Sermon Tone Analysis

Learning More About Jesus

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.

Learning More About Jesus

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.

I.

A surprise healing event (15:29-31)

- Jesus is walking along the sea of Galilee.

Jesus is walking around the sea of Galilee on the eastern side of the lake which is very Gentile in population.

, which adds a few details to the account, explains that this is in the Decapolis region (confederation of 10 Greek cities).

see map

We see in the description the itinerant nature of Jesus’ ministry.

I believe that this is really representative of the nature of God by how Jesus wanders around making contact with all sorts of people in different places.

(reminder of God’s omnipresence)

- The crowds come to Jesus with those that have many ailments.

Jesus goes up on the hill and sits down, something He had done earlier in 5:1.

I believe that when Jesus sits down on the hill it is in the normal posture of teaching that we so readily find in the Gospels.

There are all sorts of physical afflictions that are present in the crowd.

There is the sense of belief from the people bringing these afflicted people that Jesus could heal because it took some effort to climb up the hill helping if not carrying the hurting.

Laying them at the feet of Jesus is a sign of submission to Jesus’ authority and power.

- Jesus heals them all and the crowds marvels at this by praising God.

Those that are brought to Jesus are healed.

The thing to note is that people who were afflicted with 4 ailments (mute, crippled-deformed, lame, blind) are described by what was previously impossible (speaking, restored-normal shape, walking, seeing).

The commentary is that the crowd was amazed.

This resulted in them praising the God associated with Israel.

- Learning in light of the previous passage.

1st FAITH: Even if it was ever so small, there was an element of faith in people approaching Jesus with their afflicted by coming to him in an area that wasn’t handicap accessible.

2nd GOD IS #1 PRIORITY: The Gentiles recognize and give God His proper praise.

By identifying God as the God of Israel, they recognize that He has already been identified and spoken of in relationship to how He was revealed to Israel.

(Unitarians need not apply)

3rd THE MISSION OF GOD INCLUDES GENTILES: To use the previous metaphor, the dogs (Gentiles) are being fed in relation to everything going through the children at the table (Israel).

is the clear picture “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

> When we look at this passage today, this is about the Gospel: God’s plan has always gone through Israel but the blessings are extended to the Gentiles.

The Gospel is a recognition to approach God on His terms… which means sin is rebellion against God, people need to recognize that the problem of humanity is rebellion against God and not bargain with God about their view of morality.

When we realize that approaching God on His terms and His agenda, we realize that faith is the only means to change the damage done by our sin to a relationship with God.

II.

Feeding out of Compassion (15:32-39)

- Jesus displays compassion (32)

33 The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?”

34 And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”

And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

35 And He directed the people to sit down on the ground;

36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

37 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full.

38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

39 And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.

- Jesus displays compassion (32)

These are the folks that approached Jesus with all the physical afflictions.

Knowing the pattern with Jesus, He is most certainly teaching them about all things related to the Kingdom of God.

Considering the details that these people have been with Jesus for 3 days with their limited food supply running out.

This was not a 30 minute walk and the area called Decapolis was a rugged terrain & distances between cities was far greater making this tough travel where some could literally pass out from being too weak to walk.

Decapolis – rugged terrain & distances between cities was far greater

> This tough travel would make some pass outDismissing them to go home a good distance may not be a good idea for some whom could literally pass out from being too weak to walk.

The word for compassion σπλαγχνίζω is a word that speaks of the inner parts of a person but is used metaphorically to speak of mercy motivated internally.

On account of their plight, Jesus is moved to seek to meet their need.

- Jesus reminds the disciples of something.

(33-34)

Someone may tell you that this is just a repetition of the same miracle that was repeated twice in the gospel for emphasis, don’t believe it.

According to that logic, then when Jesus has moments of healing a large crowd of people, He couldn’t do it again.

If anything, the disciples questioning where they could get so many loaves of bread may have been asked because of the nature of the crowd that surrounded them.

As Dr. Tom Constable notes “Probably the fact that the crowd was predominantly Gentile led the disciples to conclude that Jesus would not do the same for them that He had done for the Jews.

This may have been especially true in view of what He had said to the Canaanite woman about Jewish priority in God's kingdom program.

If they thought of "the feeding of the 5,000" as a foretaste of the kingdom banquet, they probably would have thought that it was a uniquely Jewish experience.”

I think Jesus’ question asking them how many loaves of bread was to jog their memory of how Jesus used 5 loaves previously to feed 4,000.

Their response about the fish leads me to believe that there was a understanding of what Jesus would take and use to feed.

- Jesus satisfies the pressing need of the moment.

(35-39)

Just as was done in the previous miracle, here there is a lot of similarity in how Jesus ordered the people to sit down; blessed the bread and fish; broke and handed the food out.

When Jesus set out to fill that need, He didn’t go part way.

As the Scripture notes, Jesus met the need for food by allowing people to be fully fed with plenty of food left over.

Then, Jesus sends them back on their journey home.

What is most important in this miracle is the reminder that Gentiles are able to be included in the promise and this is a demonstration of that.

As Michael Green points out in his commentary: ‘The Message of Matthew’ “It is as if Matthew is keen to gather together here a number of incidents in the life of Jesus which point forward to the primarily Gentile church that he knows and serves.

A strongly Gentile flavour is present throughout.

First the Jewish food laws are annulled.

Then Jesus journeys up into Gentile country and heals a Gentile girl.

Gentile crowds are taught and cared for, healed and shown the signs of the Messiah’s presence as prophesied long ago in , just as Jews had been earlier on.

And now Gentiles are fed with the same heavenly bread that Jesus had made available to the Jewish ‘children of the kingdom’.”

Learning in light of the previous sections:

1st Jesus cares for us body and soul.

Jesus cared for the physical body of the Canaanite woman’s daughter but brought out her faith, which is important for her soul.

In a different manner, Jesus had healed many and they were sticking around as He taught about the kingdom of God.

However, Jesus knew that their bodies needed some nourishment so He met that need as well.

2nd Jesus is compassionate.

This has been demonstrated in a number of places even in the Canaanite woman.

His compassion means that Jesus isn’t just concerned about truth to the exclusion of everything else.

> For us this is helpful in a few different ways: In your prayer life, you can have confidence that when you seek the Lord first in prayer, the physical needs are things that won’t be overlooked.

When we are going through a difficult time where we feel isolated and wonder if God isn’t concerned about little old us, a passage like this is important to be reminded of Jesus’ compassion.

III.

Confrontation without a clue (16:1-4)

- The Pharisees approach Jesus with a purpose.

(1)

III.

(16:1-4)

- The Pharisees approach Jesus with a purpose.

Seeing the combination of Pharisees and Sadducees arriving to talk with Jesus would let anyone in the first century know that something was up.

Consider what William Barclay said about it: “HOSTILITY, like necessity, makes strange bedfellows.

It is an extraordinary phenomenon to find a combination of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

They stood for both beliefs and policies which were diametrically opposed.

The Pharisees lived life according to the minutest details of the oral and the scribal law; the Sadducees rejected the oral and the scribal law completely, and accepted only the written words of the Bible as their law of life.”

When they both approach Jesus to ask for a sign, it is for the purpose of testing to see a failure.

(put to the test) In particular, they ask for a sign from heaven in the sense of a divine miracle.

Barclay, W. (2001).

The Gospel of Matthew (Third Ed., p. 150).

Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press.