Matthew 16:26-28

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26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. ~ Matthew 16:26-28

Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 16 where the Lord Jesus revealed, for the first time, the startling revelation that He was going to Jerusalem to die on a cross. On the heels of that explosive announcement, the Lord Jesus began to give to His disciples a portrait of the disciple. The disciple is one who is growing in the discipline of being defined by God. Being defined by God translates into obedience. Of course, our obedience to God will never be perfect, but the disciple will grow in his yieldedness to God. In fact, he gladly is defined by God's culture to the degree that he recognizes that the things of this world aren't real. This process is known as sanctification which will increasingly become the means by which the disciple is taught what is really real. 

In v.26 of today's passage we read, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

This verse is best understood in the context of the previous verse which reads, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." It is obvious that the life that is lost here is the false life that we have been led to believe yields ultimate satisfaction but the only life that brings true satisfaction is the life the Lord gives us. Simon Peter thought he had arrived when he was the first to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. That is until he tried to prevent the Lord Jesus from going to the cross. Peter did this because his definitions did not align with God's. This is why discipleship is necessary, in order to redefine our understanding of life. This, we know to be sanctification.

Discipleship is the primary tool that God uses to bring about our sanctification which is the process through which we acquire God's wisdom. Sanctification is all about acquiring God's way of thinking and living out of His culture in this world. Note the usage of the word "soul." The Lord Jesus used it to draw a distinction between it and our spirit. Our soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions. Those who are willing to be defined by the Lord Jesus will find the life they have always longed for and as they find they will be surprised by how counter-cultural God is to our natural way of thinking. His life is an abundant life that satisfies in ways that we could not before imagine.

When we lay down control of our lives, we discover He gives them back with so much more added to it. When we sacrifice our preferences, we discover that our hearts are awakened even more to God and His ways. As this happens our eyes are opened to the truth and we begin to learn that through the process of sanctification we gradually learn to dethrone self from being the god of our lives. The idea isn't denying things for ourselves, the idea is that we have come to the place where we are not living for ourselves anymore. It means that we are gradually learning to dethrone ourselves from the throne of our lives, giving to God the place of the decision making. We will never be perfect at this, this side of heaven. But, the more we dethrone self, the more God will express Himself through our yielded lives. 

Following the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate adventure of them all. In fact, it is the greatest of all adventures because we grow in our experience with Him. The Lord Jesus will always call us beyond ourselves. And, as His followers, we will struggle with serving two masters which have access to our souls. Inside the believer in Christ are the Spirit of God and the flesh. The flesh is the wicked desires within us which will always make life about us. The indwelling Spirit of God will always push God's agenda in our lives through which we will experience the transformation that we all long for. In fact, this is why we long for heaven.

In v.27-28 of today's passage we read, "27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

At His first coming the disciples expected the Lord Jesus to set up a very different kingdom. The Lord Jesus surprised the disciples daily, just He does you and me. The surprise is most often due to our poor theology. This explains why the Jews looked at Gentiles with contempt because they were unable to see that God had always had a heart the Gentiles. The disciples expected the Lord Jesus to set up a political kingdom here on earth but they were not regularly defined by God. Those who are being defined by God realize that God's work with the Jews was and is different than His work with the Gentiles. Here, the Lord Jesus confirmed for His disciples that the kingdom they expected was coming later. In fact, He will bring it at the end of the Tribulation. And, in that kingdom God will give to each believer certain responsibilities based upon the yieldedness to Him that we embraced while here on earth as believers.

The Lord Jesus assured the disciples that some of them would see the kingdom before they died. This happened on the Mount of Transfiguration when Peter, James and John witnessed the glory of God come upon the Lord Jesus. On that mountain the Lord Jesus spoke with long-dead Old Testament figures Moses and Elijah who represented the Law and the prophets respectively. Both, the Law and the Prophets point us to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the fulfillment of them both.

Essentially, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets by the Lord Jesus is about revealing its true purpose and significance. That is, He is the embodiment of the law and He fulfills the prophecies. By doing so He not only underscores His identity but establishes the means by which we are afforded a personal relationship with God. This is unfathomable that the God of all creation would think of insignificant you and me in such a way. It only shows what a mighty God we gladly serve having been redeemed and regenerated by His very life.

Matthew 16:24-25

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24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." ~ Matthew 16:24-25

Today, we continue our study of Matthew 16 which has a few firsts. These firsts include the Lord Jesus' first encounter with the Sadducees, the first prediction of His death, the first prediction of His resurrection and the first confession by Simon Peter that the Lord Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the Living God." These "firsts" come in the context of learning what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. We do not become disciples in order to become sons of God, we become sons of God in order to be His disciples.

In v.24 of today's passage we read, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

This passage provides for us some of the characteristics of a disciple. Some have said that if the Lord Jesus is not Lord of all of your life then He is not Lord at all. This quote sounds good but it is inconsistent with the Scriptures. The context is key here in today's passage because the Lord Jesus was in the middle of teaching His disciples about discipleship, not sonship. We are not saved because we deny ourselves certain things and take up a cross and follow the Lord Jesus. We are made right in the eyes of God only through believing that the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross paid the penalty for that which separated us from God in the first place and that is our sinfulness. But, after we have become sons of God, then we become disciples of the Lord Jesus. The first is all about our justification and the second is all about our sanctification.

Now, the four gospel accounts were written that we might believe that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that believing in Him we might have life through Him. We unlock the kingdom or the rule of God in our lives with the gospel. If we want to follow Him or be His disciples, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. By no means do we follow Him to provide forgiveness of sin for anyone. Oh, we can choose not to deny self, take up our cross, and follow Him but that will only make us miserable. That is if we are born again and have entered into a personal relationship with Him through His work on the cross.

