Matthew 15

People are stupid, myself included. We need to have the same lesson repeated time after time. The disciples were given the exact situation as the previous chapter and they fail in exactly the same way. They do not have enough faith to believe that Jesus can miraculously feed the crowd. He can and He does, of course.

What is unclean? This is the same lesson He gave in the Sermon on the Mount. The things in a man’s heart are what matter to God. The outward actions are not as important as the inner character. The list given in verse 19 cuts straight to my heart. “Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” How many of these am I guilty of even today?

What can we do? As fallible humans we will act this way again and again. We need to follow the example of the Canaanite woman who falls to her knees and begs Jesus for help. Her “great faith” (despite being a Gentile!) results in her request being granted.