Transcript:
For most of church history, the church has been predominantly gentile. While there are Jewish believers who attend gentile churches, and recent centuries have seen the establishment of messianic congregations which are Jewish churches made up mostly of Jews, those are the exceptions. For the most part, most Christians are gentiles.
That has created a mindset where gentiles think Christianity is and should be a gentile religion. Gentile Christians think of Jews as the outsiders. Some Christians think of Jews as the enemy.
That is not the right mindset. Romans 11 tells us the Jews are the true vine and gentiles are a branch that was grafted in. That mindset was first communicated by the attitude of Jesus that we see in Matthew 15. Jesus came to minister to the Jewish people, not gentiles. He gave priority to the house of Israel. Matthew 15 contains an example of Him ignoring a gentile.
The important takeaway is that the Jews are not the enemy. They are God’s chosen people. An anti-semitic mindset within Christianity that looks upon Jews as being the enemy is very troubling and wrong.
In the 1st century AD most Jews in Israel lived in Galilee and Judea. Galilee was the region surrounding the Sea of Galilee. Judea was the region surrounding Jerusalem. In between was the region of Samaria where the Samaritans lived. The Jews and Samaritans were at odds with each other. The regions outside of Galilee, Judea, and Samaria were gentile areas. Tyre and Sidon were gentile areas.
The early chapters of Matthew tells us about the birth of Jesus which took place in Bethlehem, a small town in Judea, south of Jerusalem. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, which was a small town in Galilee. Most of the miracles, healings, and sermons recorded in the first half of Matthew took place in Galilee, around the Sea of Galilee. That was a Jewish area.
At the start of today’s passage, we will read that Jesus withdrew to Tyre and Sidon. Those were gentile cities north of Galilee. That means Jesus withdrew from a Jewish area to spend time in a gentile area. His actions and mentality while in the gentile area is a good lesson for us on the proper attitude toward the Jewish people.
Matt. 15:21 ¶ And going away from there, Jesus withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon.
Notice the word withdrew. That implies His trip to Tyre and Sidon was not to expand the scope of His ministry. Instead, He was trying to get away for some peace and quiet.
Tyre and Sidon were gentile cities north of Galilee. Jesus had attracted such a large crowd in Galilee with His healings that He had to go outside Galilee to get away.
Matt. 15:22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.”
The woman who was petitioning Jesus was a Canaanite, a gentile.
Matt. 15:23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and were pleading with Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.”
Jesus ignored the gentile woman.
Matt. 15:24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
The mindset of modern Christianity is that Jesus came for the gentiles. There is truth to that, but first and foremost Jesus came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Matt. 15:25 But she came and was bowing down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
Matt. 15:26 And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Since Jesus had come to save Israel, it was not good for Him to expend effort on behalf of the gentiles.
Matt. 15:27 But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
In her answer the woman expressed humility. She acknowledged that she was an outsider and did not have a right to be helped. She merely wanted some crumbs.
Matt. 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.
The woman made it clear she believed beyond any doubt that Jesus could help her. Because of her faith, Jesus granted her wish.
Matt. 15:29 ¶ And departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there.
At this point Jesus returned to Galilee, into the midst of the throng.
Matt. 15:30 And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.
Matt. 15:31 So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
Matt. 15:32 ¶ And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the crowd, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
Matt. 15:33 And the disciples said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?”
Matt. 15:34 And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
Matt. 15:35 And He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground;
Matt. 15:36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and kept giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
Matt. 15:37 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full.
Matt. 15:38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
Matt. 15:39 ¶ And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.
Matt. 16:1 ¶ And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.
Notice the word testing. The Pharisees and Sadducees were trying to trap Jesus.
Matt. 16:2 But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
Matt. 16:3 And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?
The expression we use today is
“Red at night, sailors delight.
Red in the morning, sailors take warning.”
The Pharisees and Sadducees were experts in the Old Testament. They knew the prophecies concerning the Messiah. They should have recognized that Jesus was the Messiah.
Matt. 16:4 An evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.
Jesus called His generation an evil and adulterous generation. That is not a nice thing to say, but it was the truth and needed to be said.
In chapter 12 Matthew recorded Jesus saying “for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:40)
Jonah was a sign because Jesus rose from the dead after three days and three nights just as Jonah was in the sea monster for three days and three nights. After Jesus arose, the Pharisees and Sadducees should have remembered that Jesus had predicted He would do that. That should have been a sufficient sign and enough proof to the religious leaders that Jesus was who He said He was.
For most of church history, the church has been predominantly gentile. That has created a mindset where gentiles think Christianity is and should be a gentile religion. Gentile Christians think of Jews as the outsiders, and sometimes think of them as the enemy.
That is not the right mindset. Romans 11 tells us the Jews are the true vine and gentiles are a branch that was grafted in. Matthew 15 contains an example of Jesus ignoring a gentile because He was sent to save the house of Israel.
The Jews are not the enemy. They are God’s chosen people. An anti-semitic mindset within Christianity that looks upon Jews as being outsiders and the enemy is wrong.
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. Tomorrow I will start reading at Matthew 16:5 and draw a contrast between the incomplete gospel message that is often heard in evangelical churches today and the true gospel message that actually leads to salvation. That post is for paid subscribers only, so if you are not a paid subscriber, please subscribe now. In order to subscribe, go to Bible Mountain dotcom and click on Subscribe. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”
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