Discipleship is a tool to accomplish our sanctification which involves daily discipline on our behalf. It was once said "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep (this life and all the pleasures it offers), to gain what he cannot lose (our eternal life through Christ.)" We learn to follow the Lord Jesus one step at a time, one a day at a time. Following the Lord Jesus or walking through life with Him at the helm our lives requires of us self-denial. Discipleship is not about our comfort or our self-fulfillment. The idea that we should have no troubles and our salvation is a guarantee of health, prosperity, and happiness, is just not consistent with His Word. When our theology is God-centered and not man-centered, we will see this world as He does and we will fulfill our calling, transcendently, as we are being defined by God.

The phrase "Take up your cross" was understood by every Jew who heard it. They knew that the cross was a cruel tool of death. Crucifixion started first with the Persians and then Alexander the Great introduced the practice to the Greeks, where it was picked up by the Romans. The Romans started using it around the time the Lord Jesus was born. In fact, the Romans perfected it as a punishment designed to maximize pain and suffering. It wasn't about killing somebody, it was about killing them in a really horrible way. Someone who was crucified suffered the maximum amount of pain. 

To deny self is to deal a death blow to our selfish desires. In God's economy, we live by dying. According to God's way of thinking and living, we are the living dying. Living to Him and dying to self is at the epicenter of discipleship. When we say "yes" to the leading of His indwelling Holy Spirit and say "no" to our flesh or our sinful desires, we experience His life. In Ephesians we are told that we have been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. As we transcend and gain the transcendent view of the Lord Jesus and follow Him, we will see that He uses all things in our lives for our good, even the bad.

In v.25 of today's passage we read, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." 

According to God's culture the follower of the Lord Jesus Christ gains by giving. This has nothing to do with being made right with God, we can't earn God's favor. This has everything to do with accessing the life that the Lord Jesus died to give us now. And, His life is transcendent and full of wisdom. Since the author of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, so must we but not to earn our rightness before God. No, we do this because we have been made right before God through the cross of the Lord Jesus. When we experience His kingdom and His wisdom, we grow in His wisdom and His holiness.

Now, a disciple is not someone who simply gets a new priority, a disciple is one who finds a new identity. This involves the gift of God's holiness applied to us through the Lord Jesus. The mark of a disciple is his ability to hear the Master’s voice and to be defined by Him! This is what enables him to shirk the definitions of this world which are most often contrary to the Lord's. The more we are defined by the Lord the more we will live according to His culture. The world screams at us, but the Lord Jesus whispers. Few hear His voice. Fewer still open the door to the leading of His Spirit to be defined by Him in such a way that the world will see our witness and be drawn to the Lord Jesus for themselves. 

Matthew 16:21-23

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21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" 23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." ~ Matthew 16:21-23

Today, we continue our study of Matthew 16 where after Simon Peter's amazing confession that the Lord Jesus was "The Christ, the Son of the Living God," the Lord Jesus for the first time explicitly told the disciples about His cross. The Lord Jesus will accentuate to the disciples the fact that He came to go to the cross two more times before He will actually go to the place of suffering and death. The disciples did not understand the teachings of the cross even though the cross is accentuated subtly throughout the Old Testament.

In v.21 of today's passage we read, "From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."

From the opening verses of the Bible, God is presented as eternal, independent, holy, loving, righteous, and good. One crucial implication of this is that He, by nature, is the moral standard. This is why God’s law is not external to Him. The God of the Bible is the law and it is His very nature that determines what is right and wrong. He is the ultimate definer of all things. So, even though the cross was a foreign idea to the disciples, the Lord Jesus knew from eternity past that He would end up in Jerusalem to die a horrific death. He agreed to do this in order to pay the penalty for that which separated us from God. As a result of His death, burial and resurrection, justification will have been provided for all who place their trust in His finished work.

A biblical view of God is foundational to understanding the cross of Calvary. God's righteousness, justice, and holiness are a threefold cord which largely makes up His nature. This is why God cannot overlook man's sin. This is why He cannot just wink at sin and dismiss it. Sin had to be dealt with, otherwise sin and death would have triumphed. God’s holy justice demands that He punish all sin. 

As a result of mankind's rebellion in the Garden of Eden, all people are conceived sinful and therefore guilty before God. As a result of our sinfulness man has been separated from God and under His judgement. Based upon God's moral perfection and man's imperfection, God decided to send His Son who willingly came to suffer the punishment for all of mankind's willful rebellion against God. And, in order to redeem mankind, Christ had to become the ransom for our sin. The result of Christ's work is that man is able to enter into a personal relationship with God. All we have to do is to request it from God.

In v.22 of today's passage we read, "Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, 'Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!'"

Peter took the Lord Jesus aside and tried to turn Him from the cross and His destiny. In doing so, Peter the rock became the Peter the stumbling stone. It is unimaginable that Peter tried to turn around the execution of a plan that has always been eternal. He did this because he thought he was doing a noble thing, he thought he was doing the work of God. Oh, the deceit of the evil one. It was the flesh that caused Peter to propose such an evil idea. This is why the Lord Jesus emphasized His cross from this point forward. 

It is only through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are set free from the penalty of our sin. But, God doesn't stop there, He is also setting us free from the power of sin. Involved in this process is that, like Peter, we must be beaten down by the power of the flesh in order to depend upon the power of the Holy Spirit. After Peter failed egregiously in the Garden of Gethsemane by cutting off Malchus' ear and when he denied knowing the Lord Jesus in the courtyard three times, it was then that he began to learn the real difference between feeding the flesh and feeding the Spirit. Until the Lord Jesus comes and delivers us from the presence of sin, we must be wise to not feed the flesh and to feed the Spirit who has made us alive to God.

In v.23 of today's passage we read, "But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

After Peter spoke those words, the Lord Jesus responded with some serious words that I am sure threw Peter into an emotional tailspin. Peter did not understand the vortex into which he stepped when he tried to rebuke the idea that the Lord Jesus would die on the cross. But, a careful study of the Scriptures makes it clear that it was always God's plan for His Son to go to the cross. Beginning in Genesis all the way through the book of the Revelation of Christ, the cross is like a beautiful gem that can be looked at from many angles. It is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that is central to the New Covenant which results in the transformation of the willing human heart. 

