Matthew 15

Study Guide 87: Matthew 15:21-17:27 THE TURNING POINT Overview These chapters contain the theological turning point in Matthew’ s story of Jesus and His ministry. The King was rejected by His whole people, not just by the leaders. It was not that they opposed Jesus: they simply refused to commit themselves to Him. But the rejection was real. From here on Jesus spoke not so much of His kingdom as of His cross. And Jesus began to lay out more clearly the way of life to be adapted by those whom faith bonds to Him. These chapters also pose several puzzling questions: Why did Jesus speak of a foreign woman as a “ dog” ? What is the cross Jesus’ disciples are called on to bear? What are, or were, the keys to His kingdom? How did Peter line up with Satan against Christ? What is the firm foundation against which even the gates of hell cannot prevail? These, and other questions, are answered as we explore this critical segment of Matthew’ s story of the life of Christ. FAITH. In these chapters “ faith” comes into clear focus. While the term is used in different ways in both Old and New Testaments, faith is essentially a personal, trusting response to God, who speaks words of promise. Faith is our inner response to the Good News that God loves us, and in Jesus has made a way for us to live forever with Him. What a promise! Our God is so trustworthy we need not hesitate to trust ourselves to Him.

Commentary One afternoon on a flight to Denver I sat next to an orthodox rabinnical student. As we talked, it became clear that I was seated next to a worthy successor of the Pharisees. Like them, he believed that the oral law was given at Sinai; that the complete Jewish faith and lifestyle were communicated then and never have been modified since. He challenged me about the very incident we looked at in the last study guide: If Jesus were a Rabbi, how could He have justified eating grain on the Sabbath? I explained Jesus’ answer: that the oral law is human tradition. As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus rejected incorporations which actually drained the Law of its intended meaning. He smiled. Clearly his confidence that he had the entire truth was as unshaken as had been the assurance of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. The way of the Law was the way of life. Assurance that one knows the whole truth about God’ s plans and intentions, and that there can be no possible variation which we have not grasped, is always dangerous. If you and I adopt this attitude, we shut ourselves off from new insights from the Word of God and are in danger of ignoring God’ s Spirit as He seeks to teach us. When we close our minds and hearts and insist that we have all truth, any suggestion of new truth frightens and shakes us. We can understand, then, that what we are about to see in Matthew 15-17 had great potential to disturb both Jesus’ countrymen and His disciples. Jesus went on to further explain the unexpected form of the kingdom which His death and resurrection would install, and which He had already introduced (Matthew 13:1-58). Let’ s trace through what we’ ve seen in Matthew to date, and note how a shift in Jesus’ kingdom-teaching has taken place. As opposition grew, that particular expression of the kingdom for which the Jews looked receded. Increasingly, Jesus began to speak about an expression of God’ s kingdom on earth which was unexpected: which had been “ hidden from the Creation of the world” (Matthew 13:35). The point of national decision seems to have been reached with an event recorded in Matthew 16:13-21. Great crowds had continued to come to hear Jesus and to rejoice in His healings (Matthew 15:31). In Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked His disciples, “ Who do people say the Son of man is?” (Matthew 16:13) The disciples reported a variety of ideas. Some thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back; others suggested Elijah or Jeremiah or another of the ancient prophets. This was high praise! Clearly Jesus was regarded as one who was under the blessing and authority of God. But still Israel did not recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah and Son of God. They would not bow down to Him as their King! Jesus then turned to His disciples and asked, “ Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15) It is on this foundation — recognition of Jesus Christ as both Messiah and Son of the living God — that any expression of the kingdom must be based. On this foundation, Jesus said, “ I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18). Then Jesus charged the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ and, the Bible says, “ From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things . . . and . . . be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). From that time the message of the “ kingdom at hand” was subordinated to the message of the Cross. From this point also the Book of Matthew shows a definite shift in emphasis. Jesus increasingly stressed principles on which the present (between Resurrection and return) form of the kingdom would operate.

