7
Rules that did not come from God
And you can read this story in Matthew 15:1-9
1-4 One day, some Jewish law teachers and some other lawmen came from Jerusalem to check up on what Jesus was doing. Those men that came from Jerusalem were really strong for the Jewish law, and they saw that Jesus' followers did not follow that law. Those Jewish lawmen had lots of rules about washing. One of those rules was about how people had to wash their hands in a special ceremony way before they ate food. And they had to wash their hands in that same way after they came home from the shops. There were other rules too. There was a rule about how to wash cups, billycans, cooking pots and how to wash the chairs they sat on to eat their food.
So, when the men from Jerusalem saw that some of Jesus' followers did not wash their hands the right way, 5 they said to Jesus, “Your followers are not keeping the rules that our old leaders gave us a long time ago. They did not wash their hands the right way before they started to eat their food.”
6 Jesus said to them, “Isaiah lived a long time ago and told people God's messages. He wrote about people that think 2 ways, just like you. The words he wrote about you are in God's book.
Isaiah wrote,
‘Those people show respect for me with their mouths,
but really they think another way.
7 They do ceremonies to show me respect,
but those ceremonies are rubbish.
And they teach people to follow rules that men made up
and they say those rules come from God.’ +
8 You mob are just like that. You have turned your back on God's law, and you love keeping the rules that you have made up.”
9 Then he said, “And you have worked out ways to get around God's laws and follow the rules your leaders made up. 10 God told Moses that he wanted everyone to look after their old people.
Moses said,
‘You have to respect your father and mother.’
And,
‘If anyone rubbishes their father or mother, you have to kill them.’ +
11 But you teach people that they can say to their parents, ‘I know that you need help and I would like to give you something, but I promised to give it to God. I am sorry, I cannot help you.’ 12 You reckon that if a person says that to their father or mother, they don't have to help them. 13 When they do this to their old people, they are rubbishing God and his law. And you do wrong things like this all the time. You think that your own rules are better than God's laws.”
14 Then Jesus called out to all the people and said, 15-16 “I tell you this so that you know. People might not wash their hands before they eat food, but that doesn't make the food wrong for God. And if they eat that food, it doesn't mean that they have turned away from God. It is the things people say and the things they do that show that they are not right with God.”
17 Then Jesus left the people and went into a house. His followers went with him, and they asked him what he was talking about. 18-19 Jesus was surprised, and said, “Why can't you understand what I am saying? Listen, when you eat something, it goes into your stomach and later on, it goes out of your body and into the toilet. It is not what you eat that makes you not right with God.”
When Jesus said this, he was saying that all food is good to eat.
20 Then Jesus said, “People show that they are not right with God by the bad things they say and do. 21-22 These are some of the things people do.
They think really bad things.
They do things with their bodies that God says are wrong.
They steal things.
They kill people.
They go to bed with another person's husband or wife.
They are greedy and try to get lots of money and things.
They are mean.
They trick people.
They do bad things all the time.
They are jealous and want other people's things.
They say rubbish words about God and other people.
They are proud and think they are great.
They do stupid things that show that they are not thinking straight.
23 Yes, when people do these bad things, it shows that they are thinking the wrong way and they are not right with God.”
A woman who was not Jewish trusted Jesus
And you can read this story in Matthew 7:21-28
24 Jesus took his followers north to a place called Tyre that was next to the sea. They stayed inside a house so that no-one would know they were there, but people soon found them.
25-26 There was a Greek woman who lived in Tyre. Her family came from Phone-ee-sha (Phoenicia) in a nearby country called Syria. She was not a Jewish person, and her daughter had a bad spirit in her. As soon as the woman heard that Jesus was in Tyre, she went to him and got down on her knees in front of him. She asked him to send the bad spirit out of her daughter.
27 Jesus said to her, “Listen to me. You do not take your children's food and give it to your dogs, do you? You let your children eat as much as they want to and then you give the rest to the dogs.”*
28 The woman said, “Yes, Teacher, you are right about that, but while those children are eating, they drop bits of food on the ground and the dogs eat it.”†
29 Jesus said, “That is a good answer. You can go home now, that bad spirit has gone out of your daughter.”
30 When the woman got home, she found her daughter lying quietly on a bed. What Jesus said was true, the bad spirit was gone.
Jesus made a deaf man better
31 Jesus left Tyre and went to a town called Sidon. Then he went around the top of Lake Galilee and down to a country that everyone called Ten Towns.
32 There was a man in that country that could not hear anything, and he could not talk properly. His friends were worried about him and so they took him to Jesus. They asked Jesus to put his hand on their friend, and make him better.
33 Jesus took the man away from all the other people and put his fingers in the man's ears. He spat and touched the man's tongue. 34 Then Jesus looked up into the sky and breathed out as he prayed for the man. And he said in their language, “Open up!” 35 And straight away, the man could hear, and he could talk properly.
36 Jesus went back to the crowd and said to them, “Do not tell anyone what I did for your friend.” But they would not listen, and everywhere they went they said to people, “Jesus made our friend better!”
37 Everyone was really amazed and they said to each other, “Jesus does everything properly. He makes people who cannot listen hear again. And people that cannot talk, he makes them better too.”
+ 7:7 Isaiah 29:13 + 7:10 Exodus 20:12; 21:17; Leviticus 20:9; Deuteronomy 5:16 * 7:27 Jesus said this to tell her that it was right for him to do good things for the Jewish people first, and after that he would do good things for other people. † 7:28 The woman said this to ask Jesus to help her a little bit.