We have all been tempted with Satan's philosophy on life, and, his message is based upon arrogance, pride and selfishness. The deceiver will always tempt us to put ourselves first. Satan never tries to get us to follow him or to worship him, He always appeals to our arrogance, pride and selfishness. He knows that if he can get us to worship ourselves, we will be found indirectly worshipping him. When Peter resisted God's plan for the cross, he was siding himself with Satan without even knowing it. We live in a day when the evil one is lurking, seeking whom he may devour. We must be diligent to be defined by God's word, thus we will resist Satan's deceitful lures. We must be diligent to stay close to God by talking to Him often and reading His word daily. God not only wants to rescue us from the diabolical schemes of the evil one, He wants to include us in on His rescuing efforts of those who are yet lost.

Matthew 16:17-20

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17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. ~ Matthew 16:17-20

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 16 where the Apostle Peter has just said of the Lord Jesus that He is "the Christ the Son of the Living God." This was the first time anyone other than a demon acknowledged the Lord Jesus as the Christ which is Greek for Messiah. Messiah literally means "to smear." It comes from the days when kings were smeared on the head with oil, thus, they were the anointed one. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's Anointed One, the One chosen by God to take away the penalty of mankind's sin.

In v.17 of today's passage we read, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.'"

After Simon Peter acknowledged the Lord Jesus as the Christ the Lord Jesus reminded him that he didn't arrive at that on his own. This was a revelation that came to Simon Peter's heart from the Heavenly Father. I find it striking that all of Simon's life experiences led him to that discovery. Preceding this moment, Simon Peter had many encounters with the Lord, most of which he knew not. When I look over my life, I realize that it took many experiences, namely, the death of my mom when I was five years old and the death of my dad when I was seventeen years old to come to the realization that the Lord Jesus Christ is the real pursuit of all of my heart's desires. It just took a lot of pain and hardship to get me to entertain the right questions and to run to the right One with those questions.

In v.18-19 of today's passage we read, "18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

While our Catholic friends believe this passage teaches that Simon Peter was the first Pope and that the church was built on his primacy, the Bible puts forth a different understanding. In the book of Acts we quickly learn that Peter was not in charge of the early church. In fact, it was James who was noted as the leader of the church at Jerusalem and Peter submitted to his leadership. Then, it is noteworthy that Peter was rebuked by Paul in the book of Galatians for racism. 

This is the first mention of the church in the New Testament. This passage includes all the markings of the church, primarily, the confession that the Lord Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God." The foundation of the church is the Lord Jesus Christ and it is not built on anything other than a right view of the nature and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

It is on the example and confession of Simon Peter that the Lord Jesus builds His church. No man builds the church which is made up of "born again" people not buildings. The example of humility and dependence upon the Lord Jesus as indicated in the mention of the name "Simon Peter" that drives this point home. The construction of the name "Simon Peter" illustrates that he was a changed man who was utterly dependent upon the Lord Jesus. It was out of that posture that enabled him to conclude the Lord Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the Living God."

When the Lord Jesus told Peter and the other disciples that day that He was going to build His church, He meant that His "called out ones" would assemble together throughout history, not on Simon Peter but on the conclusion Peter made about the Lord Jesus. The church is made up of those people who confess and believe the Lord Jesus to be the Christ sent by the Heavenly Father. And, even though Peter's name means "rock," God has always built His church on the Only One who is the Rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In 1 Corinthians 3:11 God tells us that there is "no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." The church is built on the Lord Jesus Christ and everyone who confesses that He is the Christ has been made a part of the church, the family of God. The Lord Jesus granted Peter and the other disciples the keys to the kingdom. A key is a symbol of authority, if you have the key you can get into something. You can also lock something up. You have control of it or better yet, you're a steward of it. In Revelation 3:7 the Lord Jesus says, "I have the keys of David and I open what no man can shut and I shut but no one can open." 

It was Peter on the day of Pentecost who opened the doors wide as 3000 souls confessed the Lord Jesus to be their Savior.  Peter opened that door by preaching his first sermon about the Rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter never urged anyone to believe in him. No, he consistently pointed others to the Lord Jesus. It was Peter who went to Cornelius and opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. The key or the stewardship was given to Peter and the other disciples. The church has never been built on Peter but God used Peter as a steward to open wide the door of faith for Jews and Gentiles to enter the Open Door who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.  And, we join Peter every time we share the gospel with the unsaved and they believe. 

In v.20 of today's passage we read, "Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ."

The Lord Jesus gave to His disciples this warning for two reasons. The first, it could have been dangerous for the disciples to do so. It could result in the crowd starting a revolt against Herod and the Romans. Also, the crowd had already tried to make the Lord Jesus a king by force. Oh, He will be the King one day, but this wasn't the time for Him to wear a crown, this was the time for Him to bear a cross. 

Second, is that He wants everyone to come to this revelation for themselves. Just as Peter and the other disciples had been led by the Holy Spirit who always works in tandem with God's Word to draw us to the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus referred to Simon Peter in v.17 as "Simon Bar-Jonah," He was reminding Peter that flesh and blood had not enabled him to see this greatest truth of all. No, It was God Himself who revealed it to him.

Matthew 16:13-16

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13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" 14 So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." ~ Matthew 16:13-16

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 16 where the Lord Jesus has dealt with the deceptive attack that came from the Jewish religious leaders who had come to Galilee from Jerusalem. They came due to the fact that the Lord Jesus popularity was rising so quickly that they were threatened by it. So, they traveled 95 miles in order to try to find a way to discredit the Lord Jesus in the eyes of the people. Although the Jewish religious leaders continuously tried to discredit the Lord Jesus, they were never successful. This underscores the fact that the Lord Jesus is the sinless Son of God who came to take away the penalty for our sin.

