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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 15:14 and Luke 6:39 and Gospel of Thomas 34

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In Matthew, Jesus warns that a blind guide and follower will both fall into a pit; in Luke, he asks it as a question. The Gospel of Thomas has the direct warning, preserving Matthew's way of stating the saying as well as its image.

Passages

Matthew 15:14

New Testament
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.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Luke 6:39

New Testament
39 He also told them a parable: “Someone who is blind cannot lead another who is blind, can he? Won’t they both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not greater than his teacher, but everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while you yourself don’t see the beam in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Gospel of Thomas 34

Nag Hammadi
33 Jesus said, “What you will hear with your ear, proclaim from your rooftops. For no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket or in a hidden place; rather he sets it on a lampstand so that all who come and go will see its light.” 34 Jesus said, “If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit.” 35 Jesus said, “It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he first binds his hands; then he will be able to plunder his house.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... 37. Do not judge. The third section (6:37-42) of the Lucan sermon begins here. It corresponds to Matt 7:1-5, but there are several Lucan additions at this point: Vv. 37bc,38a,39a are redactional modifications; v. 39bc comes from another part of “Q” (=Matt 15:14), as does v. 40 (=Matt 10:24-25). [...] 39. he addressed to them a proverb. Lit. “he spoke” (see Notes on 4:23 and 5:36). This is a Lucan redactional introduction to these two verses. Can the blind lead the blind? Cf. Matt 15:14. Another form of the saying is found in Gos. Thom. § 34: “If a blind person leads a blind person, the two of them fall into a pit.” The conditional form here is dependent on the Matthean. The disciples are to be leaders of people, but they cannot be blinded guides; they must see the way first. ...”
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke: Introduction, Translation, and Notes (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981), 641.

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

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Matthew 15:14 and Luke 6:39 and Gospel of Thomas 34

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