Focus on Faith — Matthew 15:21-16:12 The section begins with a significant incident. Jesus was met by a Canaanite woman who pleaded with Him to heal her daughter. Jesus refused, saying “ I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). This is a tremendously important saying. What is more, it is not an isolated statement. When Jesus gave authority to the Twelve to preach and heal, He told them, “ Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6). This, of course, fit the expectations of the Jews. They knew that they were God’ s chosen people. As the seed of Abraham, they were possessors of God’ s covenant promises. When the Messiah came, He would reestablish the Davidic kingdom and rule from Jerusalem, regathering all Israel to share His glory with them. Of course, with the kingdom established, the knowledge of God would fill the earth. Then even the Gentile nations would look to the Messiah (Isaiah 11:1-16). But the Messiah was Israel’ s King. Just as Israel belongs to God in a special way, (Hosea 11:1-5; Micah 6:3-5), so the Messiah belongs to Israel (Jeremiah 31:1-40; Micah 4:1-5). Until rejected by the people of Israel, Jesus conscientiously made Himself available to them. John put it this way: “ He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). Strikingly, the Canaanite woman recognized Jesus for who He is. She addressed Him, “ Lord, Son of David,” thus giving Him His full messianic title. Rebuked by Jesus, she asked for the crumbs which, overflowing from Israel’ s future table, would bless the world. Jesus answered, “ Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted” (Matthew 15:28). The kingdom benefits which Israel as a nation rejected when she refused to recognize her King would be made available to all men — on the basis of faith. Matthew 15:29-16:12 continues to portray Jesus as offering Himself to Israel. He healed, He fed crowds, He continued to warn against the Pharisees who had been unable to interpret the many signs of the King’ s presence. And then Jesus asked the fateful question: “ Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And the disciples’ report confirmed what had already been made clear. The nation had rejected Jesus. Peter’ s confession of faith, “ You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), was a confession which Israel could not and would not make.

