Go to Related Reading
About this book

Matthew

About this book
Chapter 15

1 Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said, 2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” 6 he does not need to honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,⁠ 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, 9 and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” 10 Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.”⁠ 12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?” 13 And he replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.⁠ 14 Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.”⁠ 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 Jesus said, “Even after all this, are you still so foolish? 17 Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.” 21 After going out from there, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!” 23 But he did not answer her a word. Then his disciples came and begged him, “Send her away because she keeps on crying out after us.” 24 So he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”⁠ 25 But she came and bowed down before him and said, “Lord, help me!” 26 “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” he said.⁠ 27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”⁠ 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you.” And her daughter was healed from that hour. 29 When he left there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up a mountain, where he sat down. 30 Then large crowds came to him bringing with them the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.⁠ 32 Then Jesus called his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have already been here with me three days and they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry since they may faint on the way.” 33 The disciples said to him, “Where can we get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy so great a crowd?” 34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven—and a few small fish.” 35 After instructing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples, who then gave them to the crowds. 37 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 38 Not counting children and women, there were 4,000 men who ate. 39 After sending away the crowd, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 15:13 and Gospel of Thomas 40

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

Share:

Summary

In Matthew, Jesus says every plant his Father did not plant will be uprooted, after hearing that the Pharisees took offense. The Gospel of Thomas narrows every plant to one grapevine and puts the saying right after one about the Pharisees.

Passages

Matthew 15:13

New Testament
12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?” 13 And he replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 14 Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Gospel of Thomas 40

Nag Hammadi
39 Jesus said, “The Pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered, nor have they permitted those who want to enter to do so. But you—be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.” 40 Jesus said, “A grapevine has been planted apart from the Father, and since it is not strong, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed.” 41 Jesus said, “Whoever has something in his hand will be given more; and whoever has nothing, even the little he has will be taken away.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... These and other examples of uniquely Matthean material (the "M" material) are especially intriguing since some of the M passages may be Matthew's own redactional creations. For example, in Chapter 15, Matthew inserts into Mark's dispute story on clean and unclean (Mark 7:1-23) what is apparently Matthew's own redactional observation on the Pharisees: "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted out" (Matt 15:13). Saying 40 therefore sounds suspiciously Matthean when, after a warning about Pharisees and scribes (paralleled in Matt 23:13/Luke 11:52) and after the uniquely Matthean aphorism about snakes and doves, it has Jesus say: "A grapevine has been planted outside the Father. And because it is not sound, it will be plucked up by its roots and destroyed." [...] In sum, only one of the passages I have listed would have to be Matthew's own creation or reflect Matthew's redaction to prove beyond a doubt that Thomas knows and uses Matthew's Gospel to compose his own. I think that at least Matt 15:13 and 13:24-30 do exactly that. ...”
John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume 1: The Roots of the Problem and the Person (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 135.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Matthew 15:13 and Gospel of Thomas 40

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library