Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 15:14

"Let them alone: they are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both shall fall into a pit." — Matthew 15:14 (ASV)

Let them alone: they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

So you do not need to trouble yourselves to shove them in. Let them alone; it will come to an end. There are some forms of error which Christ may denounce, but which His disciples should let alone; there is a ditch ready and waiting for them somewhere or other.

Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Our Lord did not soften or tone down his previous language, but he revealed the true character of the false guides by whom so many were deluded.

He turned from them as unworthy of further notice, saying, “Let them alone.” There was no need for the disciples to combat the Pharisees; they would be uprooted in the natural order of things by the inevitable consequences of their own course. Both they themselves and their dupes would “fall into the ditch” of error and absurdity, and ultimately come to utter destruction.

In every case, it is so. When the bigoted teacher leads the ignorant disciple, they must both go wrong. The same is true for every form of spiritual blindness in those who lead the thought of an era, and in those who follow their erroneous guidance.

The philosophic unbelief of this age is blind with self-conceit, and fearful is the ditch towards which it is hastening. Alas! Its teachers are carrying precious souls with them into the ditch of atheism and anarchy.

O Lord, do not let us despair over the present dominance of false doctrine. In patience may we possess our souls! We cannot make either the blind leaders or their blind followers see the ditch before them, but it is there all the same, and their fall is certain. You alone can open the eyes of the blind, and we trust that You will perform this miracle of grace.

Let them alone: they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

The bad teacher and he who is badly taught, for they are both responsible, shall both fall into the ditch. No one can lay the sin of his being misdirected entirely upon his priest or his teacher. He should not have submitted to him.

At the same time, it is a very serious responsibility for a man who does not know God to attempt to teach the things of God. I know a man who, in a certain place of worship, was deeply convinced of sin – the arrows of God stuck in him, and, being in great distress, he went to the minister and told him how he felt the burden of his guilt.

The minister said to him, "My dear friend, I really had no intention of making you uneasy – what was it I said? – I will get the sermon – I am very sorry, but really I do not know anything about it." The man said, "You told us we must be born again." "Oh!", said the minister, "that was done for you when you were a child – your parents did it." "You know, sir, we must be converted." "Well, really I do not understand it. I am afraid I have disturbed you unnecessarily."

Our friend, however, was not to be put off so; he sought and found a Saviour. But how dreadful a thing it is when the blind lead the blind: they shall both fall into the ditch.