. Even when we consume things that are not necessarily the healthiest choices, the body keeps what it can use. Whatever is left is eliminated from the body. We realize that the better the things are that go in, the better use the body can make of it. Jesus’s lesson here was not about physical health.
The things that truly demonstrate the state of man’s uncleanness are the words that come out of his mouth and the actions that follow those words. If we eat something bad, the body rejects it. However, unless the Holy Spirit guides us, the things that come out of our mouth do not give God honor. From the pollution of our carnal being, we speak things that show our hypocrisy.
Dear ones, let us seek Him before we speak. Let our words be honest and honoring to God. Do not give credence to the traditions of men that pollute our service. Let us follow Jesus’s custom of gathering to worship and taking up the word of God (Luke 4:16).