Understanding The Word

Understanding the Word

Matthew 15:15-20, NLT

Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.” 16“Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. 17“Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. 18But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. 19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”

Mark 7:17-19, NLT

Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. 18“Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? 19Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)

Setting the Scene

Jesus went into a house (probably in Capernaum) to get away from the crowd and to spend time with the Twelve. Often Peter would act as spokesman for the disciples, and he always seemed to speak honestly. In this passage, Peter was saying, in effect, “Hey, I still don’t get it.” In a couple of years Peter would be confronted directly with this issue of clean and unclean food (see Acts 10:9-15), where he would learn that nothing should be a barrier to proclaiming the gospel to non-Jews. Here he was simply expressing the confusion that all the disciples were experiencing.

Jesus knew the crowd didn’t understand but seemed disappointed that his disciples had also failed to comprehend. Jesus’ question “Don’t you understand yet?” shows that discipleship is a process of growth. Although the disciples knew much about Jesus, they still had more to learn.

Then Jesus explained that what comes out of a person—evil thoughts and deeds—are what defile that person, not what goes in the mouth. Moral defilement has nothing to do with food, but with sin in the heart. Jesus wasn’t simply teaching theology or showing he could out-argue the Pharisees. He wanted the disciples to understand this important truth. The more time they spent with Jesus, the more they would understand and put into practice.

Getting Personal

How often do you study the Bible? What do you do when you come to a passage that you don’t understand?

If you could ask Jesus one question about something he said, what would you ask?

What can you do to better understand and apply God’s Word?

The disciples may not have heard everything or they may have been overly concerned about offending the religious leaders. Whatever the reason, they didn’t understand Jesus’ words about clean and unclean foods and defilement. Although we don’t have Jesus sitting physically with us and explaining his teachings, we have God’s written Word—and a wide range of Bible study resources. God gave his Word to reveal himself and his plan to us, to tell us how to believe and how to live. What an amazing gift!

Talking to God

Thank God for his patience with the process of discipleship. Ask that God’s Holy Spirit would illuminate the Scriptures for you as you study.