Refocused: Matthew 16:13-28These few verses, coming as they do at the turning point in Matthew’ s portrait of the life of Christ, have been an object of controversy through much of church history. What is the foundation on which the church will be built? What are the “ keys of the kingdom” (Matthew 16:19) that Jesus handed to Peter? What are the denial of self and the taking up of one’ s cross which Jesus said would enable a person to find himself? The foundation (Matthew 16:17-18). After Peter’ s affirmation, Jesus called Peter blessed. God had revealed Christ’ s identity to him. And Jesus went on to say, “ On this rock I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18). The ancient church fathers gave various interpretations of this statement. Some said that the rock on which the church was founded was Peter. Others insisted that the name Peter (petros, which means “ little stone” ) could hardly be identified as a foundation rock. Other fathers have argued that the church is founded on Peter’ s confession: it is the faith in Christ which Peter professed which is the church’ s foundation. Still others have seen this as a reference to Christ Himself. Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, is the foundation. The Epistles seem to support this third conclusion. “ No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Christ Himself, the Messiah and Son of God, is the Foundation of the church and the kingdom. The keys (Matthew 16:19). What then about the gift of the “ keys of the kingdom” and the promise that “ whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” ? What are the keys, and what are the loosing and binding? Here again there have been disagreements. To some these verses are clear evidence that the church, as made visible in the Roman pontiff, is the “ Vicar of Christ on earth.” It is held that the power of making binding decisions has been delegated to Peter and his successors. But this notion came late in church history, after the bishop of Rome gained dominance over the other bishoprics. Other scholars have noted that Peter was chosen by God to open the door of the Gospel to each of the two major groups of mankind recognized in his day. At Pentecost, Peter preached the first Gospel sermon to the Jews. Later still, God chose him to speak to Cornelius, the first Gentile to be come a part of the body of Christ (Acts 10-11). Yet, this does not explain binding and loosing. One thing is clear in the New Testament: Jesus is Head over all things for the church which is His body (Ephesians 1:22-23). Jesus was not surrendering His position to any individual or group of men. If we realize our direct link with Jesus as our Head, this will suggest the best solution to the puzzle. How do we on earth speak with such authority? Only because we on earth are, through Jesus’ presence within us, an extension of Christ Himself! Our Head, who directs us, acts through His body on earth to loose and bind authoritatively. How fully, then, you and I need to be committed to Christ’ s lordship, and how fully we need to obey Him. As believers respond to Jesus’ direction, the kingdom continues to express its presence on earth. Jesus’ response to the disciples’ confession was pointed and striking. He confirmed their awareness that He is the Messiah and Son of God, and announced His intention of building on this reality a “ church,” literally a “ called-out assembly.” Moreover, this church is to be the lived-out expression of heaven on earth. In our relationship with Jesus we are to express the kingdom in our generation’ s “ here and now.” The destiny of the believer is to express the kingdom. We bind and loose; we affirm forgiveness of sin and its retention. We speak God’ s Word, not on our authority, but on the authority Christ shares with us as He shared it with these disciples He once sent out two by two (cf. Matthew 10:1-42). The portrait given here is an overwhelming one. To be the kingdom! To reflect Jesus in our world! To express Him, His grace and His judgments! This is who we are called to be — and become. This is who we are. To become (Matthew 16:24-28). Knowing that as kingdom citizens we are to reflect the King may make us feel guilty or unworthy. It is not meant to. Instead, it is meant to help us sense our calling, and respond joyfully to follow our Lord. There is a gap between our present experience and our calling. Recognizing the gap, Jesus told His disciples, “ If anyone would come after Me” (Matthew 16:24). If we want to follow Jesus, we are invited to, and are shown the results. What results? “ Whoever loses his life for Me will find it” (Matthew 16:25). This puzzling statement is made more clear when we realize that the word translated “ life” here, and “ soul” in some translations, reflects a common Hebrew usage. The words (nephesh, in Hebrew and psuche, in Greek) can mean “ soul” or “ life.” But in Hebrew and in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the words are often used as a reflexive pronoun. Thus, Jesus warned not of losing one’ s life, but of losing oneself! “ Whoever loses himself for Me,” Jesus was saying, “ will find himself.” And “ what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world and yet forfeits his . . . [self]?” (Matthew 16:26) What “ self” was Jesus speaking of? Jesus was speaking of who you and I can become if we choose to follow Him! You and I can choose to turn away from all that kingdom citizenship offers. If we do, we will never become what Jesus yearns to make us. Or we can follow Jesus and lose the self we are — the self that feels guilt and shame for so many failures. In following Jesus, you and I can become closer to what we yearn to be. What does it take? How do we follow Jesus? “ He must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Each of these phrases is significant: *Self-denial. It would be a mistake to see self-denial as refusing pleasures or joys. The Bible says that God “ gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17, KJV). And one of the Pharisees’ criticisms of Jesus was that He went to parties! No, self-denial is far more significant than this. It involves a denial of the values, the attitudes, and the emotions of which Jesus spoke in the Beatitudes. For example, bitterness is rooted in the old self and is to be denied. As Christ speaks to us when we are bitter, insisting that we let forgiveness wash away our anger, all that’ s old in us fights against that choice. Pride, competitiveness, and self-pity all struggle within to direct our reactions. To deny these natural pressures within ourselves involves denying the self we are, in order to follow Jesus. To deny these natural pressures and to choose to forgive helps shape the self that only Jesus can help us become. *Daily cross. It is significant that Jesus did not ask us to take up His cross. Instead Jesus teaches us to be willing to take up our crosses. Why the symbol of the cross? No, not because it indicates suffering. The Cross speaks of Jesus’ willing choice of that which was God’ s will for Him. What our crosses symbolize is our willingness to make daily choices of God’ s will for us — whatever that will may prove to be. *Follow Me. This is the heart of Jesus’ invitation to us. Follow. But not at a distance. Not as someone searching for tracks, to trace a figure long disappeared over the horizon. No, Jesus’ “ Follow Me” means “Keep close to Me.” Only when we are close to Jesus can we find the strength for self-denial; only when we are close to Jesus can we sense His daily guidance in our lives. Denying the old self, choosing daily the Father’ s will, and keeping close to Jesus, we will — as the first disciples did — find our true selves.

