“Then His disciples came and said to Him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?’ But He answered and said, ‘Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.‘” (Matthew 15:12-14).

This concerns the Pharisees. They were “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). They prioritized their traditions above God’s word (Matthew 15:3-6).

This also concerns Jesus’ disciples. They had approached him out of concern that the Pharisees were offended that he had spoken against their traditions. Some people have an aversion against offending others for any reason.

This is a common problem. One writer comments, “Many preachers are so fearful of offending a sinner that the sinner leaves neither knowing what he should do nor that he needs to do anything to be reconciled to God. This inoffensiveness has become such an obsession with many that they have surrendered the distinctiveness of the truth in favor of it” (Dub McClish, Matthew 15, The Spiritual Sword Lectureship: The Book of Matthew, p. 423, editors Garland Elkins and Thomas Warren).

Jesus responded to his disciples’ concern. (1) An illustration from agriculture. The field belongs to God. The Pharisees’ seed (doctrine) is not the word of God (cf. Luke 8:11). Their seed produces a plant that will be, one day, uprooted. It will not survive judgment. (2) “Let them alone.” We are not going to run after them and apologize. (3) An illustration from the road. Understand how dangerous their leadership is. They are spiritually blind; so also, are those who follow their leadership. Their leadership will lead them and others off the proper road and into the ditch.

Applications for Us

1. It matters whose teaching we follow. We must make certain that we are following God’s word, and not the doctrines of men.
2. While we do not want to be unnecessarily offensive, we should not compromise truth to appease man.