In v.13 of today's passage we read, "When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, 'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?'"

After their encounter with the Jewish religious leaders, the Lord Jesus and His disciples traveled twenty-five miles to Caesarea Philippi where there were fourteen temples to different false gods. These temples were dedicated to the likes of Caesar and Baal among other false gods. There was even a temple dedicated to the god Pan, a false Greek god who was half man and half goat. Pan played a little flute called a pan flute. All of the dedicated temples reflect the fact that Caesarea Philippi, which stood in a lush area near the foot of Mount Hermon, was a city dominated by pagan worship and immorality.

The Lord Jesus deliberately took His disciples to Caesarea Philippi in order to draw the contrast between the false gods and the one true God. It was in that context that the Lord Jesus asked the disciples the most important question that we could ever entertain: "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" The Lord Jesus didn't ask that question because He did not know what people said about Him.  No, He wanted to hear the disciples verbalize whom they knew Him to be. Verbalization, the act of putting thoughts and feelings into words, holds significant power for emotional regulation, improved communication, and enhanced cognitive processing. By verbalizing the fact that the Lord Jesus was God, enabled the disciples to gain clarity on whom they believed Him to be. 

The Lord Jesus used the term "Son of Man" to communicate the idea that He was God. In Daniel 7 the prophet used this term in his nighttime vision of "The Ancient of Days" a description of God Himself. The "Son of Man," according to Daniel was ushered into the presence of the Ancient of Days, and was given dominion, glory, and power. As a result, everyone served and will serve Him, and His kingdom will never end. In other words, the Son of Man is God. 

In v.14 of today's passage we read, "So they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.'"

The people knew the Lord Jesus had to be from out of this world and they believed He was at least the forerunner of the Messiah. They had not finalized on the fact that He was the promised Messiah. They couldn’t deny that He was at least a prophet, and they couldn’t deny that He had marvelous supernatural power, but they had not definitively accepted that He was the Messiah. They got as close as they could without getting to the truth. Like Judas they kissed the door to heaven and yet they missed their eternity with God in heaven.

In v.15-16 of today's passage we read, "15 He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' 16 Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'"

Simon Peter spoke on the behalf of the twelve when He identified the Lord Jesus as "The Christ the Son of the Living God." The name Simon Peter carries significant meaning, reflecting a transformation in the apostle's identity. Simon was too emotional and impulsive to be worthy of such a name as "Peter". When the Lord Jesus tried to wash his feet, Peter refused to allow his Master to stoop before him and to do so. But then the Lord Jesus said, "If I don't wash you, you have no share with me," Peter suddenly wanted a full-body bath. When soldiers came to arrest the Lord Jesus, Simon drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus the servant of the High Priest. But then, after the arrest of the Lord Jesus, all of Simon's ear-cutting bravado vanished. To avoid being arrested himself, he denied even knowing the Lord Jesus, not once, but three times. And, on the third time be said a curse word trying to disguise himself before his accusers. 

Before Simon became a follower of the Lord Jesus, he was a brash fisherman whose mouth and choices got him into a lot of trouble. After Simon became a follower of the Lord Jesus, he indeed became Peter, a bedrock believer because the Lord Jesus is still in the business of making us what we are not. It is from this posture of humility and dependence that we conclude accurately about the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus called Himself "The Son of Man" so that people would trust Him no less than they trust God the Father, indicating thus to His equality with the Father.

Matthew 16:5-12

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5 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." 7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread." 8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. ~ Matthew 16:5-12

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 16 where the Lord Jesus had just fended off an attack from the religious leaders from Jerusalem. They came to Galilee after the Lord Jesus had just fed 4000 people with a few fish and seven loaves of bread. He performed miracles on the behalf of the people so that they could gain an inroad into a deeper understanding for their need to repent of their sin and enter into a personal relationship with Him. And, of course, no one can enter into a personal relationship with God until our sins are forgiven and we are "born again." 

In v.5 of today's passage we read, "Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread."

After the Lord Jesus had fed the 4000 there were seven baskets full of the leftovers. Initially the disciples thought they had left all of the leftovers but according to Mark's account, when they arrived on the other side of the lake, they discovered they had one loaf of bread. Similar to the religious leaders from Jerusalem, the disciples primarily functioned on the physical level. They were in the presence of God Himself who had just fed four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish and they forgot the one thing that would have reminded them of the most important thing. 

In v.6 of today's passage we read, "Then Jesus said to them, 'Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.'"

The one loaf of bread made it natural for the Lord Jesus to warn His disciples of the negative influence of the Jewish religious leaders. He drew their attention to leaven or yeast that was used to make the bread to make His point. Yeast is a biblical illustration of influence. Yeast makes dough rise by bacterial corruption. The Lord Jesus used the illustration of yeast to warn the disciples of religion or religious corruption. It was to the heart of religion's problem that the Lord went that day which is the lack of involving our hearts in the process. The disciples were in danger of doing what the religious leaders had long ago done, they failed to give their hearts to the Lord. They strove to meticulously obey God in everything but their hearts weren't engaged. The religious wrongly thought their attempts at self-improvement made them right before God. 

In v.7 of today's passage we read, "And they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'It is because we have taken no bread.'"

Previously, the people had eaten so much bread and fish they were satisfied physically. The disciples were not that much different than the people that were fed that day, they primarily based their satisfaction upon the physical. We do the same, we seek material and emotional blessing far more than we seek spiritual blessing. They were so in tune to the physical that the spiritual went unnoticed by them. This is also our problem, to be defined by the thinking of our fallen selves. The disciples did not understand the Lord Jesus because the word "leaven" was not often used among the Jews to warn of faulty doctrine which leads to faulty thinking which leads to faulty living. Like the disciples, we were born dead in our sins which means we were born dead to God. And, if we are never "born again" or made alive to God by His Spirit, we remain in our sinful condition. This is why the Lord Jesus came to remove that barrier which was created by our sin.