Coming Glory: Matthew 17:1-27Jesus’ talk of His coming death was deeply disturbing to the disciples (Matthew 16:22-23). Disturbing too was the choice Jesus then set before His followers. “ If anyone would come after Me” (Matthew 16:24). There was no overpowering “ coming” here, to sweep all Israel to a promised glory. Instead, each individual had to face his own private Gethsemane. “ Shall I follow the King?” The pathway on which the King walked, a way of self-denial and daily cross, was tremendously less appealing than the expected Old Testament kingdom. Yet, Matthew 16:1-28 closed with Jesus making another puzzling statement. “ Some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom” (Matthew 16:28). The next verse says, “ After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John . . . and led them up a high mountain by themselves” (John 17:1). Some of the disciples, but not all, were about to see the glory all will share when Jesus comes into His promised kingdom. There on the mountain Jesus was “ transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2). There too appeared Moses (who had died) and Elijah (who had been taken up into heaven without passing through death) to talk with Him. The present pathway for Jesus led to the Cross. But the Cross was the doorway to Glory. LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN How can we illustrate the Transfiguration for boys and girls? Draw a figure of Jesus on regular typing paper. Back the paper with black construction paper, but cut out of the black a silhouette that matches the drawn figure. Tape the black silhouette back. In class hold up the sheet of paper, white side out, to show the figure of Jesus. Explain that when Jesus lived here He lived like any other human being. But on the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus showed His splendor as God. Hold the sheet of paper up against a light, take out the silhouette, and let the light shine through. On the Mount, Jesus’ true nature as God shone through His human form, and the disciples knew again how wonderful Jesus is. On the way down the mountain, Jesus warned the three disciples not to share this experience with anyone until He had been raised from the dead. Impressed by the vision and eager for that time of glory to arrive, they seemed disturbed by the fact that Elijah, the forerunner, hadn’ t accompanied them. They asked, “ Why then do the teachers of the Law say that [before the messianic kingdom is established] Elijah must come first?” (Matthew 17:10) Jesus answered that Elijah will come first (Matthew 17:11). But He also said that if Israel had responded to Jesus, John the Baptist’ s ministry would have been considered to fulfill the Elijah prophecy. As the disciples were coming down from the mountain, a crowd led by a man with an epileptic son met Jesus and the three disciples (Matthew 17:14-20). The other disciples had tried to cure the son but had failed. Now the father appealed to Jesus. Jesus respond ed. A faithless and perverse generation had rejected Jesus as King — and yet constantly sought His help! Later the disciples asked Jesus why they had been powerless to help. Jesus answered, “ Because you have so little faith” (Matthew 17:20). The people of Israel, because of faithlessness, were unable to enter the kingdom. And the disciples, who had entered the kingdom through recognition of the King, were unable to experience kingdom power for the same fault: lack of faith. To enter the kingdom, and to live victoriously in it, faith is required. The final incident in this sequence (Matthew 17:24-27) sums up in a unique way the message Jesus had begun to communicate to His unresponsive people. The Old Testament established a half-shekel tax to be paid to the temple by each adult male. Met by tax collectors, Peter was asked if Jesus paid the tax, Peter blurted out, “ Yes,” At home, Jesus asked Peter, “ From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes — from their own sons or from others?” (Matthew 17:25) Peter gave the obvious answer: “ From others.” “ Then,” Jesus said, “ the sons are exempt.” What was Jesus’ point? The Jews had assumed that because they were the physical descendants of Abraham, they had a special relationship with God and a unique claim on Him. But the very fact that God taxed the Jews to maintain the temple demonstrated clearly that they were not sons! The physical basis on which the Israelites thought they could claim relationship with God was inadequate, and it had always been so! Men who so confidently claimed Abraham as their father (John 8:33) had failed to realize that Abraham’ s relationship with God was rooted in faith, not in the Law. They rejected that very quality of the man, whose descendants they claimed to be, which had made Abraham God’ s man. Without faith, that generation lost for Israel and for mankind the very kingdom whose living expression you and I are called today to be. By faith.

Teaching Guide Prepare Review all the “ puzzles” in this passage, and be sure you understand their solutions.

Explore

1. Give your group members a minilecture on the significance of these “ turning-point” chapters in Matthew’ s report of Jesus’ life.
2. List on the chalkboard the “ puzzles” to be found in this section of Scripture. Include: Why wouldn’ t Jesus help a Canaanite? What is the foundation on which the church is built? What are the keys to the kingdom, and who holds them? What is denying yourself? What is “ your cross” ? What made Jesus angry when a father asked help for his son? Let each person in your group select two of these puzzles to explore. Each person will serve on two teams. Give the first teams, formed around each person’ s first puzzle choice, about 20 minutes to look in the passage and to discuss. Then form new teams around each person’ s second puzzle choice. Then come together as a group to share insights.

Apply Finally, use the last few minutes to express: “ What have I learned from this study that I can apply to my own life?”