Mouths And Honour

Ὑποκριταὶ , καλῶς προεφήτευσε περὶ ὑμῶν Ἠσαΐας, λέγων· Ἐγγίζει μοι ὁ λαὸς οὗτος τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν , καὶ τοῖς χείλεσί με τιμᾷ, ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτῶν πόῤῥω ἀπέχει ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ. Μάτην δὲ σέβονταί με, διδάσκοντες διδασκαλίας ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων. Δείκνυσι διὰ τῆς Ἡσαῖου φωνῆς, καὶ περὶ τὸν Πατέρα αὐτοῦ τοιούτους ὄντας αὐτοὺς, οἷοι καὶ περὶ αὐτὸν εὑρίσκονται· πονηροὶ γὰρ ὄντες, καὶ διὰ τῶν πονηρῶν ἔργων μακρύνοντες ἑαυτοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ, στόματι μόνον ἐλάλουν τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγια. Μάτην γὰρ πάντως σέβονται καὶ δοκοῦσι τιμᾶν τὸν Θεὸν, οἱ διὰ τῶν ἔργων αὐτὸν ἀτιμάζοντες . Καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν ὄχλον, εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ᾿Ακούετε καὶ συνίετε. Οὐ τὸ εἰσερχόμενον εἰς τὸ στόμα κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος , τοῦτο κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Οὐκ ἔτι τοῖς Φαρασαίοις διαλέγεται , ὡς ἀθεραπεύτοις, τῷ ὄχλῳ δὲ. Καὶ διὰ τοῦ προσκαλέσασθαι δοκεῖ τιμᾶν αὐτοὺς, ἵνα παραδέξωνται τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ, καί φησιν· ᾿Ακούετε καὶ συνίετε, διανιστῶν αὐτοὺς εἰς προσοχήν. Τῶν δὲ Φαρισαίων αἰτιωμένων τοὺς μαθητὰς ὡς ἀνίπτοις χερσὶν ἐσθίοντας,, ὁ Κύριος περὶ βρωμάτων λέγει, ὅτι οὐδὲν βρῶμα κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τουτέστι μολύνει. Καὶ εἰ τὸ βρῶμα οὐ μολύνει, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὸ ἀνίπτοις χερσὶν ἐσθίειν. Μολύνει γὰρ τὸν ἐντὸς ἄνθρωπον, τὸ λέγειν ἃ μὴ δεῖ. Αἰνίττεται δὲ διὰ τούτου τοὺς Φαρισαίους, μολυνομένους ἐκ τοῦ λέγειν φθονούντων ῥήματα· ὅρa δὲ σοφίαν , πῶς οὔτε φανερῶς τὸ ἄνιπτον ἐσθίειν νομοθετεῖ, οὔτε ἀποτρέπει. ᾿Αλλ' ἕτερόν τι διδάσκει, τὸ μὴ ἐκβάλλειν ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας πονηρούς λόγους. Τότε προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, εἶπον αὐτῷ · Οἶδας ὅτι οἱ Φαρισαῖοι ἀκούσαντες τὸν λόγον, ἐσκανδαλίσθησαν; Οἱ μὲν μαθηταὶ διὰ τοὺς Φαρισαίους λέγουσιν, ὅτι ἐσκανδαλίσθησαν. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐθορυβήθησαν· τοῦτο δὲ δῆλον ἀπὸ τοῦ προσελθεῖν τὸν Πέτρον καὶ ἐρωτῆσαι περὶ τούτου. Ὁ γοῦν Ἰησοῦς ἀκούσας, ὅτι ἐσκανδαλίσθησαν οἱ Φαρισαῖοι, ειπε· Πᾶσα φυτεία ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος, ἐκριζωθήσεται· ἄφετε αὐτούς· ὁδηγοί εἰσι τυφλοὶ τυφλῶν, τυφλὸς δὲ τυφλὸν ἐὰν ἐδηγῇ , ἀμφότεροι εἰς βόθυνον πεσοῦνται. Τὰς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων παραδόσεις καὶ τὰ Ἰουδαῖκὰ ἐντάλματα λέγει ἐκριζωθήσεσθαι· οὐχὶ τὰ τοῦ νόμου , ὡς νοοῦσι Μανιχαῖοι· ὁ γὰρ νόμος φυτεία ἐστὶ Θεοῦ· οὐ τοίνυν οὗτος ἐξεῤῥιζώθη. Μένει γὰρ ἡ ῥίζα αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι, τὸ κρυπτόμενον πνεῦμα. Τὰ δὲ φύλλα, ἤτοι τὸ φαινόμενον γράμμα, ἀπεῤῥύη· οὐκ ἔτι γὰρ τὸν νόμον κατὰ τὸ γράμμα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ πνεῦμα νοοῦμεν·᾿Απεγνωσμένων δὲ ὄντων τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ ἀνιάτων, εἶπε τό· ῎Αφετε αὐτούς. Ἐντεῦθεν οὖν μανθάνομεν, ὅτι τὸ σκανδαλίζεσθαι τοὺς ἑκοντὶ σκανδαλιζομένους καὶ ἀνιάτους, οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν βλαβερόν· διδασκάλους δὲ αὐτοὺς λέγει τυφλοὺς τυφλῶν· τοῦτο δὲ φησιν ὡς ἂν ἀποστήσῃ ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν τοὺς ὄχλους. Θεοφύλακτος Αχρίδος, Ἑρμηνεία Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ματθαιον, Κεφαλὴ IE' Source: Migne PG 123.305c-308b

