Author: Jim Cantelon

Key Verse: Matthew 15:28 “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.”

This is a strange story, to say the least. It’s a story of a Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon-possessed, who came to Jesus crying out for mercy that her daughter might be healed. Apparently she was so insistent that the disciples became upset and urged Jesus to send her away. Jesus’ response is what makes the story so difficult. He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Now it appears that He’s being uncharacteristically callous and hard. But notice that His disciples were there, and they undoubtedly remembered that He had already sent them out to the lost sheep of Israel. They knew this woman was not one of those. They knew she was a Canaanite, a Gentile, one often referred to by Jewish people as a dog. And perhaps in order to appear consistent to His disciples, He said what He said, but then, probably looking at the woman with tongue in cheek, as it were, He said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”

The woman, instead of being intimidated by this statement, which may have been a quotation of a popular saying, responds almost as though it is a game, saying, “Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.” There’s obviously some kind of repartee going on between Jesus and this woman. There’s a non-verbal communication that the disciples miss. How else does one explain her remarkable wit and self-assurance? She obviously read in Jesus’ look a compassion, an empathy, and openness that she very quickly siezed. Jesus used her as a tremendous object lesson saying, “Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted,” which is reminiscent of the centurion who had greater faith than anyone in Israel. The thing that jumps out here is the fact that Jesus refused to be painted into a corner, even by His own words. He has a marvellous flexibility about Him and a kind of youthful adaptability that took as its rule, first and foremost, the rule of love.

Key Verse: Matthew 14:27 “Be of good cheer! It is I, do not be afraid.”

Matthew takes a moment to tell us about Herod and his beheading of John the Baptist, then he gets into the remarkable miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus, who was involved in a very people-intensive ministry, seemed to have limitless capacity for giving out more and more, and showing a kind of inexhaustible compassion, to the point of actually and miraculously dividing five loaves of bread and two fish into enough to feed five thousand. But then, He also has the self-confidence to be able to dismiss the crowd. He gets into a boat and goes to the other side of the lake just to get away from them. He easts and runs!

After Jesus dismisses the crowd, He goes up by Himself into the hills to pray. Jesus placed priority again and again on quiet time with His Father. While He’s praying, His disciples are out on the lake.  Suddenly they look up and see Jesus walking on the water. Their first reaction is, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus speaks to them and says, “Take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid.” And Peter, the impulsive fellow that he is, says, “Lord, if it is You tell me to come to You ono the water.” Jesus says, “Come.” Peter gets out and walks on the water toward Jesus. But then, half way there, he realizes what he is doing and, beginning to sink, cries, “Lord, save me!” It would have been interesting if we had seen Peter walking all the way to Jesus and then turning around and walking back to the boat with Him. But, on the other hand, there is something refreshingly human about Peter’s reaction.

The response of the disciples to Jesus walking on the water is, “Truly, You are the Son of God.” And truly He was. When they got to the other side of the lake, the people there recognized Jesus and sent word to all the surrounding country, and brought all their sick to Him and begged Him to let the sick just touch the edge of His cloak And all who touched Him were healed.

Notice the human context out of which Jesus’ ministry sprang. He dealt with hungry people, frightened disciples and needy, demanding miracle seekers. His ministry sprang out of the very stuff of human existence.

Key Verse: Matthew 13:11 “It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven…”

In this chapter Jesus tells one of His better-known parables, that of the sower. Most parables have only one point and they generally make it well. The major point of this one parable comes in the form of a question, “What kind of soil are you?” Only a small amount of seed which is broadcast over the ground will eventually bear good fruit. The disciples responded by asking, “Why do you speak to people in parables?” And Jesus’ answer seems to be rather strange. “It’s in order that most will not understand what I’m talking about”. In the context of the parable, however, it becomes a little clearer. The parable says that only a small percentage of those who hear will respond and bear fruit. If that is the case, then the quality teaching, the kind  of teaching that will “grow in grace and knowledge”, that will “grow from faith to faith”, is intended only for those who have ears to hear So those who are able to see will see.

