Mateus 15
Theophylact of Ohrid
Mateus 15:1-2
Although there were scribes and Pharisees in every place, those in Jerusalem were the most honored. Hence they envied Christ all the more as they were the most vainglorious. As a custom from ancient tradition, the Jews did not eat with unwashed hands. Seeing the disciples disdain this tradition, they thought that the disciples held the elders in contempt. What then does the Saviour do? He says nothing in defense of this, but accuses them in return. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:3-6
The Pharisees were accusing the disciples of transgressing the commandment of the elders, but Christ shows that the Pharisees were transgressing the law of God (See Ex. 20:12; 21:16). For they were teaching sons to give nothing to their parents but to offer whatever they had to the treasury of the temple. There was a coffer in the temple in which he who so wished could put money, and the contents were distributed to the poor. So the Pharisees first persuaded sons not to give anything to their parents but to offer it instead to the treasury of the temple, and then taught them to say, "O my father, the help that you seek from me is a gift, that is, it is offered to God." And then the Pharisees and the sons would divide the money among themselves, and the parents were being left uncared for in their old age. The money lenders had the same practice. For if one of them would lend money to someone who proved to be a bad debtor who did not pay back what was owed, then the money lender would say to the ungrateful debtor, "What you owe me is Corban," that is, a gift offered to God. Then the debtor, as one who was now in debt to God, would pay up although unwillingly. This is what the Pharisees were teaching sons to do. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:7-9
Through the voice of the prophet Isaiah (Is. 29:13) Christ shows that the Pharisees and scribes are disposed to Him in the same way that they are to His Father. For they were evil, and by their evil deeds they had distanced themselves from God, and so were speaking the words of God only with their mouth. For it is utterly in vain for those who dishonor God by their deeds to worship Him and to believe that by so doing they honor Him. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:10-11
He no longer converses with the Pharisees, as they were incurable, but with the multitude. Christ sees fit to honor the multitude by calling them to Himself so that they might accept His word, and He says, "Hear and understand," urging them to be attentive. As the Pharisees had blamed the disciples for eating with unwashed hands, the Lord speaks of food, saying that no food defiles a man. And if food does not defile, how much less does eating with unwashed hands? What defiles the inner man is to say those things which he should not. Here He is alluding to the Pharisees who defile themselves by speaking spiteful words. Behold His wisdom, how He neither openly enjoins the eating with unwashed hands, nor forbids it. But He teaches something different, not to spew evil words from the heart. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:12
The disciples spoke on behalf of the Pharisees, saying that the Pharisees had taken offense. But that the disciples also were troubled is made clear when Peter approached and asked about this. When Jesus heard, then, that the Pharisees had taken offense, He said: — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:13-14
It is the Judaic ordinances and the traditions of the elders that He says will be rooted up, not the commandments of the law, as the Manichean heretics believe. The law is a plant of God, so it has not been rooted up. Its root, that is, the hidden Spirit, remains, but its leaves, namely, the visible letter, have fallen. For we no longer understand the law according to the letter, but according to the Spirit. As the Pharisees were hopeless and incurable, He said, "Let them be." Here we learn that it is not to our detriment to give offense to those who willingly take offense and are incorrigible. He calls them blind teachers of the blind; He says this to draw the multitudes away from them. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:15
Peter knew that the law did not allow the eating of all foods, and he was afraid to say to Jesus, "I too am scandalized by this saying of Thine, which appears to transgress the law." Therefore he questions Jesus, feigning ignorance. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:16-20
The Saviour rebukes the disciples and censures their lack of sense, either because they took offense or because they did not understand the obvious. For He says, "That which is understood and is apparent to all, you do not understand; that food does not remain within but passes out below, not at all polluting a man's soul, for it does not remain inside. But thoughts are engendered within and remain there, and when they come out, that is, proceed to deed and act, they pollute the man." For the thought of fornication stains while it remains within, but when it issues forth into deed and act, it utterly defiles. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:21
Why did He not allow the disciples to go by way of the Gentiles (Mt. 10:5), while He Himself went to Tyre and Sidon, which were Gentile cities? Learn then, that He did not go there to preach, since, as Mark says, "He hid Himself" (Mk. 7:24). But rather, when He saw that the Pharisees had not accepted His words about food, He went to the Gentiles. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:22
The woman said, "Have mercy, not on my daughter, who is unconscious, but on me who am suffering and experiencing these terrible things." And she did not say, "Come and heal," but "Have mercy." — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:23
He did not answer her a word, not out of contempt, but to show that He had come, in the first place, for the Jews, and to shut the mouths of those Jews who might later slanderously accuse Him of doing good to Gentiles. He also did not answer her so that He might reveal the persevering faith of the woman. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:23-24
The disciples were oppressed by the cry of the woman and so begged Christ to send her away. They did this, not out of a lack of compassion, but rather with the desire to persuade the Lord to have mercy on her. But He said, "I was sent only to the Jews, who are lost sheep because of the wickedness of those shepherds to whom they had been entrusted." In this manner He discloses more fully the faith of the woman. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:25
