Jesus Offends
Matthew 15:12: "Then the disciples came and said to him, 'Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?'"
Jesus had just explained that it is not what goes into the body that defiles a person but what comes out of the body. The explanation was aimed at the Pharisees. Jesus used a passage in Isaiah with which they were familiar to drive his point home. The Pharisees focused solely on their outward appearance. Jesus was not impressed by their performances; he was looking at the heart, and their hearts were not open to him and to his message of the kingdom.
Jesus was not afraid to offend people. He came to speak truth. As we have seen throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was not looking to build a following. In fact, Jesus told those he healed not to tell anyone. Jesus was not about show. He was about making disciples through preaching, teaching, and healing.
Jesus is about internal transformation. He knows that transformed hearts lead to transformed lives. Those are the lives that would continue to build the kingdom after his ascension. Matthew is the prime example of a transformed life. Jesus called Matthew from his tax booth along the streets of Capernaum. Matthew immediately left everything to follow Jesus.
Truth challenges us. We can resist it or be changed by it. The Pharisees resisted the truth of Jesus; their hearts became harder and harder towards him. Those who acknowledged the truth of Jesus were healed of their infirmities, sickness, and demon oppression. To those who would receive Jesus, their hearts became open and pliable to the teaching of the Son of God. Through seeing Jesus, they saw their heavenly Father and became children of the kingdom.
We are still confronted with truth today. Will we receive Jesus and his message of the kingdom or will we take offense? Receiving his truth leads to transformation and to eternal life; resisting his truth leads to hard-heartedness and eternal isolation from the Father.
Jesus had just explained that it is not what goes into the body that defiles a person but what comes out of the body. The explanation was aimed at the Pharisees. Jesus used a passage in Isaiah with which they were familiar to drive his point home. The Pharisees focused solely on their outward appearance. Jesus was not impressed by their performances; he was looking at the heart, and their hearts were not open to him and to his message of the kingdom.
Jesus was not afraid to offend people. He came to speak truth. As we have seen throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was not looking to build a following. In fact, Jesus told those he healed not to tell anyone. Jesus was not about show. He was about making disciples through preaching, teaching, and healing.
Jesus is about internal transformation. He knows that transformed hearts lead to transformed lives. Those are the lives that would continue to build the kingdom after his ascension. Matthew is the prime example of a transformed life. Jesus called Matthew from his tax booth along the streets of Capernaum. Matthew immediately left everything to follow Jesus.
Truth challenges us. We can resist it or be changed by it. The Pharisees resisted the truth of Jesus; their hearts became harder and harder towards him. Those who acknowledged the truth of Jesus were healed of their infirmities, sickness, and demon oppression. To those who would receive Jesus, their hearts became open and pliable to the teaching of the Son of God. Through seeing Jesus, they saw their heavenly Father and became children of the kingdom.
We are still confronted with truth today. Will we receive Jesus and his message of the kingdom or will we take offense? Receiving his truth leads to transformation and to eternal life; resisting his truth leads to hard-heartedness and eternal isolation from the Father.
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