In v.8-11 of today's passage we read, "8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, 'O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'"

We tend to be reactive. When a problem presents itself, we focus on the problem until it gets solved. When we focus on the immediate, we can easily miss out on the ultimate. The disciples fell into this trap. This is why the Lord Jesus called out their lack of understanding and then brought attention to their lack of faith. Learning to be defined by God and to think His way takes time. It requires a process whereby we continually learn that His way of thinking is diametric to the way we have always thought. Everyone has faith, the difference is the object of our faith and we will always be most defined by the object of our faith. Very often, we lack understanding like the disciples. Understanding the ways of the Lord is key and is not learned over night because His way of thinking is upside down, inside out, and backwards compared to ours. He calls us not to be served but to serve, and to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. In order to do this we must look to the Lord Jesus to satisfy our deepest longings. This is hard because the flesh will always court us to follow its way.

The process of learning to be defined by the God of the Bible is called sanctification. While our justification gets us into heaven, our sanctification gets heaven into us now. Most believe this life is about the acquisition of answers. Most believe our exclamation marks are more important than our questions. The Lord Jesus reveals in this story that our questions are more important. If our pursuit is for the truth, we will discover the secrets to life by entertaining the deeper and most of the time unwanted questions. Like the disciples, we need spiritual healing, and questions help in the process of being healed spiritually. Those who do not entertain questions are like those who have eyes, but cannot see, or, ears and cannot hear. It is strategic that in the very next passage in the parallel chapter in Mark that the Lord Jesus open the eyes of a blind man.

The disciples had witnessed the feedings of the 5,000 and the 4,000, but, they had missed the point. When the Lord Jesus fed the 5,000, there were twelve baskets of leftovers: one for each disciple. With the feeding of the 4,000, the disciples collected “seven” baskets of leftovers: the number for completeness or wholeness. We are only completed when we throw ourselves into an abandoned relationship with the Lord and we are consistently being defined by Him. The Lord Jesus strategically asked the disciples questions, giving them the chance to dive deeper with Him. This is what He does with all who follow Him. 

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

When we feed the flesh we reduce our sensitivity to the culture of God. This was the problem for the disciples and it was the problem in the book of Galatians. Paul points out there that they had started out being defined by God by walking in the Spirit. Then they reverted back to their old ways when they tried to perfect themselves in the flesh. This is what steered them into legalism. They had not figured out the answer God had given them which is the indwelling Holy Spirit who always works in tandem with the word of God to inculcate the culture of God into us. It is the Holy Spirit who through God's word leads us into the truth. And, as we learn to be taught and are led by the Holy Spirit we are found to be defined by God. This is the goal of choosing to avoid the leaven of the religious leaders of Israel who were defined by the self life which is contrary to the Lord's culture.

Matthew 16:1-4

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1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed. ~ Matthew 16:1-4

Today, we transition into our study of Matthew 16 where the Lord Jesus has just fed some 4000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish that His disciples had on hand. This miracle, the feeding of the 4000 is the second largest miracle meal provided by the Lord Jesus recorded in the Gospels, second only to the feeding of the 5000 plus. There are at least 42 different miracles recorded in the four gospel accounts. These miracles performed by the Lord Jesus Christ authenticated Him as God and they demonstrated His divine authority over disease, nature, the spirit world, material things and death. 

In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven."

After feeding the 4000, the Lord Jesus traveled to Magdala, the place where Mary Magdalene lived. Magdala is a little town just north of Tiberias on the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is located very near the ancient fishing village of Dalmanutha which was a stones throw away from Magdala. Years ago, when the Sea of Galilee was low, archeologists discovered Dalmanutha submerged under the water between Magdala and Capernaum. For many years, the skeptics undermined the Bible's veracity because there seemed to be no evidence that it existed. That is, until it was uncovered by an archeological dig. Down through the years many archeological digs have been completed and to date not one has ever contradicted the claims of the Bible.

Since the attention of large crowds of people had been arrested by the miracles and the teachings of the Lord Jesus, His popularity was grew rapidly. As a result He became a threat to the Jewish religious leaders. This is why the Pharisees and Sadducees traveled to Galilee from Jerusalem to meet with the Lord Jesus. These two groups were not known to see eye to eye on many issues yet they traveled 90 miles together to Galilee to try to trip up the Lord. We never see these guys together in the New Testament except here. This divided group who never got together on anything and never agreed on anything paid the Lord Jesus a visit because they wanted Him nullified. Their rope of control was slipping from their hands so they came to discredit the Lord Jesus.

In v.2-3 of today's passage we read, "2 He answered and said to them, 'When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red;' 3 and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times."

According to Mark's gospel, in response to the request of the Jewish religious leaders, the Lord Jesus sighed deeply. Unlike His earlier sighs, this sigh was a deep sigh which communicated a stronger emotion over the spiritual blindness of these so called "spiritual leaders." The obstinate unbelief of these religious leaders in the face of massive evidence given throughout the Old Testament led them to operate out of willful ignorance. Like every religion, the religion of the Jewish religious leaders developed the idea that God cares only about the members of their sect and that He hates the rest of the world. They wanted to make all of Israel believe that God cares only about Jews. In fact, the Rabbis have been claiming for 2000 years that only the Jews are important and that God doesn’t care about Gentiles. 

Even though there are more than 300 prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled, the Jewish religious leaders didn't believe in Him. These prophecies are specific enough that the mathematical probability of the Lord Jesus fulfilling even a handful of them, let alone all of them, is a staggeringly improbability. If we were to take enough silver dollars to cover the state of Texas two feet deep and mark one of them and tell a blindfolded man to pick the right one, the chances that he would be able to so would equal the chances that the Lord Jesus had in fulfilling just eight of the Old Testament prophecies much less 300. Despite all of the evidence that God had given them, these "religious leaders" foolishly requested from the Lord Jesus a manifestation from God the Father proving Him to be their long-promised Messiah.  

