Peter Doesn’t Understand
Salvation is not dependent upon the intellect. No amount of human understanding of the scriptures can guarantee redemption. Jesus repeatedly pointed out this shortcoming in the Pharisees who were secure in their articulate justifications of the law but failed in the application of the intention.
Intellectual knowledge is a tool that can be used to support a relationship with God, however it cannot be the foundation. Relationships are not based in the intellect which is a product of the ego and the physical brain. No one carries their intellectual prowess into the afterlife. A true relationship is based in the transformed heart and intuitive wisdom.
Throughout the New Testament, Peter appears to understand very little. Here, his desire to know the surface meaning is apparent. Jesus offers a basic explanation with a slight rebuke that Peter still doesn’t understand the nature of his teachings. The parables are primarily for the Pharisees and for the rabbis who are locked in the small prisons of their egos. Even though these teachers are not literally blind, Jesus refers to them as blind because they don’t experience the wisdom of the scriptures.
And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came…
