Life Project Blog

Matthew 15:21-28

After His encounter with the Pharisees from Jerusalem in the last section, and His instruction to the disciples, Jesus heads into Gentile territory to show the disciples His teaching in action. Remember that in this section, Jesus has set about to “disciple” the disciples, so they will better understand who He is and what the mission is. So far, they have come to see that He is the Son of God, but that, as big as it is, is only the beginning.

A Canaanite woman appeals to Jesus to help her demon possessed daughter; Jesus does not respond. The disciples ask Him to send her away: Jesus answers, but not their request, saying: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (15:24).  That isn’t the end of the matter:

The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

Matthew 15:25-26

I just want to be sure that you understand that Jesus just told the woman that she and her afflicted daughter are “dogs”… right? “Dogs” is the word used by the Jews to characterize Gentiles; they were “unclean” and shouldn’t receive the time of day from a “proper” Jew. Obviously the woman caught His drift:

“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” (15:27)

The “children” refer to the “lost sheep of Israel”, the “dogs” are Gentiles, like this woman and her daughter, and we know who the “master” is.

Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. (15:28)

It looks to me like Jesus just blew up another one of those traditions that the Pharisees were so concerned about.

Here’s the lesson for the disciples, and by extension, for us as well: God couldn’t care less about our traditions and customs and ceremonies and rituals; He cares about our faith. Jesus was sent to save Israel first of all; for they were God’s chosen. Yet, in the end, they placed a higher priority on their traditions than they did on their faith that God would keep His promises. When this conflict, between faith in God and traditions of men arose, Jesus’ reaction was not all that diplomatic, for this conflict, that is still with us today, is nothing less than toxic, and in the end, the one who received God’s grace was the one with faith, not tradition, breeding, position or human righteousness. Instead it was a poor Gentile woman who loved her afflicted daughter, and was willing to put her trust in Jesus.

But wait; that’s not all! We have another whole scene to go… see you next time!

Matthew 14:22-36

This is a familiar story; actually it serves as the ending of the story of the feeding of the 5,000, connected as it is with the previous passage. Since it is a familiar narrative, and since you have a link to the text to refresh your recollection, let’s just talk about the story for a bit; grab a cup of coffee, and let’s chat…

This is not the first story about Jesus, the disciples and a boat on the Lake that we have seen in Matthew’s narrative, and it is inexorably linked with the story we have seen already in chapter 8. Look at the similarities:

In both scenes, the disciples are afraid (8:26 cf. 14:26). In both scenes, Jesus says they are of little faith (8:26 cf. 14:31). In 8:25, they called upon Jesus to “save us”; and in 14:30, Peter calls on Jesus to save him. In 8:27, after Jesus has demonstrated His authority over the elements, the disciples ask “what kind of man is this?” In 14:33, they answer their own question: “Truly you are the Son of God.” This is the first time in Matthew’s Gospel that a human has correctly identified Jesus as the Son of God.

In light of the purpose and mission that these disciples will be called to later on, God has given them the very special opportunity to see just exactly who this Jesus was, for this is something they will need to know. As the narrative continues, they will be led to acknowledge His role and mission as well.

The scene closes when they arrive back on solid ground, with a summary of what Jesus has been doing for some time now; teaching, healing and showing the Kingdom in action.

Now that Jesus has had an opportunity for time alone with His Father, and has revealed to the disciples that He is the Son of God, we continue the disciples’ education out among the people; who do we run into first?

Well, it wouldn’t be any fun without Pharisees…

…and the crowds went with Him!

Matthew 14:13-21

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. (14:13)

When Jesus heard about the brutal murder of John the Baptist in Herod’s jails, He withdraw from the public spotlight, and Matthew begins a new section in his narrative, a section in which Jesus seeks to spend time working with His disciples so that they might come to understand both His identity and His mission.

But the people were loathe to let Him step into the background, and when they heard that He had departed from Nazareth and was headed to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, the word spread quickly, and by the time Jesus and the Twelve arrived, there was a very large crowd waiting for them. Notice in the text that Jesus, who was trying to get away from crowds, took pity on them and healed all who needed healing, rather than either sending them away or moving on Himself.

As it was getting late, and they were in a remote location, the disciples suggest to Jesus that He send them on their way so they would still have time to buy something to eat in the nearby towns, but Jesus had another idea: Why don’t you guys give them something to eat?

