I Will Build My Church (Matthew 16.13-20)

Introduction
 
In 1876, the executive management of Western Union were given a demonstration of a strange new device. The inventor was a quiet and introverted Scottish-born Canadian-American and he called his little curiosity the telephone. Not long later, the company wrote back declining his invitation to buy the rights to the patent. 
 
They said, “Dear Mr. Bell, we have found the telephone’s voice very weak, and indistinct. We feel that the device will never be capable of sending speech over a distance of several miles. Why would any person want to use this ‘toy’ when he or she can send a messenger to the telegraph office and a message can then be sent to any large city in the country?”
 
In 1946 the British government rejected the opportunity to produce the VW Beetle, which went on to be the best-selling car ever. And talking of beetles, in 1962 Decca decided against giving a record contract to the Fab Four, opting instead to sign Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. 
 
Anyone can be wise after the event. But being wise before an event calls for vision. 
 
There are many definitions of vision, but the best one I have yet heard is from a church growth consultant in the USA called George Barna. “Vision,” he says, “is a compelling picture of a preferable future that inspires people to action.”
 
This I say by way of introduction, because today’s passage of scripture contains, I believe, the greatest, most consequential, and most enthralling vision statement in human history. 
 
And, unsurprisingly, it comes from the lips of Jesus, the greatest, most consequential and most enthralling individual the world has ever seen.
 
Here’s Jesus’ vision statement: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” It is certainly a compelling picture. And undeniably it sets out a preferable future. The question is will it inspire you and me to action?
 
Let’s read it in context: we’re in Matthew 16.13-20 which says this:
 
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
 
Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
 
1. Where?
 
It is highly significant that Jesus said these words where he did. I’m sure Jesus chose this location quite deliberately. He had to go quite far out of his way to get there. Caesarea Philippi may sound like quite a nice place. It was anything but. North of Galilee, well away from any Jewish influence, it was in fact a major focal point for the demonic, where nauseating cultish practices openly took place. 

At the time of Christ, and for many years before, it was an epicentre of satanic ritual. There was a temple for Caesar worship and a temple dedicated to the cult of Zeus. And there were two other ghastly pagan temples known as the upper tomb and the lower tomb temples, in which, I am embarrassed to say, men would form a queue to mate with goats. 
 
Besides this, there was an open courtyard dedicated to the worship of the god Pan. Worst of all, children would be thrown alive into a deep pit at the entrance to a cave as a sacrifice to Pan. And that cave, because of the horrors that took place there, people called the Gate of Hell.
 
Caesarea Philippi is to this day a strikingly unusual place. It lies at the foot of a sheer rockface, out of which pours a fast-flowing spring. This is actually one of the sources of the river Jordan. The water literally looks like it is miraculously coming out of rock. Partly because of this, people made this site a focal point of fertility rituals, which is why a cult of Pan, the god of nature, grew up here.  
 

As you can see, carved into the rockface were several alcoves in which were placed various statues. You can still see these recesses today, though the sculptures themselves are long gone. 

One of the busts was of Augustus Caesar – a man who was revered as divine. 
 
An inscription about Augustus has been found in the ruins of the Greek city of Priene. It speaks of him being sent from heaven as an unsurpassable saviour and a god.
 
Another statue in Caesarea Philippi was of Pan – a so-called “god” who, according to myth, came to earth in semi-human form. 
 
2. Who?
 
This is the backdrop to Jesus asking his disciples these pointed questions about who people generally, and who the twelve in particular, say he is. The setting is full of clues.
 
Their reply to the first question is that people are speculating that he is maybe some kind of dead prophet reincarnated. Herod, as we saw in chapter 14, superstitiously believes that Jesus is John the Baptist come back to life. Verse 14 here suggests that this is a view shared by others. “Some say John the Baptist.” Others are wondering if Jesus is maybe some kind of Elijah or Jeremiah, back from the dead. Why these two? 
 
Probably Elijah because, just like him, Jesus is doing many signs and wonders. Children are being raised from the dead, as with Elijah. Food is miraculously not running out, as with Elijah. The weather is doing what Jesus says, as with Elijah. People haven’t seen anything like this for hundreds of years.
 
