< Matthew 15 >
1 Then [some] Pharisees and men who taught the [Jewish] laws came from Jerusalem [to talk to] Jesus. They said,
2 “(We think it is disgusting that your disciples disobey the traditions of our ancestors!/Why do your disciples disobey [what our ancestors wrote down and] our [elders taught us]?) [RHQ] They do not perform the proper ritual of washing their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus answered them, “(What is really disgusting is that you refuse to obey God’s commands [just] so that you can follow what your ancestors taught you!/Why do you refuse to obey what God commanded [people to do, just] so that you can follow your own traditions?) [RHQ]
4 God gave these [two] commands: ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘People who speak evil about their father or mother must be executed.’
5 But you tell people, ‘You can say to your father or mother, “What I was going to give to you [to help provide for you], [I have now promised] to give [to God].”’
6 And if you do that, you think that you do not need to give anything to help your parents. In [that way], [by teaching people] your traditions, you disregard what God commanded.
7 You only pretend to be good! Isaiah prophesied accurately about you [also when he quoted what God said about your ancestors. God said],
8 ‘These people talk [as if they] honor me [MTY], but they do not think about honoring me at all [MET].
9 It is useless for them to worship me, because they teach what people thought up [as if I myself had commanded it].’”
10 Then Jesus [again] summoned the crowd to come [nearer] to him. Then he said to them, “Listen to [what I am about to tell you], and [try to] understand it.
11 Nothing that a person puts into his mouth [to eat] causes [God to consider] that person to be unacceptable. Instead, it is [the words] that come out of people’s mouths [SYN] that cause [God to reject them].”
12 Later we disciples went to Jesus and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees heard what you said, and as a result they felt offended [RHQ]?”
13 Then, [to teach us what God would do to the Pharisees], Jesus told [us this parable]: “My Father in heaven [will] get rid of all [those who teach things that are contrary to his truth, just like a farmer] gets rid of plants that he did not plant, by pulling them up along with their roots [MET].
14 Do not pay any attention to [the Pharisees]. They [do not help people who do not know God’s truth] to [understand it, just like] blind guides [do not help] blind [people to perceive where they should go] [MET]. If a blind person [tries to] lead [another] blind person, they will both fall into a big hole [MET]. [Similarly, both the Pharisees and their disciples will end up in hell].” ()
15 Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable [about what a person eats].”
16 He replied [to them], “(I am disappointed that even you, [who should understand what I teach], still do not understand!/Why is it that even you [who should understand what I teach], still do not understand?) [RHQ]
17 (You ought to understand that all [food that people] eat enters their stomachs, and later the refuse passes out of their [bodies]./Cannot you understand that all [food that people] eat enters their stomachs and later the refuse passes out [of their bodies]?) [RHQ] [Because food does not alter what we think and desire, what we eat does not cause God to consider that we are unacceptable to him].
18 [You should know that] what comes out of [people’s] mouths, [meaning everything that they say] [SYN], comes from their inner beings/hearts. Many of the [things that they say] cause [God to consider] them to be unacceptable [to him].
19 It is people’s innermost beings that [cause them] to think things that are evil, to murder people, to [commit] adultery, to commit other sexual sins, to steal things, to testify falsely, and to speak evil about [others].
20 It is these actions that cause [God to consider] people to be unacceptable [to him]. To eat with unwashed hands does not cause [God to consider] people unacceptable to him.”
21 After Jesus [took us and] left [Galilee district], we went into the region [where the cities of] Tyre and Sidon [are located].
22 A woman [from the group of people called] Canaanites who live in that region came [to the place where Jesus was staying]. She kept shouting [to him], “Lord, you are the descendant of [King] David, [you are the Messiah!] Have pity on me [and my daughter!] She is suffering very much because a demon controls her.”
23 But Jesus did not answer her at all. [We] disciples came to him, and [knowing that the woman was not a Jew], we said to him, “Tell her to leave, because she keeps [bothering us] by yelling behind us!”
24 But Jesus said [to her], “I have been sent {[God] has sent me} to [help] only the Israelite people [at this time] [SYN]. [They are like] sheep that have gotten lost [MET] [because they do not know the way to heaven].”
25 But she came [closer] to Jesus and knelt down in front of him [to worship him]. She pled, “Lord/Sir, help me!”
26 Then, [to suggest to her that he needed to help the Jews first and not the non-Jews, whom the Jews called dogs], he told her, “It is not good [for someone] to take food [that has been prepared for] the children and throw it to the [little] dogs.”
27 [But to show that she believed that non-Jews could also receive help from God], the woman said [to Jesus], “Lord/Sir, what you [say is] correct, but even the [little] dogs eat the crumbs that fall to the floor [when] their masters [sit at] their tables [and eat]!”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, [because] you believe firmly [in me, I] will [heal your daughter] as you desire!” At that moment [the demon left] her daughter, [and she] became well.
29 After Jesus, [along with us disciples], departed from that area, we went [back] to Galilee Lake [and walked] along it. Then Jesus climbed the hill [near there] and sat down [to teach the people].
30 Crowds kept coming to him for the next two days and brought lame, crippled, and blind people, those who were unable to talk, and many others [who had various sicknesses]. They laid them in front of Jesus [so that he would heal them] [SYN]. And he healed them.
31 The crowd saw [him heal] people who could not talk, crippled people, lame people, and blind people, and they were amazed. They said, “Praise God [who rules over us who live in] Israel!”
32 Then Jesus called us disciples to him and said [to us], “This crowd [of people] has been with me for three days and have nothing [left] to eat. I feel sorry for them. I do not want to send them away [while they are still] hungry, [because if I did that], they might faint on the way [home].”
33 We disciples said to him, “In this place where nobody lives, (we cannot possibly obtain enough food to feed such a large crowd!/how can we obtain a large enough amount of food to feed such a large crowd?) [RHQ]”
34 Jesus asked us, “How many small loaves do you have?” We said to him, “[We have] seven small loaves and a few [cooked] fish.”
35 He told the people to sit on the ground.
36 Then he took the seven small loaves and the fish. After he thanked [God for them], he broke them [into pieces], and he kept giving [them] to us. Then we [kept distributing] them to the crowd.
37 [Because Jesus made the food multiply miraculously], all [those people] ate and had [plenty to] satisfy [them]. There were 4,000 men [who ate], but no [one counted] the women and the children [who also ate]. Then we [disciples] collected the pieces of food that were left over, and we filled seven large baskets [with them].
38
39 After Jesus dismissed the crowd, he, [along with us], got in the boat, and we sailed [around the lake] to the region called Magadan.