Sadly, they only had a few loaves of bread and two fish with them, but Jesus told the crowd to take a seat in the grass and then began to multiply the food on hand, and they ended up feeding 5,000 men, plus women and children. How many people in total were fed with a few loaves of bread and two fish? Although I know of a few scholars who have somehow calculated the “exact” number, I’ll just leave it at 5,000 “plus” and be satisfied that we have a major miracle on our hands.

Oh yes, I almost forgot; they also had 12 baskets of leftovers…

So much has been written about this series of events, so many sermons, lessons… and so much speculation about the circumstances of Jesus’ attempted withdrawal, Herod’s intentions toward Jesus in light of his fear that Jesus was John come back from the dead to get him, not to mention moralizing about the miracle itself. Let’s approach it a little differently…

What is actually in the text?

1. It’s getting late in the day, and the people are in a remote place; there isn’t even a McDonald’s nearby.
2. The disciples, good men that they are, notice that there might be a problem coming along with the lack of food for this large crowd of people, and suggest that Jesus send them on their way while they can still buy something to eat.
3. Jesus, who has withdrawn to “disciple” the disciples, throws the challenge back on the Twelve: You find them something. No problem right? After all, there are only 5,000 plus hungry mouths to feed.
4. The disciples attempt to deflect this impossible task by pointing out (accurately) that they only have five loaves of bread and two fish. In their defense, I’m not sure that five loaves of bread and two fish are quite enough to feed 13 grown men after a long journey and a very full day with the crowd. Yet, it would seem they have overlooked something in their human thinking; they were in the presence of the Kingdom of heaven.
5. Jesus took care of the rest.

Could it be that Jesus is trying to teach the disciples that in our very rational and reasonable human thinking, we tend to forget that we have more than human potential to help us deal with the challenges we face? It seems worth considering to me.

Matthew 14:1-12

This passage is the last in the section of Matthew’s Gospel that began in 11:2 in which we have seen the growing misunderstanding and rejection of Jesus and His message of the Kingdom of heaven. In this passage, we see just how twisted and extreme the misunderstandings became, and how deadly their results would become. Yes, John would be seen at Herod’s party, but not all of him would be there…

According to the first century Jewish historian Josephus, Herod ordered the arrest and imprisonment of John the Baptist because John had publicly denounced Herod’s wedding to his sister-in-law, Herodias. As we see from 14:6-11, Herod, who was afraid to have John killed, found himself in a position from which he could not extricate himself without having him beheaded, and so it came to pass that John the Baptist was murdered at Herod’s command, and his head was brought to Herod’s birthday party on a platter and presented to his niece who was also his step daughter. Two things really jump off the page for me in this story: One is the curious way that Matthew tells the story; it is a “flashback”. Second is Herod’s reaction to Jesus’ miracles, assuming as he did that Jesus’ miraculous abilities must mean that He was John the Baptist risen from the grave.

This dude was a loon, no getting around that!

Yet that isn’t what Matthew is really getting at.

Focus on the very depth of Herod’s misunderstanding of what is going on around him; it doesn’t seem to occur to him who Jesus might really be, but then Herod wasn’t a Jew, was he? He had been afraid to kill John not because of who John was, but because he had been popular with the masses. Yep, that’s right; Herod’s fear was motivated by nothing more than politics. Nevertheless, his fear that Jesus could be John come back from the grave is very real indeed, and as the story goes on, it will result in a very odd political alliance between the Jewish religious leaders, who want Jesus out of the picture, and Herod, their enemy, who also wants Jesus out of the picture.

Oh the tangled webs we weave…

So then, why does Matthew introduce this story in the unusual manner that he did?

You might recall that when Jesus learned of John’s imprisonment in 4:12, Jesus responded with a decisive move, taking His ministry out of the shadows and into full public view. When Jesus learns of John’s death, He makes another decisive move, this time, stepping back from full public view, and as a result, Matthew’s narrative moves into its next main section that extends from 14:13 -16:20 in which the main emphasis is on Jesus teaching His disciples exactly who He was, and what the purpose of His mission was, for make no mistake; His disciples were not yet clear on either of these things.

We will pick up the story next time, and see what happens when Jesus tried to step out of the public spotlight…

When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”

And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Matthew 13:53-58

If you just stumbled upon this passage, you might wonder why Matthew includes it in his narrative; it doesn’t really have the kind of content that the rest of the chapter has. Yet if we recall the context of this section, it may make a little more sense; and we might also notice that it has something interesting for us to learn.

