15:1 - Then the scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem began to say to Jesus,
15:2 - Why do your followers disrespect our traditions by not washing their hands before they eat.
15:3 - But he answered them by asking, Why do you also break God’s commandment by your tradition?
15:4 - God commanded them to honor their fathers and mothers lest they die.
15:5 - You said, Whoever can speak to his father or mother, A gift that is, whoever is the strongest will profit from me;
15:6 - If he doesn’t honor his parents he will be free. This has removed God’s influence in your tradition.
15:7 - To the hypocrites, Esaias prophesy of you,
15:8 - These people comes to me and pay lip service of, but they don’t speak from their hearts.
15:9 - The worship me in vain as I teach the masses the laws of men.
15:10 - He told the people to listen closely:
15:11 - It’s not what a man eats that defiles him, but what spews forth from that orifice.
15:12 - his disciples asked him if he was aware that what he said had offended the Pharisees.
15:13 - But he replied to them and said, All of the plants that my Father in heaven did not sow, will be dug up.
15:14 - Leave them be, they are blindly leading the blind. If the blind lead the blind, no one will be able to make progress.
15:15 - Then Peter asked him to share the story.
15:16 - Then Jesus asked, you still don’t get it, do you?
15:17 - Don’t you yet understand, that what goes into your mouth goes into your stomach and is cast out again into the sewer?
15:18 - The words that come from the mouth truely come from the heart; and they will betray the man.
15:19 - For from the emotional center of Man come all kinds of evil thoughts, murders, illicit sexuality, thievery, lying, and religious insults.
15:20 - Some things spoil men, but not washing your hands before you eat isn’t one of them.
15:21 - Then Jesus went to visit the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
15:22 - A lady of Canaan begged the Lord for help with her daughter.
15:23 - But he did not reply to her and was silent. Then his followers returned to find him and told him to send the woman away, for she was weeping and following them.
15:24 - He answered that he came for the lost sheep of Israel.
15:25 - Then she came to him and worshipeped him and said, Lord, help me.
15:26 - Don’t give the kid’s bread to the dogs.
15:27 - She said, We hunger for the truth the way dogs long for the crumbs that fall off their masters’ dinner table.
15:28 - Then Jesus answered her, saying, Wow, Woman, your faith is strong! whatever you want, it is granted. And the lady’s daughter was healed in the same instant.
15:29 - Jesus left and went to the area of the sea of Galilee where he sought solace in an area up in the mountain.
15:30 - Masses of people came to him that were broken, hurt, blind, and diseased, they feel down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:
15:31 - When the people saw such miracles as these they glorified God.
15:32 - Jesus gathered the disciples together, and said, I have compassion for these people, because they have been with me three days now, and have no food: I will not send them away without food, or else they may grow weary.
15:33 - And his disciples said to him: Why do we have as much bread in the wilderness as if we were planning to feed a crowd?
15:34 - Jesus said to them, How many loaves of bread do you have? and they said, We have seven and a couple of fish.
15:35 - And he said to everyone to sit down.
15:36 - Seven loaves and fishes were massively distributed amongst disciples and all.
15:37 - So they ate until they were full and then took the remaining seven baskets containing leftover meat.
15:38 - Besides women and children, a total of four thousand men ate.
15:39 - And he sent the crowds away, and boarded the ship, and went to the shores of Magdala.