Matthew 15:12-14: Our Lord's Commentary on Political Correctness

"Then the disciples came and said to him, 'Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?' He answered them, 'Every plant my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.'" (Mt 15:12-14)

Prior to this verse, Christ had just clarified to some Pharisees and scribes that their approach to the Mosaic law on some issues bespoke a completely backwards understanding of it. As a result, they only paid lip service to God and ignored the interior condition of their hearts and souls.

Christ's disciples, as Mt 15:12 relates, approched Christ with the concern that not only had the Pharisees been offended by this, but of whether Christ knew he had offended them; as if perhaps Christ needs not only pay attention to what he says being potentially offensive, but also be more cognizant of the sensitivities of others while speaking to them.

Christ responds to them, as we see, by not even addressing their question of whether or not he knew he had offended the Pharisees by saying what he said. Instead, he assures them, that such distorted understanding and ways of the Pharisees are bound to fade away; they had not been established by God: "Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up." (Mt 15:13)

Then comes the key to our Lord's response to his disciples. Not only does he disregard their question of whether he knew he had offended the Pharisees, but he also warns them of being concerned of such a thing. "Let them alone," he tells them. "They are blind guides." The Pharisees, through their distorted interpretation of the law and their teaching others to follow it were "blind guides". His disciples would do well not to bother with them, let alone worry about whether their feelings were hurt by anything Christ had to say.

Christ then shows that whom he is really concerned about are his disciples for even worrying about how the Pharisees felt. He continues, "And if a blind guide leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." What would make the "blind man" whom the "blind guides" are leading blind? Christ may very well be addressing the very perspective of his disciples at the time. By being more concerned with whether the Pharisees were offended than with what Christ had to say - the truth - the disciples themselves were allowing themselves to be blinded to the truth by such concerns. The Pharisees, as "blind guides" were leading the disciples into a "pit" of error through use of the disciples' very concern for whether the Pharisees were offended.