Some good Questions as we Read through the New Testament

We are done reading the book of Matthew and some folks have asked me some great questions in regard to our readings. So in the next few days I'll talk about some of them here on the blog.

When I was in Bible College I started my quest of reading through the entire Bible for the first time. God is always faithful to show us wonderful things and to speak to us about issues that are just what we need for our everyday life. Sometimes we have questions...some questions may seem silly and some may seem profound...but the searching and asking God for answers draws us closer to Him and helps us in our everyday life .


1. Matthew 15. Didn't Jesus understand about germs? I know people in those days didn't know about germs...but Jesus is God the Son .
This was the first question I had at seventeen years old as I tackled reading through the entire Bible for the first time. I look back now and laugh at myself, but the truth is we all have these moments of not quite understanding. I studied the answer to it all those years ago, but a few days ago...I found a few more things that shed some new light. I've read through the Bible many times since then and every time there is something new to search out, to ponder and to allow Holy Spirit to speak to our heart about.

The Pharisees asked,

² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

Jesus answers first by calling into question their hand washing tradition and neglect of the law of God. I remember as a seventeen year old my mind immediately went to what could You possibly have against washing your hands...get rid of the germs. What I was missing was it was not simply washing hands as we would today but it was a ceremonial washing. I was reading this week that there was a special way to do it and one was suppose to wash all the way up to the elbows. That satisfied me at that time...realizing that Jesus was not against washing hands but that a special ceremonial washing was not necessary. The phrase the "tradition of the elders" says a lot here. This washing was not about God's law or even hygiene it was more about tradition.

Matthew 15:10
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.”

There it was again. A few verses down I was back on the germ issue. Germs after all can hurt a person if they eat without washing there hands and it seemed like Jesus was saying that it didn't matter. I was totally wrong about what Jesus was really saying. I didn't have any idea why he was saying what he was to the Pharisees or the multitude. I decided to leave it to the answer above...this was just about tradition...Jesus wasn't against the washing of hands. A few days ago I decided to look at it again and I found something I'd missed before. I found out that Jesus was denouncing a belief that the tradition of the elders was espousing. They actually believed that if you didn't wash in the ceremonial way that the devil could gain entrance to your soul while you ate. Wow! That explains a lot. Jesus was dealing with an issue that was putting people into awful bondage. Imagine the normal person washing their hands up to their elbow everyday at meal time afraid of giving entrance to the devil if they didn't. Jesus was setting that straight among the people.


Others had some great questions that I'll discuss in the next few days. Did you have questions as you read Matthew? It is not to late to ask....it is fun to study it out.

Hope you are enjoying the book of Mark which is another look at the life of Jesus. More later on that.