Matthew 15-18
Faith Revealed
In Chapter 15 the Pharisees question Jesus about the disciples breaking the tradition of the elders by not washing their hands before eating bread. In so doing the disciples were considered unclean or defiled. In the discussion that follows Jesus confronts this tradition and others that the Pharisees have taught that were misleading the people and compromising the Word of God by adding to it. By adding and focusing on a “religious practice” they were overlooking the real things that defile or make a person unclean. Jesus points out it is not what someone eats but what comes out of the heart that makes a person unclean because our words and actions follow our heart. Verse 19
I believe that often what we are going through today is preparation for what we are going to face in the future. In verse 21 Jesus travels to the Gentile district of Tyre and Sidon where a Canaanite woman begins to plead for her daughter who is demon possessed. Jesus is strangely silent but she keeps pleading to the point where the disciples come to Jesus and ask Him to send her away because she is shouting after them. His reply is recorded in verse 24. “But He answered and said, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” NASB
It is as if Jesus is telling them it was not His problem. They need to deal with it. In verse 25 we read that she came to Jesus and made her plea. His answer seems harsh but her reply shows her faith and because of her faith in Him her daughter is healed.
So the question becomes to whom was her faith revealed? It was the disciples that needed to see her faith. It is clear from verse 22 that she had the faith to come and ask Jesus for mercy and the healing of her daughter. In this verse she addresses Jesus as Lord, Son of David. She believed Jesus could heal her daughter.
The disciples were acting like the Pharisees we read about previously. They had preconceived ideas regarding who she was and didn’t attempt to help or bring her to Jesus, in fact, they were directing Jesus to get rid of her.
Hebrews 11:1 reads, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” NASB
This certainly describes this woman. In spite of being rejected by the disciples, and when it seems like Jesus was not listening or interested, she didn’t give up. She may not have understood why she had to go through what she did but she did understand that Jesus was the only one who could heal her daughter so she was persistent in her crying out to the Lord.
In Luke 18:1 Jesus taught His disciples to pray and not give up and told them a parable to illustrate His teaching. Following that He told another parable that gives a contrast and soon after they are faced with the real life example of the rich, young, ruler, who wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. These served to prepare the disciples for what was coming as Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem. The disciples do not know what is ahead but Jesus does. The point is we may not know what is ahead, or understand what we are going through, or even why we are going through it, what we need to do is keep our faith strong in the Lord and not give up.
Back in Chapter 15 (and Mark 7) we read that Jesus and the disciples return to the region of Decapolis. This is largely a gentile area. There He will teach, heal, and feed the four thousand. Following that they cross the Sea of Galilee and are again confronted by the Pharisees and Sadducees. After dealing with them He warns the disciples to beware of the yeast of these religious rulers. Yeast is a symbol if sin in the Bible. The action of yeast, fermenting and working its way throughout a loaf of bread, is a symbol of how sin gets into one’s thinking and slowly corrupts. How the disciples reacted to the woman in our study today showed that they had picked up an attitude of prejudice against women and gentiles from the teaching of the religious rulers.
What were the Pharisees and Sadducees doing? In Chapter 16 they asked Jesus for a sign in order to test Him. This is quite different from the reason the woman came to Jesus. She came in faith. They did not have faith in Him nor were they going to put their faith in Him. This is the context of the warning regarding the yeast. The disciples were thinking He was talking about the bread they had forgotten to bring. The reality was that they had the bread of life with them.
In 1 Corinthians 8:1 the Apostle Paul says that knowledge puffs a person up with pride. This is the work of the yeast of sin working in the life of a person which makes the heart hard and the person unteachable. The yeast Jesus is talking about is not taken in through the mouth but rather, through the eyes and ears. It is the result of sin’s corruption that comes out of the heart of man. Of course, this takes us back to where we began this study in Chapter 15. Going on into Chapter 16 Jesus is going to expose what is in the heart of the disciples in verses 13-28. Poor Peter went from great heights to great depths in just a few verses. Still, Jesus had to take Peter through what he needed to go through to show Peter that he had picked up some worldly thinking along the way. Is it possible that Jesus is doing the same thing with some of the things we are going through? When thinking of this, James 1 comes to mind.
Don’t forget, God is for us and Jesus is always near. We are only a prayer away from the wisdom of God. James 1:5
Don’t let an attitude block the way or let anything come in between that connection. Keep your faith in God strong and trust in His Word.
Pastor Dave
Matthew 11-14
Weeding
Our chapters today begin with John the Baptist sending his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the One God was sending as King or should they expect someone else? This is an either/or question. I don’t know about you but often in my prayers , especially in the early years of my walk with the Lord, I would ask God either/or questions. It’s sort of like saying to God, “I have been thinking about this situation and have come up with two options.” “Which one do You want to choose.” Wow! I wonder who is in charge here. Of course, Jesus is the One who is coming. He is coming again to not only restore Israel but He is also coming to restore the world! But first He came to save the world by planting the Word of God in the hearts of mankind. He is coming again. When He comes this time He will come as King. Meanwhile the Word is to be spread by us. When someone receives the Word and invites Jesus into their heart, He comes and sets up His kingdom in their heart.
God has a plan and Jesus is fulfilling that plan. The world is full of evil which we see in Chapter 14 where the story of the beheading of John the Baptist is told. God sent His Son Jesus, the Word, to the world because He values the people in the world. In Chapter 13 we read of several parables Jesus teaches to help us understand that the Word of God planted in the heart of mankind can bring transformation, refocusing us from where we are in life to the kingdom of God. But we must be ready to receive the Word which the Parable of the Sower makes clear.
Herod was haunted by what he had done to John the Baptist. We are told in Mark 6:20 that he tried to keep him safe and even enjoyed listening to John. But even though he was a ruler he was ruled by the evil environment in which he lived and operated. The Word was crowded out by evil and pride set him up for a fall.
Sometimes we get tired and weary with what is going on in the world around us. We may, like John, feel like we are stuck in place and not making progress at all. We may well wonder, not only, when the Lord is coming, but if He is coming at all. We may ask, why God is allowing this or that to happen. These thoughts are sure signs that we are allowing thorns of worry to grow in the garden of our mind. Matthew 13:22
We need to separate ourselves from focusing on the thorns and refocus on God’s plan and God’s Word. 13:24-30.
2 Peter 3:8-10 reminds me that God is in charge, not me. He has a plan and it is still being implemented. The apostle John tells us in 1 John 5:4 that our faith in Jesus overcomes the world. I recommend reading verses 1-12 to get the context.
To those of us who are waiting and longing for the Lord’s return, the Words of Jesus found in Matthew 11:28-30 are reassuring .
Don’t carry the weight of the world alone. Yoke with Jesus.
Pastor Dave