Matthew 15:10-20

The rotten heart

The religion of self-help is a major industry. Whether it is the latest shared office spaces or international bestsellers such as 'The Miracle Morning' our culture has bought into it big time. Jesus’ teaching to the Pharisees suggests that religion of this sort is unable to deal with the fundamental problem of the human condition. An analysis of what comes out of the heart shows the issue to be too serious for any human solution to fix. But Jesus goes further than simple analysis—he calls those who put forward man-made solutions 'blind guides'. They are dangerous and he insists that they will be 'uprooted' by God.