Jesus was not about to waste a lot of good stuff on unreceptive hearts. He’s teaching about the kingdom here. This is not evangelism. Evangelism is the broadcasting of the seed; no question about that. But when it comes to the indepth ministry of the spirit, the parable is constructed so that only those who are members of the kingdom will have the interest and the commitment to try and get beyond the metaphor to discover, as the spirit enlightens them, what it is Jesus is really saying.

The parable of the weeds follows very naturally the parable of the sower. First of all it’s similar imagery, but secondly, in terms of what Jesus had just said about broadcasting seed and then speaking through parables, this parable of the wheat and the weeds shows us that Jesus was not about to form an exclusive club in His presentation of the kingdom. He was prepared to broadcast it generally to all men everywhere and, in fact, was prepared to allow the members of the kingdom to grow up surrounded by those who are not members. He was not about to pull His disciples out of the world and form a commune: He wanted them in the world.

Key Verse: Matthew 12:8 “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath”

This is the first of what are known as the Sabbath controversies in the gospels. On this occasion, Jesus’ disciples were picking some heads of grain and eating them as they walked through some grain fields on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees, who were always looking for a chance to accuse Jesus of unlawful behaviour, pointed out that the disciples were doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath. Jesus responded by referring to an historical event when David entered the house of the Lord with his companions and ate the consecrated bread which was lawful only for the priests to do He establishes the fact that the Sabbath is something which should serve man rather than man serving the Sabbath. He then informs these men that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and offends them even more.

Later that day, Jesus happened to run into a man who had a paralyzed, shrivelled hand. Again, the Pharisees were there looking for a reason to accuse Him, and so they asked Jesus if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. He replied, “If you have a sheep who falls into the pit on a Sabbath, won’t you take hold of it and lift it out? Well, a man is much more valuable than a sheep. Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

So, in terms of these Sabbath controversies, Jesus established two things. First of all, He is the Lord of the Sabbath, which gives Him the authority to declare what is lawful and what is not; and secondly, what is lawful is to do what is good and, of course, doing good is something which can involve work. Jesus says, “If it’s good, do it.” Now, it was good to heal a man, so He healed him. “Stretch out your hand,” He said, and it was completely restored. The Pharisees couldn’t handle this, and they went out to plot how they might kill Jesus.

In terms of the twentieth century, it is good for us to remember that any institution we may have and hold dear is good only to the extent that it serves us. When it comes to the point where we’re serving it, then, like the Pharisees, we may have made more of the institution than Jesus Himself would ever make of it.

Key Verse: Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,”

In this chapter, we have two contrasting sides of Jesus’ ministry portrayed. First of all, He very bluntly and directly condemns Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, cities that were not repenting of their sin, not listening to His message of the kingdom. He’s telling them that Tyre and Sidon would have been much more responsive to the gospel message than these cities; that is, the Gentile cities would have heard Him, whereas the Jewish cities seemed to ignore Him. He warns them that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than it will be for them. But then, secondly, He turns around and says that He is grateful to His Father in heaven that He has hidden the realities of the kingdom from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

Jesus heart is obviously moved by the gentle souls, the spiritually impoverished ones who humbly and shyly approach Him. As He looks about and sees these dear ones, these weary, burdened and tired people, He says, “Come to Me, I’ll give you rest. If you are going to work, take My yoke upon yourself rathe than the yoke of the world. Understand that I am not a hard taskmaster but in working with Me, who am gentle and humble in heart, you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, my burden is light.” In some ways, you might wonder at this, in that His disciples lived stressful lives, and in some cases met untimely and violent death. On the other other hand, that inner peace, that peace that passes understanding, that sense of security, that sense of destiny, of being a part of a greater plan, is such an overpowering and overwhelming thing that earthly stresses and strains are put into perspective. How else can we explain the seeming joy and peace of the martyrs throughout the centuries who have gone to their deaths praising the Lord? How else do you explain those who have lived a life of poverty and deprivation for the sake of the gospel, not asking anything for themselves? Obviously, Jesus is onto something here. He knows something that we should know and it’s this: we have been created for eternal life and should be looking to the far horizon to discover the real meaning of life and the focus of our souls.

