1. What is the historical/literary background of the passage?
Resistance to Jesus is getting sharper. His forerunner, John the Baptist, was put to death in the previous chapter by Herod, and now conflict with the Pharisees begin in full force. Pharisees from Jerusalem have purposely come to speak with Jesus and confront Him and His teachings.
2. What can we learn about God?
God desires for His Word to always take precedence over religious tradition. Jesus took issue with religious leaders of the day condemning their teachings and practices as violating the truth of God’s word. The Pharisees ask Him why doesn’t He and His disciples follow the religious washings, and Jesus returns in like manner. Both questions are rhetorical. The question the Pharisees pose is actually an accusation that Jesus doesn’t respect the Pharisee’s authority, and Jesus’ question is an accusation that they do not respect God’s authority.
Jesus gives an example of Pharisee teaching that functions as a religious excuse to ignore your parent’s material needs in their old age.
4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
At worst this would place God’s word a level under the man-made excuse, and at best it would falsely teach a man-made device as a revelation from God. The results of either with be equally damning as the teachers themselves are “blind” and so they and their followers will both fall into a pit.
14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
God’s desire in all of this would be for people to avoid the pit altogether by revealing the truth in the first place. God could have retained the truth from us and would have been justified in doing so simply allowing sinners to continue in their own depravity, but His choice was to act on His love and reveal the truth we lacked.
The implication for us is that when God reveals the truth to us, it will almost certainly be at odds with a man-made construct that claims jurisdiction over our lives, and men will use their power to resist God’s revelation. For anyone desiring to trust God in this world, the price to pay will be to face the consequences man can conjure.
In the world where the money is loved, putting God first before money can bring on rebuke from family, friends, and others in one’s culture. In the Asian world, choosing to obey God over parents will almost certainly mean be shamed in the family. In countries like China were simply going to church that isn’t government-approved puts one at risk for been harassed, jailed, or worse. Such is the price to be paid by the believer in a depraved-fallen world.
God does not accept outward conformity in the place of heart belief. From the experience of years in the ministry, I think that many people cannot tell the difference. For many, outward ritualistic obedience is equated as heart belief. But they are greatly fooled, and perhaps this is the blindness that Jesus is talking about.
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
We can go back to the beginning of time before sin marred the relationship between God and man. We only have the second chapter of Genesis to give us that window to see what intimacy with God looks like. Man and God walked together, enjoyed creation together, man was entrusted with management in creation, but when sin entered in the heart and the intimacy was broken. From then until now, the heart of humanity is sickened with sin and disbelief in God. That is why an outward covering or show of ritual obedience cannot fix the heart issue. Whatever the answer is for man to be reconciled back to God, it cannot simply be the band-aid fix of changing a few surface behaviors.
That is all the depth of the world’s message and the world’s religions, “Simply be kind to people”. Though we would agree that folks ought to be kind, acts of kindness are still just surface behaviors. Even feelings of compassion that appear to go deeper than skin do not transform the heart, the problem of sin will remain and the person will remain unreconciled to God. Only One can remedy the problems of the heart and that is He who made the heart. Only His work can finally remedy and that is why belief on our part is required.
13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
God works when people trust Him, no other condition is necessary. This has been the underlying principle of the whole Bible and each of the points in this passage. Faith and trust in God prompt obedience according to God’s word. Faith in God leads to deeper more significant intimacy with God over time. Faith in God will transform the heart and also be seen in outward behavior as well. Believing God is the principal thing and is the only condition necessary to prompt God’s work in the heart.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
The woman in this passage that God helped was someone outside the Jewish community. She is a gentile and had no personal claims to God’s covenanted promises with Israel. Yet God worked on her behalf, based solely on her faith. It would appear that Jesus’ initial response to her request would follow the thought of the day, that a gentile has no ground to make requests to God and expect to receive, which of course is true of all people. However, Jesus’ final response would clearly overturn such thinking that God would only respond to people physically born into the covenant of Abraham. “O woman” in Jesus’ response also shows His compassion for her from the beginning. The Abrahamic covenant itself was made solely on Abraham’s faith in God and for any physical trait, he possessed. God responds to people’s faith in Him.