Why do people compare Jesus to Jeremiah? Probably because like the weeping prophet Jeremiah, Jesus sheds tears at Lazarus’ tomb and over Jerusalem. Like Jeremiah, Jesus is being resisted and rejected by religious leaders. And just like Jeremiah, Jesus has survived attempts on his life. 
 
But Jesus is most interested in what his disciples think.
 
There’s a story about some graffiti that was scribbled on the walls of St John's University in Queens, New York. Clearly, the student who wrote it was getting a bit fed up with the intellectually sterile content of his theology course. 
 
This is what the graffiti said. “And the Lord said to them, “Who do you say I am?” And Simon Peter replied, “You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma by which we know the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationships.” And Jesus said… “What?”
 
Fortunately, Peter’s actual reply is more straightforward. Jesus wants a response of the heart, not just the head. And notice Jesus doesn’t ask, “who do you think I am?” Instead, he asks, “Who do you say I am?” 
 
Jesus is looking for a vocal response. Only a decisive response will do. There’s no neutral ground. To avoid the question is to answer it.
 
Who do you say Jesus is? This is the most critical question you will ever be asked in your lifetime. It is more important than: Would you like to take the job? Will you marry me? Should we switch the machine off now?
 
“Who do you say Jesus is?” is more important than any other question because the reply you give determines your eternal destiny. It’s a matter of life and death, a question of heaven or hell.
 
Some years ago, Nicky Gumbel, of the Alpha Course, was talking with a guy he was doing weights with in his local gym. This other guy is about 6 foot 5, and is built like a tank. So they’re in the gym chatting as they work out, and Nicky says to him, “Do you do any other sports?”  The guy says, “Yeah, I play a bit of squash.” 
 
So Nicky says, “Oh, I play squash too. Is that your main sport?” He says, “No, my main sport is rugby.” So, rugby being a team sport, Nicky says, “Oh, right, have you ever played for a club?” The guy says, “Yeah, I play for a team called Harlequins.” Nicky says, “Oh, I’ve heard of them - they’re quite good aren’t they?” He says, “Yeah.”  
 
So Nicky asks, “Don’t Harlequins have guys who play for England?” He says, “Yeah, we’ve got five in our squad who play for England.” Nicky says, “Wow. Have you ever played for England?” And the guy says, “Yeah.” 
 
Nicky says, “Really? When did you last play for England?” He says, “Two weeks ago in the Rugby World Cup final.” And Nicky looks at him and says, “Oh, you’re Paul Ackford aren’t you!”  
 
They’d been working out together for some time, and England rugby fan Nicky hadn't recognised who he actually was. 
 
These disciples have been with Jesus for about three years now and it seems they too haven’t yet fully grasped who Jesus really is - until this decisive moment when Simon looks at Jesus and with a flash of revelation, says, v16, You’re a much bigger deal than some prophet. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
 
3. Why?
 
And it’s then that Jesus tells his disciples why he’s taken them to this wretched place. “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah.” There is no greater blessing in life than arriving at an understanding of who Jesus really is. 
 
You’re unbelievably blessed if you know who Jesus is. And you can’t gain that understanding from learning, or from nature, or from opinion polls, or from reason. It’s a revelation of grace that comes from heaven, it comes from God. Are you blessed to know in your heart of hearts who Jesus is?
 
Everything, for Peter, comes into focus in this moment. You have lived before haven’t you? Like Elijah. Like Jeremiah. But it wasn’t down here. You’re from up there. You’ve come from above. You’re the Son of the living God.
 
You’re not like Caesar, a man who supposedly became a god. You always have been divine. You’re not like Pan either, a so-called god who looks half-human. You’re real flesh and blood, born as one of us. You’re the Messiah, the Christ.
 
“You are Peter,” says Jesus, “and on this rock,” not a physical rock with a spring and man-made statues, but on the rock of testimony and truth, “on this rock I will build my church.” 
 
It’s quite a name change. Simon means “reed.” And Peter means “rock.” It’s a bit like saying, you were called “Weedy”, but from now on you’re “Rocky.”
 
