Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 15:15

"And Peter answered and said unto him, Declare unto us the parable." — Matthew 15:15 (ASV)

The saying, which Peter calls a parable, was spoken to the multitude, and then they were instructed to understand it, but certainly they did not comprehend it, for even the College of Apostles failed to grapple with it. Peter, as spokesman, did well to go immediately to the fountainhead and humbly say, “Declare unto us this parable.” He who uttered the dark saying could best interpret it.

Then Peter answered and said to him, Declare this parable to us.

And Jesus said, Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defiles not a man.

There is no defilement about that.

Cleanliness is to be observed, but not the mere act of washing just for the sake of it, every time you eat bread, which does not defile a man; but oh! what defilement there is in evil thought, in anger which breeds murder, in lust which leads to adultery and fornication, in covetousness which begets theft, and in a false heart which leads to false witness, and in a profane mind which leads to blasphemy. Oh! that God would cleanse our secret thoughts, the very center of our hearts, for until the fountain is made clean, the stream that comes from it cannot be pure.

Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.

"We do not understand it; what is its meaning?"