God acts on behalf of his own people’s faith to bless others with weak faith or no faith. In verse 30 we see people that have faith in Jesus bring others to Him that needed His help. Though the Bible doesn’t directly describe the faith of these people receiving the help, I think it is safe to assume that many of them either didn’t possess faith formerly to seek Jesus themselves, instead they were prompted by others who had faith to seek help in Christ.
30 And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:
The Bible paints the goodness of God in many shades, this is another theme of His goodness where He acts on the behalf of His people the sake of others who need His power but yet are unable to seek it. Whether by direct intervention or by extension of those who have already received God’s goodness, people who receive the goodness of God receive it ultimately from God.
Those who brought people to Jesus already tasted and seen that the Lord was good. Being changed by the Lord’s compassion, they reached out to others in the belief that God could help them too. That is what true belief in God will prompt in the believer, knowing that without some kind of intervention, the world at large will die in its own devices.
3. How does this passage point to Jesus and the Gospel?
Jesus prevailed over tradition. Because God loves truth over tradition, God became flesh and dwelt among us. He confronted the traditions of men with the truth of God’s word. In consequence, the world condemned Him to the cross. The world thought by putting Him to death would spell out a victory, but the opposite was true. Jesus’ resurrection vindicated His teaching and gave the ultimate testimony that God’s word is true and powerful.
Paul pointed out later:
20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
1 Corinthians 4:20
That is why in order for people to be saved from sin, death, and hell, they cannot lean on men’s traditions, promises, religion, rituals, or anything else man-made. Instead, the only means of salvation is by believing on Jesus Christ. He IS the truth incarnate and the power of God resides on Him to raise the dead, even those who have been destroyed by sin. Because of what Christ did for you, you have a choice right now to trust Him with your heart, laying aside your “independence” and declare your need for Christ. Only then will you find freedom in Christ.
Going back to our observations of God’s goodness we see that God revealed truth so that men would avoid falling into the ditch altogether. In order to avoid the ditch, then one must “ditch” the blind traditions and leaders and surrender themselves to following Christ. Everyone and everything else is blind guides.
Trusting in Jesus from the heart transforms the heart. The problem of sin is a heart problem, not merely a behavioral problem. That is why changing behavior does not solve sin’s problem. If there is to be any real solution to sin, it has to fundamentally deal with the heart.
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
The basis of all man-made religion is you must better yourself, earn favor, or self-improve. All of the above does purge sin from the heart, nor can it forgive sin in the past, nor can it transform the heart to be free from sin.
That is why only Jesus can save because His death paid the debt of sin so it can be erased from the record, His resurrection power is the power to raise sinners to new life, and the Holy Spirit is imparted to believers so their new natures will govern their eternal lives. This transformation cannot be imitated by any power man possesses but must be entrusted to the work of Jesus on the cross.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Titus 3:5
God saves souls when people trust in Jesus Christ, no other condition is necessary. The theme of believing in God has been repeated in Scripture over and over again and is finally realized in the Gospel invitation to anyone to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. No other condition is necessary to be saved outside of placing one’s faith in Jesus Christ for the remission of sin.
Because the gentile woman reached out in faith to Jesus for the healing of her daughter, she received what she asked for. She did need to render anything more than asking in faith. While we can look forward to a time where our physical ailments will be healed, the matter of eternal life can be obtained now through faith.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Ephesians 2:8
There is no other condition that needs to be met, ask Jesus in faith for the forgiveness and salvation from sins, and it will be bestowed because it is He who is offering it.
Any other condition that could be imagined such as extra payment for sin, removing of more guilt is all supplied by the endless power of the cross.
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Colossians 2:14
4. Application
Because Jesus prevailed over traditions of men, then I can simply surrender on Jesus’ word, rather than committing any more of my time and resources to men’s traditions. Are you being manipulated by man’s traditions or are you being set free by the truth? Jesus said, “ And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He said this to a people who were dominated by religious ideas and propaganda that were merely men’s ideas rather than God’s truth. But once you know the truth through Christ, you are socially and spiritually freed from the lies. Therefore walking with Jesus and daily hearing Him is a discipline we should put into place. Expunge the lies God illuminates and replace it with the truth He reveals.
J. C. Walz – Faith, Fiction, and DEvotional Writing 
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