In response to the religious leaders request for another sign, the Lord Jesus reminded them that they were good at noticing the physical signs about the weather in the sky. But, even though they were good at making physical observations, they were really negligent at making spiritual observations. Their sensitivity to weather made a mockery out of their insensitivity to God and they were their own gods. They could chart the course of God's redemptive plan but they failed to recognize their Redeemer when He stood before them.

In v.4 of today's passage we read, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed."

The actual reason why the Jewish religious leaders rejected the Lord Jesus as their Messiah was due to the fact that they were corrupt. All they cared about was control, power and making money at the expense of the people. The Lord Jesus became to them a threat, a threat to their exclusive sect which they had created. They knew that if the people of Israel accepted and followed the Lord Jesus, they’d lose everything, their power, their influence, their control, their honored position. The religious leaders came up with legalistic traditions and rules, keeping the people from recognizing the Lord Jesus as their Messiah. While the religious leaders regularly missed God, the Lord Jesus consistently presented to the people the compassion and the forgiveness of God. 

The Lord Jesus dared to stand up against these Jewish religious leaders by breaking down the walls that rabbinical tradition had put up. He reminded the religious leaders of the sign given through the Old Testament prophet Jonah. Later He said, "As Jonah was in the whale for three days, I’m going to be in the ground for three days." That was the last sign that was given to them. And when that sign came and the word got back to the religious leaders of Israel that He had risen from the dead, they called the Roman soldiers in who were guarding the tomb and bribed them to lie about His resurrection. Sadly, when they totally rejected the light, they were permanently enveloped by the darkness.

Matthew 15:32-39

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32 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33 Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?" 34 Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish." 35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala. ~ Matthew 15:32-39

Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 15 where the Lord Jesus fed 4000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish. This is the second largest meal miracle recorded in the Gospels, second only to the feeding of the 5000. In the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 the crowd had been with the Lord Jesus for just one day. In today's passage, the crowd had been with Him for three days. 

The thrust of today's passage is captured in Lamentation 3:22-23 which reads, "22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed; His compassions do not fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." It is by God's mercies, His compassions and His faithfulness that we have hope where none should have existed due to Satan's deception in the Garden of Eden. It was there that we all came forth damned by our sin.

In v.32 of today's passage we read, "Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, 'I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.'"

The God of the Bible is a God of great compassion. His heart is always engaged with us. He suffers with us. He feels our pain, and more than that, to us He seeks to reveal pain's usefulness. When we face an uncertain future or when we find ourselves in the midst of certain problems, it's important for us to pause and to reflect on what we know about the character of God. It keeps us rooted. It keeps us grounded. It keeps us centered in the faith. Otherwise, our circumstances cloud our reasoning and we find ourselves without the joy and the hope needed to buoy us in this world of torrential waters. This is where the mercies and the compassions and the faithfulness of the Lord pull back the clouds, enabling us to see anew.

From Genesis to Revelation there are 31,173 verses. In those 31,173 verses,  there are 7,487 promises that God has made to man reminding us of His mercies, His compassions and His faithfulness. When we stand on God's promises something happens, something with eternal value. We discover that our faith in His promises invite His peace into our souls and we get to the point that we conclude that everything will be alright. This happens because even though God doesn't promise us a life free of trials, He promises to make sense of our trials. He does this through the exercising of our faith through our trials. When exercised faith pounds the doors of heaven, a certainty comes that when we call, He will answer, that when we ask, we will receive, that when we knock, the door will be opened.

In v.33 of today's passage we read, "Then His disciples said to Him, 'Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?'"

The feeding of the 4000 was a different miracle than the feeding of the 5000. In this miracle the people were told to sit on the ground, and there was no mention of grass. In the feeding of the 5000, there were five loaves and two fish. In the feeding of the 4000, there were seven loaves of bread and a few fish. In the feeding of the 5000, there were twelve baskets of bread and fish leftover. In the feeding of the 4000, there were seven baskets of leftovers. In the feeding of the 5000, the twelve baskets were the smaller lunch baskets, whereas, in this account, there were seven large baskets. Also, the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 took place in Galilee, whereas, this miracle took place in "the Decapolis." At the feeding of the 5000, the Lord Jesus fed the Jewish crowd. Here, He fed a Gentile crowd. 

In response to the compassionate statement of the Lord Jesus that the people had gone three days without food, the disciples questioned how they could possibly feed so many people. We are so much like the disciples, we forget so quickly. It had not been that long before this that He fed the 5000 with less. The disciples were not only forgetful, they failed to learn. I am grateful for this because I am no different than they. I find it quite helpful to remember that when God wants to do something wonderful in my life, He couches His performance with some kind of a difficulty in my life. But, while in the middle of the trial I often short circuit my learning because I find it hard to rest during the trial. I find that most often I am consumed with getting the trial over. It is good to remember that when God wants to do something really wonderful in our lives, He very often starts with an impossibility.

In v.34-36 of today's passage we read, "34 Jesus said to them, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven, and a few little fish.' 35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.'" 

The Lord Jesus knew how much food the disciples had but He wanted to accentuate the number for a specific reason. So, He took the seven loaves of bread and a "few" small fish and He turned them into a meal with seven large baskets of leftovers. There was a basket of leftovers for each original loaf that was given. We often fall into thinking that God’s blessing is for only our own benefit. We often take what God has blessed us with and hoard it. When we do this, we actually give safe haven in our souls to the enemy. 

The blessings God shares with us are given so that we can bless others. The Lord Jesus didn’t multiply the disciples snack into a huge meal for only the disciples. Instead, He did it to feed not only the disciples, but the whole crowd. Our natural tendency is to hoard our blessings and/or use them only for ourselves, but God has given an example of extravagant generosity. When we give Him the little we have, He can multiply it into so much that there are baskets full of leftovers. 

In v.37-39 of today's passage we read, "37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala."