When the woman saw that her advocates, the apostles, had not succeeded, again she approaches fervently and calls upon the Lord. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:26
Christ speaks of her as a dog, because the Gentiles led an unclean life and were involved with the blood of meat sacrificed to idols, while the Jews He speaks of as children. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:27
When the woman saw that her advocates, the apostles, had not succeeded, again she approaches fervently and calls upon the Lord. Christ speaks of her as a dog, because the Gentiles led an unclean life and were involved with the blood of meat sacrificed to idols, while the Jews He speaks of as children. But she answers wisely and indeed profoundly, "Even though I am a dog and not worthy to receive a loaf of bread, that is, a mighty act and a great sign, nevertheless grant this to me which is a small thing by comparison with Thy power, though to me it is great. For crumbs are not large in the eyes of those who eat loaves, but to dogs they are large, and they feed on them." — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:28
Now Jesus shows the reason why He put off healing her at the beginning. So that the faith and understanding of the woman might be made manifest, Christ did not immediately give His assent at the beginning and even drove her away. But now when her faith has been revealed she hears the words of praise, "Great is thy faith." By saying, "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt," Christ showed that if she had not had faith she would not have obtained her request. So, too, if we desire to obtain something, nothing prevents us from obtaining what we desire. Notice that even if saints should ask on our behalf, as the apostles did for the woman, still, we accomplish even more when we ask for ourselves. The Canaanite woman is also a symbol of the Church gathered from among the Gentiles. For Gentiles who first were even driven away, later were advanced to the rank of sons and were deemed worthy of the Bread, I mean, the Body of the Lord; while the Jews became dogs, thinking that they were being fed by the crumbs, that is, the minute and insignificant details of the letter of the law. "Tyre" means "besieged," "Sidon" "they who hunt," and "Canaan" "made ready by humility." Therefore the Gentiles, who were besieged by evil in that the demons were among them hunting for souls, were also made ready by humility. For the righteous were made ready for the heights of the kingdom of God. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:29
He does not visit Judea frequently, as He does Galilee, because the unbelief of the Judeans was so great. For the Galileans had more faith than they. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:30-31
Behold their faith, how they even ascend a mountain although they are lame and blind. And they do not move sluggishly but throw themselves at the feet of Jesus as if believing that He is more than a man and then, indeed, they obtain healing. So you also, O reader, must ascend the mountain of the commandments where the Lord is seated. And though you are blind and unable to see the good for yourself; and though lame, seeing the good but unable to go towards it; and though deaf and dumb, unable to hear another exhorting you and unable to exhort another; and though maimed, that is, unable to stretch out your hand to give alms; and though diseased in any other way, if you fall at Jesus' feet and touch the foot prints of His life, you will be healed. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:32
The multitude did not dare to ask for bread, as they had come for healing. But He Who loves mankind takes thought for them. So that no one could say, "They have other provisions," He says, "Even if they had, they would have been used up, for it has already been three days." He shows that they came from a distance when He says, "lest they faint on the way." He says these things to the disciples, wishing to encourage them to say to Him, "You are able to feed them as you did the five thousand." But the disciples still lack understanding. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:33
They should have understood that on the previous occasion even a greater number had been fed in the desert. But they are senseless here, so that later when you see them filled with such great wisdom, you may marvel at the grace of Christ. — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:34-38
He teaches frugality by having them sit on the ground; and He teaches us to give thanks before eating by Himself giving thanks. Do you ask why it is that when there were five loaves and five thousand being fed, twelve baskets remained, but here where there are more loaves and fewer people only seven baskets were left over? It could be said either that spyrides were a larger type of basket than kophinoi, or that He did not wish the numerical equality of this miracle with the previous one to cause it to be forgotten. For if on this occasion, too, twelve baskets had been left over, because of the numerical equality they would have forgotten that He performed the miracle with the loaves a second time. But you, O reader, must also know this, that the four thousand, that is, they who are perfect in the four virtues, are fed with seven loaves, that is, with more spiritual and perfected words, for the number seven is a symbol of the seven spiritual gifts. They fall down to the earth putting beneath them all earthly things and treading them down, just as the five thousand fell down onto the grass, that is, putting beneath them the flesh and its glory. "For all flesh is grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass" (Is. 40:6; Ps. 102:15). Here there are seven baskets of remnants, because it was the spiritual and more perfect things that they were unable to eat. For the amount left over was what seven baskets could contain, that is, what only the Holy Spirit knew. "For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God" (1 Cor. 2:10). — Commentary on Matthew
Mateus 15:39
Jesus went away because the miracle of the loaves drew more people to follow Him than any other that He performed; so much so that they were even about to make Him king, as John says (Jn. 6:15). Therefore Jesus went away to avoid the suspicion of Herod the tyrant. — Commentary on Matthew