Matthew 15 v 1-20

[mindlight]

I am doing a sermon soon on the passage quoted below and would like you to help me with some questions I have about it. What do people think about this passage? My questions are these:


1) Since ritual purity properly understood did seem to be a requirement in the Pentateuch how come Jesus now seems to think it is not that important. Is he contradicting the law God and therefore He gave to Moses?

2) What in your view is the primary calling/mission of Israel/The Kingdom. Is the OT view of Israels calling something that can be simply transferred to our understanding of the Kingdom calling that Jesus seems to be communicating. Are people in the Kingdom also called to live apart or to get in there and become all things to all men so that sinners can be reconciled to God?

3) Jesus is the annointed one and the Son of God - so of course he can simply reprioritise and strategically reorganise his plan of action in accordance with his mission to seek and save the lost. But can you see the consistency between Gods plan for the Jews and for the more inclusive Kingdom which also included Gentiles?

4) What current modes of religious exclusivism are there to the vision of seeking and saving the lost?

5) What in your view would it be like to have dinner with Jesus - whether as sinner in process of being saved, as disciple anxious to learn or partake in the last supper, as glorified believer at the Messianic banquet.

6) By contrast what would it be like to have dinner with a Jewish religious Pharisee or one of his current forms in the Christian church?

7) What is the Pharisees understanding of a sinner and what is Jesus's understanding?

Matthew 15 v 1-20
15:1 Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said, 15:2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.” 15:3 He answered them, “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 15:4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ 15:5 But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” 15:6 he does not need to honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. 15:7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

15:8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,but their heart is far from me,

15:9 and they worship me in vain,teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

15:10 Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 15:11 What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.” 15:12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?” 15:13 And he replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 15:14 Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15:15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 15:16 Jesus said, “Even after all this, are you still so foolish? 15:17 Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? 15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. 15:19 For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 15:20 These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.”

 

[mindlight]

1) Since ritual purity properly understood did seem to be a requirement in the Pentateuch how come Jesus now seems to think it is not that important. Is he contradicting the law God and therefore He gave to Moses?

2) What in your view is the primary calling/mission of Israel/The Kingdom. Is the OT view of Israels calling something that can be simply transferred to our understanding of the Kingdom calling that Jesus seems to be communicating. Are people in the Kingdom also called to live apart or to get in there and become all things to all men so that sinners can be reconciled to God?

3) Jesus is the annointed one and the Son of God - so of course he can simply reprioritise and strategically reorganise his plan of action in accordance with his mission to seek and save the lost. But can you see the consistency between Gods plan for the Jews and for the more inclusive Kingdom which also included Gentiles?

4) What current modes of religious exclusivism are there to the vision of seeking and saving the lost?

5) What in your view would it be like to have dinner with Jesus - whether as sinner in process of being saved, as disciple anxious to learn or partake in the last supper, as glorified believer at the Messianic banquet.

6) By contrast what would it be like to have dinner with a Jewish religious Pharisee or one of his current forms in the Christian church?

7) What is the Pharisees understanding of a sinner and what is Jesus's understanding?

OK zero response to the above questions so I will try rephrasing them:

1) Does Jesus contradict the law God gave Moses by dismissing the value of ritual purity?

2) Whats the primary calling of the church?

3) Is there some continuity in Jesus teaching with the Old Testament?

4) Do we put up unnecessary barriers to people becoming members of our churches?

5) What would it be like to have dinner with Jesus?

6) What would it be like to have dinner with a Pharisee?

7) What did Jesus think a sinner was?

 

[cyberlizard]

1. Jesus does not abrogate the ritual food laws, but does have a serious problem with halakhah.

2. to worship God in spirit and in truth.

3. of course as Moses spoke about him (so Jesus said).

4. i wouldn't know its not our church.

5. Kosher.

6. Kosher.

7. depends on context. Jesus, you and me know all people sin so we're all sinners. But the word 'sinner' often was used according to technical meaning, meaning 'someone outside our group'. Hence 'he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners'.... does this mean tax collectors are not sinners, only sinners are sinners.


Steve

p.s. the question is to broad in scope, I would suggest narrowing the field of view of the questions and you may get more replies.