The scene has shifted from the Sea of Galilee to Nazareth, Jesus’ mountainside hometown. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue there, just as He has in so many other places throughout the region, but the people in His hometown react differently; they take offense. At first, this might surprise us; whatever happened to “local boy makes good”?

In my personal experience “local boy makes good” only applies to “local boys” that a person has never met, these people had known Jesus, and here He was teaching with the authority of God and performing miracles; He was the talk of Galilee… Who did He think He was?

Many years ago I was visiting “back home” and got into a lengthy conversation with my sister who was holding forth on a particular item from the news that was being much discussed at that time. It was also an issue that I was working on at my job in Washington; I knew all of the players personally, and had discussed this issue in depth; I was literally one the players myself. I knew the information about the issue that wasn’t being reported in the news, and for several weeks this issue and its resolution had more or less become my life 24/7. From my sister’s point of view, I was nothing more than her stupid little brother… You know where this is going, right?

So, when we came to the part of the conversation where she exclaimed that I had no idea what I was talking about and ought to just shut up, I smiled and moved on to chat with someone else, wondering how long it would take before that conversation ended the same way, and each conversation would begin with me saying that I’d rather not “talk shop” on vacation…

They sometimes say that once you leave, you can never really go home again. I don’t know if that is really true or not, but it is never quite the way it was before; of that I am certain.

Jesus’ experience in Nazareth stems from this kind of thing in human nature, but of course this story tells us more than that. The opposition to Jesus, and thus to His Father was growing, for even though Jesus was playing the central role in God’s redemptive plan, there was always opposition to His message, and as time went on, the opposition would grow, just as in our world today. At this point, even His own earthly family was in opposition, yet the day would come when many things would change.

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 13:47-50

Jesus tells another parable, the last in this series of parables. This one has some similarity to the Parable of the Weeds, for its conclusion reveals something about the end of the age. Here we have fishermen as the example; they cast their nets and haul in a big catch. They drag their nets to the shore and sort their catch, for there are good fish, ready for market, and there are fish to throw back; Jesus likens this process to what will happen on the last day, when the angels of God will sort out the Kingdom. The “good fish” will enter, and the “bad fish” will be tossed out. To put it another way, the Kingdom of heaven is open to everyone, but not all will choose to enter, and when the day comes, many will find that they waited too long, and that the doors are now closed.

The main point of the passage comes next:

“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Matthew 13:51-52

Jesus asked the disciples if they followed His lesson; they said that they did. After His explanation of the Parable of the Weeds (13:36-40) they would have needed to work pretty hard not to understand. Jesus continued with His remark about a “teacher of the law” becoming a disciple; he would have both old and new treasures to share.

The old treasures are the treasures of the Scriptures that we would call the Old Testament, including the story of Israel, the Law and the Prophets, along with the wisdom literature; the entire Word of God that pointed the people to Jesus, the Messiah. The new treasures would be the story of Jesus, the Kingdom of heaven, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, and the message of salvation and redemption for humanity that Jesus embodied.

In our time many of us attempt to teach the wonders and riches of God’s Word, and we have in our storerooms abundant treasure to share with our guests, but what do we share with them? Do we share His Kingdom, or do we discuss rules and regulations as though we were still awaiting His coming? Do we share the message of redemption and the glory of His Kingdom in our midst, or do we get so caught up in forms, rituals and even future events, that we cannot see the Kingdom right in front of us?

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:44-46

Jesus continued His discourse with two very short and very similar little parables, each dealing with someone who found something of exceedingly great value and who sold everything he had in this life to buy what he had found. It would seem that the thing that was found, the treasure or the pearl was far more valuable than the entire net worth of the one who found it.

Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is just like that!

Do you remember when Jesus said that the person who loses his life will find it, and the one who finds his life will lose it? These two parables provide us with an explanation of that statement, for in both cases the one who found the treasure divested himself of his life’s savings, belongings, possessions; everything… to obtain the one real treasure that made the effort worth it. In the end, each one was enriched beyond measure.

Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is just like that.

I wonder how many other people might have come upon these same treasures, but were afraid to sell everything in order to acquire them? I wonder how many came along and said, yes, I would love to have this, but the price is much too high?

Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is just like that!

Yes, I wonder…