Matthew 15 - Meditation by Kevin Samuel Premkumar

In this chapter, Jesus teaches about inner purity, heals a Gentile woman and feeds four thousand. The main topics that caught my interest were the teaching on inner purity and the faith of the Gentile woman.

Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law had come to Jesus from Jerusalem to interview him. They had asked him why his disciples do not obey their age-old customs of washing hands before eating. The Pharisees thought that it was such disobedience that made them ceremonially unclean. 

Jesus knew their thoughts and explained that it is not what you eat or how clean you eat it that defiles you, but defilement is caused by what comes from the mouth, what comes from the heart, for the human heart is evil and unjust. It is the sin in it that defiles you. Hence, you are not unclean if you don't wash your hands, rather you are unclean if what comes from your heart is not from God and is not right.

Later on, a Gentile woman came to Jesus. She pleaded with Jim to come and cast a demon out of her daughter. Jesus, however did not respond. After she had repeatedly pleaded, he said that he had come for Israel, God's lost sheep, not the Gentiles. And then the woman further pleaded. 

Finally, Jesus opened his mouth and said, "It isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs." [Matthew 15:26] This seemed rather harsh and I'm not really sure why Jesus said that to the woman, but I'm guessing that the Jews considered the Gentiles to be unclean and impure, so they despised them. 

But the woman gave a great response of faith, for which Jesus healed her daughter. She said, "Yes Lord, but even dogs are permitted to eat crumbs that fall beneath their master's table." [Matthew 15:27]

We must be strong in our faith. Even when God does not immediately grant our desires, we must keep asking him, and in his time, he will give it to us.

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