马太福音15：10-14：10耶稣就叫了众人来，对他们说：“你们要听，也要明白。11入口的不能污秽人，出口的乃能污秽人。”12当时，门徒进前来对他说：“法利赛人听见这话不服，你知道么？”〔不服原文作跌倒〕13耶稣回答说：“凡栽种的物，若不是我天父栽种的，必要拔出来。14任凭他们吧！他们是瞎眼领路的，若是瞎子领瞎子，两个人都要掉在坑里。”
法利赛人为什么对耶稣说的话感到被冒犯？这是因为耶稣称呼他们“不洁净”。无论法利赛人做任何事情，他们都会小心翼翼不触摸、甚至不接近那些不洁净的东西，比如大麻风病人、死尸或不洁净的食物。这就是为什么他们要在吃饭前洗手的缘故，以防万一他们触摸了某个接触过不洁净东西的人。
耶稣在这段话里对我们的教导很重要。入口的不会污秽我们，出口的才有可能污秽我们。在雅各书中，我们了解到控制我们的舌头和口里的污言秽语有多难。诽谤，污秽的言语，不必要的批评，八卦的流言蜚语，傲慢的言辞，还有法利赛人的错误教导。他们是瞎子领瞎子。
耶稣会一直冒犯我们的罪性。我们不愿意听到“我们是不洁净的”。但只有听到这样的话语，我们才能知道我们自己是救不了自己的；只有听到这样的话，我们才能知道我们迫切需要一位救主。
祷告：亲爱的耶稣，请对我这颗罪恶的心说话，并粉碎我内心的骄傲。当你打碎我灵的时候，请用宝贵的福音托起我，宣告我所有的罪都得赦免。只有当我被你的宝血洗净，我才真正地洁净了。阿们！
Matthew 15: 10-14: 10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” 12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” 13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Why were the Pharisees offended by what Jesus said? It was because Jesus had called them “unclean.” If there was anything that a Pharisee did, he meticulously avoided touching and even being close to anything that was unclean, like lepers or dead bodies or unclean food. That’s why they washed their hands before they ate, just in case they had touched someone who touched someone who was unclean.
Jesus teaches us something very important in these words. It’s not what goes into our mouths that makes us unclean, but what comes out of them. In the book of James, we get a picture of how hard it is to control our tongues and what comes out of our mouths. Slander. Foul language. Critical remarks that are unnecessary. Juicy gossip. Proud words. And in the case of the Pharisees, false teaching as well. They were like the blind leading the blind.
Jesus will always offend our sinful natures. We don’t like to hear that we are unclean. But how else will we know that we cannot save ourselves? How else will we know that we desperately need a Savior?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, speak boldly to my sinful heart and crush the pride that is in me! But when you have broken my spirit, then lift me up with the precious message of the gospel that declares all my sins forgiven. Only when I have been washed in your blood will I be truly clean! Amen.