'Hypocrites, well was prophecy made of you by Isaiah, saying, 'This people draw near to me with their mouths, and they honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching the lessons of men's teaching.' 1 By the voice of Isaiah He shows that as things were opposed to His Father so they are found to be opposed to Him, for when they were evil and withdrew far from God on account of evil works, they spoke the Divine words only with their mouths, and so they worshipped vainly, thinking that they worshipped God, who by their works they dishonoured. And calling the crowd to Himself, He said to them, 'Hear and understand, it is not what enters the mouth that defiles a man, but it is what goes out from the mouth that defiles a man.' He no longer speaks to the Pharisees, as if they were incurable, but He speaks to the crowd, and by calling them to Himself he seems to give honour to them, that they might receive His word, and He says, 'Hear and understand,' to arouse them and make them attentive. Because when the Pharisees were arguing with the disciples that they ate with unclean hands, then the Lord spoke of food, that no food is able to pollute man or defile him, and if food does not make him unclean, much more it is the case with eating with dirty hands, for what does pollute a man within is to say what he should not. And He obliquely refers to the Pharisees with these words, because they were speaking envious words and so polluting themselves. And see the wisdom here, how He neither manifestly commends eating with unclean hands, nor is He adverse to it, but He teaches something else, that they should not bring forth wicked words from their hearts. Then the disciples approached him and said to him, 'Do you not know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard such words?' The disciples say that the Pharisees were offended, but certainly they were troubled, which is made clear by their coming to Peter to question him about this. Therefore Jesus, when he heard that the Pharisees were offended, said, 'Every plant which my heavenly Father did not plant will be torn up. Let them be. They are blind leaders of the blind. But if the blind lead the blind they both fall into a pit.' He says that the traditions of the elders and the teachings of the Jews shall be torn up, but not the law, as the Manichees think. For the law is the planting of God, and therefore it is not to be torn up, for its root, that is, the spirit, persists and is hidden, and it is the leaves, that is, the manifest letter, that fall. For we must not understand the law according to the letter but according to the spirit. And because the Pharisees were wretched and incurable He says, 'Let them be.' Hence we learn they were offended of their own choice, and that they were incurable is no injury to us. He then spoke of those teachers as the blind leading the blind, so that He turned away from them to the crowd. Theophylact of Ochrid, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Chapter 15 1 Mt 15.7-9, Isaiah 29.13