Key Verse: Matthew 10:34 “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

In this chapter, Jesus sends out His twelve disciples. It’s the first time He has invested them with a ministry responsibility and it’s not difficult to see that He recognizes their greenness, their newness at this huge task of world evangelization. This is nowhere more evident than in the very first things He says to them, “Do not got among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Rather, go to the lost sheep of Israel.” Jesus recognized that the challenge of the kingdom was to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. But I’m sure He was also very aware that His disciples were in no condition at this point, in terms of their spiritual maturity, to tackle the awesome challenge of ministering a Jewish message, indeed a Jewish messiah, to a Gentile people, There would be a communication gap to say the least.

So Jesus challenged them to preach the Kingdom to the lost sheep of Israel. In that context they’re to heal, to raise the dead, cleanse the leper, drive out demons. And they’re to do it in a way that doesn’t expect any financial reward. As you read the chapter, you can see the tremendously high view that Jesus had of His disciples. You also get a remarkable insight into His own self-limitation.

You’ll remember on another occasion, recorded in Mark 13:32, Jesus says that no one including the angels and Himself, the Son, knows the time of the Day of the Lord. The only one who knows is the Father. This perhaps would help us to understand verse 23 where He says, “You will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” I think it’s entirely possible that Jesus, in His self-confessed ignorance, thought it was entirely possible that the culmination of history would occur very soon.

Nevertheless, He saw the commissioning of the disciples as the giving of a sword to His men. He recognized that they would, with their message, turn a man against his father, a mother against her daughter. In other words, divide families. And looking at them, He says, “If you love your father or mother or anything else or anyone else more than me, you’re not worthy to be my disciple. ” He’s really impressing upon them the urgency of the hour and the message they are to bring.

Key Verse: Matthew 9:11 “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Matthew, as we all know, was one of Jesus’ disciples. In fact, he is the writer of the book we’re now studying. But Matthew was one of the undesirables in Israelite society. He was a Jew, yes, but he was a tax collector for the Romans. In this position, he could demand whatever he thought a person was capable of paying, give the Romans whatever percentage they wanted, and keep the rest for himself.

A tax collector was seen as getting rich from the sorrow and oppression of his own people. To say he was despised was an understatement. He was down there with the prostitutes, drunks and criminals, the down-and-outers. So you would think it a bit of a public relations disaster that Jesus would call a tax collector to be one of His key followers, one of the twelve disciples. Yet that’s exactly what He did. Jesus called this despised person to be one of His men. He goes to his house to have dinner to seal the bargain, and many of Matthew’s friends are there–tax collectors and sinners–eating with Him and His disciples. Of course this was the stuff the teachers of the law and Pharisees loved to see to further emphasize their hatred of this teacher from Galilee. So they asked a question of His disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus’ response was, “It’s not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick.”

It’s reminiscent of the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus came to those who recognized their spiritual poverty. Self-righteousness and pride are always the effective blocks in any work of the kingdom of heaven in our lives.

Key Verse: Matthew 7:2 “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged…”

He knows that it’s as natural for humans to judge one another as it is to breathe. And every one of us is guilty. Every one of us is making judgments of others, as hard as it may be sometimes for us to admit it.

Jesus simply reminds us that when we are judging others we are, in a very interesting way, judging ourselves. Or at least He suggests that the intensity, the zeal, the inflexibility of our judgements will somehow be used against us. He is also suggesting that we often judge people for the very things of which we ourselves are guilty. So, in a sense, when we are judging others, we are judging ourselves. May that in itself lends some intensity to our words. He reminds us that relative to other people’s faults, our own faults are much larger, or at least appear to be much larger. Whereas a speck is simply a speck in someone else’s eye, that same speck looks and feels like a plank in our own. And so as we scrupulously attempt to help our brother to improve, not only is our judgment thrown off by the fact that we can’t see clearly due to the imperfection in our own eye, but we are also acting hypocritically if we don’t remove that plank first.