Through this miracle the Lord Jesus demonstrated His heart for needy people. Interestingly, in every single phase of the Lord's ministry He ended with a feeding. When He was finished ministering in Galilee, He finished it with the feeding of the 5000. When He was finished ministering to the Gentiles, the second phase of His ministry, He finished it with this feeding of the 4000. When He was finished with His Judean ministry, just before the cross, He ended it with a third feeding, the Last Supper. When we look at the Cross of Christ, we see God’s faithfulness reminding us that not even the instinct to spare His own Son would turn God back from keeping His word to us.

Throughout my life my problems have always served me to be useful roadsigns pointing me to God. There have been times when I have responded to these roadsigns quicker than with others, but I have learned that when I respond to them, they propel me deeper into a more meaningful relationship with God. Most trials seem on the surface to present themselves to us as obstacles that prevent us from advancing in our walk with Him. But, our trials are not obstacles, they provide fuel for the deepening our dependency upon God. Our trials build into our lives passion, perseverance, and a deeper dependency upon the Lord that goes far beyond what we could think or imagine. More often than not, God answers our prayer for greater wholeness, not by providing better circumstances, but by providing trials which aid our hearts ability to see Him. This is what true faith is: a heart positioned to see Him most vividly.

Matthew 15:29-31

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29 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. ~ Matthew 15:29-31

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 15. The Lord Jesus began His earthly ministry in the northern region of Israel, and, for two years plus He ministered in that region. As it is today, Galilee was a rural area then, and the people are far more common and less educated. Before leaving that area for Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus traveled over the border to the north and west of Israel and entered into Gentile territory once again even though He had been rejected there before. 

In v.29 of today's passage we read, "Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there."

According to Mark's gospel, the Lord Jesus went to the Decapolis or the Ten Greek Towns which were occupied by Romans. As a result, the culture there was defined accordingly. Needless to say there weren't many who were mindful of God who lived in that area. Earlier, when the Lord Jesus was in that area, the people asked Him to leave because they thought Him to be a threat to their way of life. The Lord Jesus complied and departed to the area of Capernaum. 

On this occasion when the Lord Jesus returned to that eastern shore area, the locals brought to Him many who were quite ill. In that group according to Mark's gospel was a deaf mute man. This desperate man, and all the rest who were brought to the Lord Jesus, was an illustration of how desperation can serve us best. Desperate people do desperate things. These people undoubtedly had tried everything else to remedy their problems. They were obviously dangling from their last rope. Like them, it was out of my desperation that I cried out to the Lord. It was the death of my parents that led me to the point of being desperate enough to cry out to the Lord for help. And boy, am I glad I did. As a side note, Abraham, the first Jew, was a Gentile before he became a Jew. It was God's culture or definitions of things that brought about the difference. And, by the way, the word "Jew" comes from the word Judah which means "Thank you!"

In v.30 of today's passage we read, "Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them."

The once skeptical people in the Decapolis brought many ill people to the Lord Jesus who healed them. According to Mark there was one man whom the Lord Jesus healed by placing His fingers in his ears. Since the man was deaf, he could not hear, but, he could feel. The Lord put His fingers in this man's ears so that he could feel the touch of God who was addressing his ear problem. And, since speech is tied to our ability to hear, the Lord Jesus then touched the man's tongue. He spat, perhaps into His hand, and then He touched the man's tongue. To somebody who was so helpless, the touch of the Messiah was a great encouragement, and, it bolstered the man's faith in the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus looked in the man's eyes, He saw the look of faith. It was at that point that the man was immediately healed. Faith is the required ingredient to receiving anything from God. With the physical healing, the Lord Jesus awakened the man's faith and caused him to believe in Him. His faith was a product of his healing.

According to Mark, at that moment the Lord Jesus looked up to heaven, revealing the source of His power. God's power, when accessed, is always accessed through submission to the Father's will. The Lord Jesus spoke, not to the man’s ears, but to his heart. This is what He does for all who call on Him for help. In fact, He continues to speaks to our hearts daily. This is the key to abiding in Him. And, He has been known to use some rather unusual means to make an audience out of our hearts. Just after I had graduated from high school, I didn’t know God, so I didn’t know how to listen to Him or how to speak with Him. As you know, in May of 1981, my father became very sick to the point of death. Just three days before his death in October of the same year, the Lord Jesus met me right where I was. That day, He clearly spoke to my heart which was garrisoned by my grief. As a result, that day I cried out to Him and it was then that He became my Savior.

Although my emotional blockages hindered my ability to understand, over time the Lord communicated with me in a way that I could understand. Somehow, He enabled me to know that His intentions for me were all good and that I could trust Him. Like the many that He healed that day on that mountain at the Decapolis, I sensed His deep sigh many times. He probed the deep places of my heart, where the pains of life had left many scars. He confronted that deep, searing pain, that was in me due to loss of both of my parents at a young age. He performed His work of enabling my heart to see and hear Him for myself mostly through my pain. 

In v.31 of today's passage we read, "So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel."

The people marveled that day as the Lord Jesus healed so many. Like the multitude, the eyes of our hearts are drawn to Him through the many healings. That is where our faith must rest. Sadly, as Henry David Thoreau pointed out so long ago, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them." Just like these desperate people, the Lord Jesus came looking for us to offer to us what we could not produce for ourselves. If we are desperate enough, when we come to faith in Him, we will become living symbols of what the Lord can do in and through our willing hearts. This was not only what we needed, this is what this desperate world needs. Like you and me, they need His undying love to set them free from the way of the enemy who is out to destroy them. And, once the Lord does this work in their hearts, they will be granted His heart to see the lost who are desperate to be set free from the evil ties that bind them.