Now it may seem rather strange that in this context Jesus then says, “Do not give dogs what is sacred. Do not throw your pearls to pigs.” It seems like He is making some judgments or encouraging us to make some judgments right there, in calling some people dogs and pigs. I’d like to think that at this point in time, some little stray mutt came walking among the disciples and Jesus just keyed in on that by saying, “Hey, in this area of judging others, discerning. Don’t bare your heart to everyone. Don’t give your treasure to everyone because not everyone can understand or appreciate where you’re coming from or what it is you’re giving them. Be discerning, be wise, be gentle.”

Sometimes, in attempting to show our magnanimity and vulnerability, we merely invite hurt and misunderstanding. So, rather than being torn to pieces, be discerning in whom, and with whom, you share your heart, and save yourself a lot of sorrow.

Key Verse: Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

This beatitude not only sets the tone for Jesus’ “sermon on the mount”, but it’s also the bedrock of Jesus’ ministry. He came to bring men and women into the kingdom. It wasn’t just a case of coming and announcing the kingdom; the hearers of that announcement had to willingly embrace the kingdom. There were requirements, repentances, commitments and obediences which were part and parcel of the meaning of embracing the kingdom. So, when Jesus says, “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” He’s telling us that spiritual poverty is the general qualification for entry into the kingdom of heaven.

I think you and I might put it differently. We might say, “Blessed are the successful, the victorious, the pious, the religious and the spiritual giants, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We’d say this because all of us are guilty, to a greater or lesser degree, of the sin of pride. Pride is the antithesis of what Jesus is talking about here. Proud people tend to compare themselves with others and put down either the other person, or themselves. Putting yourself down, by the way, is not virtuous. Sometimes an inferiority complex is an inverted form of pride. We compare ourselves with others positively or negatively and then we compete with others. This can happen in fairly subtle ways. We attempt to rise above the other guy–to put him down if we can’t rise above him–but in some way, to push ourselves ahead.

We also have this longing for unrestrained independence. We don’t want to be dependent on anyone, God included. We try as much as possible to be self-sufficient. Well, poverty of spirit is antithetical to pride. To admit that one is poor in spirit is a humiliating and painful experience. We’re not talking here about putting oneself down, rather we’re talking about seeing oneself in the light of the kingdom of heaven, totally undeserving, totally dirty, totally incapable of entry because our garments are so unworthy. Jesus looks on those who acknowledge their poverty of spirit and says, “You are the ones I am looking for. I didn’t come to call the healthy, I came to call the sick.”

Perhaps the most important lesson of all for us to learn is that, even though we’re made for the kingdom, the kingdom will never be ours until the day we honestly confess to God our unworthiness.

Key Verse: Matthew 4:17 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

After successfully dealing with Satan’s temptations in the the wilderness, Jesus began his ministry. His message was very straight-forward, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

I think we need to be clear about this subject of repentance. Confession of sin is not repentance from sin. Confession demands honesty — in many cases, brutal honesty. And hope lies in that honesty. But the fact is that one can be honest about one’s sinfulness again and again and again. This is a problem that many of us face.

We’re constantly confessing our sin but not repenting. Repentance means turning around and going in the opposite direction. Whereas confession demands honesty, repentance demands  commitment — resolution plus follow-through. Repentance is very difficult and in some cases with those of us who have some kind of weakness, we may find ourselves repenting every day. The truth is, if we actively turn around from a sin before we commit it, then we find ourselves less and less in need of confession. That’s not to suggest we become perfect, but nevertheless it is to suggest that we’ll start growing. Something that’s encouraging about repentance is that as we turn around and go in the opposite direction, the kingdom of heaven comes to meet us.

God is committed to the active repenter, and so we should be encouraged to make that choice, however difficult. By an act of our will, we choose to turn around from our sin. Obviously, from Jesus’ point of view, repentance was and is absolutely vital. There is a relationship between repentance and the coming of the kingdom. A little later on, Jesus will be teaching His disciples to pray and He’ll say, “Thy kingdom come.” Now, a lot of us would rather pray, “thy kingdom go.” When the kingdom comes especially near to us, there is a sense of the holy that will not tolerate sin. So “repent,” Jesus says. If you want the kingdom of heaven to be near, turn around and go in the opposite direction of your sin, and as you do so, be assured the kingdom of heaven will not only be near, it will, in fact, come to meet you.