Matthew 15:21-28

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21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed." 23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us." 24 But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" 26 But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs." 27 And she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table." 28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. ~ Matthew 15:21-28

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 15 where the Lord Jesus has been sparing with the Jewish religious leaders who had come from Jerusalem to Galilee in order to discredit Him in the eyes of the people there. The popularity of the Lord Jesus was so great that the Jewish religious leaders made the 90 mile trip in order to quell it. We try to control that which threatens us and this was the motivation of the religious leaders who had what most thought was the best life but their eternity with God was blocked by their greed. Protecting their comfort on this earth so blinded these religious leaders that they missed God when He walked right into their lives.

In v.21-22 of today's passage we read, "21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.'"  

After dealing with the religious leaders, the Lord Jesus traveled with His disciples about thirty-five miles to the Mediterranean Sea town of Tyre. Earlier in this chapter, the observant to the law religious leaders of Israel accused the Lord Jesus of violating the Word of God. Interestingly, these "leaders" adherence to the "Law of Moses" and all of their additions to it resulted in them being smug and more separate from the people who needed the truth most. The Lord Jesus took the disciples to Tyre to illustrate in terms of race what He had just taught in terms of food. All foods are clean, and all peoples are clean, in the sense of being acceptable by God. There are no longer any distinctions among foods, as being defiling or undefiling, just as there are no distinctions among people.

As the Lord Jesus and His disciples entered Tyre, the crowd, according to Mark's gospel, was so great that He had to slip away into a house to escape them. In that home in Tyre there "just so happened to be" a desperate Gentile woman who asked the Lord Jesus to cast a demon from her very possessed daughter. Her desperation gave room to potential hope enabling her to bring her desperate need to the Lord. Her faith had brought her to possible rejection, but she was so desperate. The risk she ran was great in the eyes of all in that day. Women were not supposed to approach a man whom she did not know. This kind of faith, though, is the key to what life is truly all about: encountering God and telling others about Him.

This woman was an unnamed Canaanite, one of the people groups that were condemned in the Old Testament by God. Of course, we were all condemned by our rebelliousness before God, but this woman had a double dose of rejection from God. Even though she was a Gentile, a non-Jew she knew to address the Lord Jesus as "the Son of David!" By using this Jewish covenant designation, she made her appeal on the promises that God had made to the people of Israel. In addition, by using this designation of the Lord Jesus, she acknowledged Him as Israel's Messiah, something the religious leaders of Israel didn't do. Unlike the Jewish religious leaders, this lady was being defined by God.

In v.23-24 of today's passage we read, "23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, 'Send her away, for she cries out after us.' 24 But He answered and said, 'I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'"

Initially, after the Lord Jesus had paid no attention to the woman, the disciples came and urged Him to send her away because she had become annoying. This happened so that her faith would be challenged and subsequently made real for all to see, including her. Most people run from the trials that come in life, but trials hone our ability to see and embrace God with our hearts. By embracing our trials rather than running from them, we make room for a context to be formed where we are granted by God a growing depth in our walk with Him. Most never get to this place with God. Most, like the religious leaders from Jerusalem love their comfort way too much to do such a thing.

In response to the obnoxious and persistent faith of this desperate woman, the Lord Jesus said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." In saying this He was simply stating that He was sent to reach His own people, the Jews with the Gospel. But, as John 1:11 points out, "He came unto His own and His own rejected Him." Most of the people of Israel, due to their unbelief, did not recognize the Lord Jesus as their Messiah. He did not match their definition of what they thought the Messiah should be. This has always been our problem, we always prefer our definition of something over God's. In this case Israel misdefined their Messiah. 

In v.25 of today's passage we read, "Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Lord, help me!'"

This Gentile woman was unfazed by that which the Lord Jesus had said. She was persistent. She didn't give up easily. She utilized a direct approach with the Lord Jesus because she knew that He was her only hope. She knew that if the Lord Jesus didn't help her, her demon-possessed daughter would not make it. 

In v.26 of today's passage we read, "But He answered and said, 'It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.'"

The Lord Jesus employed an illustration that this woman clearly understood. The context of this analogy was the dinner table. And, the Lord Jesus used the Greek word for dog here that was less offensive than another He could have used. He used the word that described the pets that one would have in the home, not the scavengers out in the allies. The Lord Jesus used this illustration to deliberately push whatever faith this woman had in Him to the edge. This desperate lady was like the family dog that feeds on crumbs that have fallen from the table. The Lord Jesus is always on the lookout for such faith. He saw this woman's desperation and her subsequent faith that made this miracle come to pass.

In v.27 of today's passage we read, "And she said, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.'"

The Jews often called Gentiles "scavenger dogs" which was a complete insult. But, the Lord Jesus used the other term which served to draw out the woman's faith. Her response was, "I know my place, I'm not under the covenant that the Jewish people are under, I don't have the right to ask for the choice morsels, like the covenant people of the Jews, I just want the leftovers. Just throw me the scraps. Please, show me mercy." 

Previously, when Peter was caught in the storm, he took his eyes off of the Lord Jesus and began to sink. When this woman was caught in a very different storm, she stayed focused on the Lord Jesus, and fell to her knees before Him. That’s the kind of faith that the Lord finds to be great. This happened on the heels of the Lord Jesus exposing the utter mindlessness of the religious leaders who were bent upon earning God's favor. Here, the observant Jew was given yet another example that he was no longer to be defined by his religious activities which drew out their hearts away from Him to self. Like this Gentile lady in Tyre, we must adopt a pure heart in the God of the Bible who sent His Son who gave His life to win our hearts. Spirituality is much more than carefully observed rituals. It is a wild search for God in the arena of our desperation mixed with the unexpected and the uncomfortable. Out of this grows faith. 

In v.28 of today's passage we read, "Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour."

The faith of this significant gentile woman was much greater than most in the Bible. When she arrived at her home, she found her daughter lying quietly in her bed. And the demon was no longer in her. That very hour, a despised Gentile became a grateful recipient of the grace of God. Great desperation plus persistent faith equaled wholeness. We are never quite convinced that the Lord Jesus is all we need until He is all we have.