If you know who Jesus is, whatever you once were no longer defines you. You are born again, you are a new creation, you have a new identity, you are not what you were.
 
And the gates of hell, says Jesus, not just a small cave where unspeakably evil things take place, but actual hell itself – Satan’s entire evil dominion – will not be able to withstand the relentless advance of the invincible movement that I’m about to start.
 
This is the first record we have of Jesus ever uttering the word “church.” He waits until Simon says these words before unveiling his great vision statement. 
 
He delays until this moment, because you can only grow the church with people who know who Jesus is and have the courage to say it.
 
When we hear the words “build” and “church” we might think of architects and stonemasons and stained-glass craftsmen. But the word “church” in the Bible never means a building. Not once. It always means a gathering of people. 
 
So when Jesus speaks of building his church, he means growing an attractive and healthy community of broken people who are getting mended, and are increasingly full of faith, full of love, full of life.
 
There was a survey done not long ago that found that the church is the most socially diverse group in the UK. It was reported in several national newspapers. 
 
Pete Greig of 24/7 Prayer said of the findings of that survey, “We are male and female. We are black and white. We are rich and poor. We are single and married. The whole point of church is being with people who are different to you… The church is not niche community… by loving each other across our cultural differences we show that Jesus is alive and one day every tribe and every tongue will come together and confess that he is Lord.”
 
That is what Jesus is building. 
 
You can go to any gathering of true believers anywhere on earth. It might be a tiny illegal group whispering in a basement, or a packed auditorium livestreaming to satellite campuses. But ultimately there is only one church – the one Jesus is building.
 
This is just the start, by the way. Jesus says, “I… will… build it.” It’s not finished yet – and to be honest, it’s a bit of a building site. 
 
Have you ever watched Grand Designs? It always seems to be the same story. A couple designs a dream house. It starts really well. They set a budget. With a generous contingency. It starts. Then there are delays. Complications. Labour issues. Bad weather. Misunderstandings. The neighbours object. A niche supplier goes bust. The wife, who is project managing, while holding down a full-time job, gets pregnant and her dad gets dementia. The cost doubles and it takes twice as long as planned.
 
The church Jesus is building is a bit like that. It’s a building site and it can look chaotic. But I’ll tell you what; somehow, the dream house on Grand Designs always gets finished in the end. And it’s more wonderful that had ever been imagined. 
 
And the church Jesus is building is going to get built! The church, though ignored, embattled, corrupted, banned, poisoned by false teaching, harassed, ridiculed and persecuted will outlast every attempt to destroy it. 
 
Because Jesus says, “I will do it.” And all the forces of evil and destruction will never succeed against what he… is… building.”
 
In 1949 all missionaries were ordered out of China. Christians had to go underground, meeting secretly, and overnight the church disappeared from view. 
 
Persecution continued spasmodically and with varying severity. No gatherings of more than 15 people were possible. Any more would attract suspicion. So when a group of believers exceeded 15, they had to divide into two groups of 8. There were no church buildings or training centres. 
 
Churches met in houses or wherever they could. They had the simple gospel, untrained local leaders and sweet fellowship. There were never enough Bibles. But they had the Holy Spirit and between 1950 and 2010, the underground church grew from 1 million to 50 million. 
 
As the author Philip Yancey said, after visiting China, “It appears the Holy Spirit is doing just fine.” That’s because Jesus is building his church.
 
4. What?
 
But what is all this about the keys of the kingdom, and binding and loosing, v19? There has been no shortage of suggestions from people down the years, and I could give you a long and tedious survey of the various views. But I’ll spare you that; I’m just going to tell you what I think.
 
Peter was clearly a man of stature, the natural spokesman for the twelve, and he was the most prominent leader in the early days of the church in Acts. But there’s no hint here that the special leadership role he had was to be passed on to successors in Rome or anywhere else. 
 
Peter was not the first pope, but he was the first pastor. Jesus said to him, “feed my sheep.” Peter himself described himself as a pastor, or shepherd, in 1 Peter 5, under Christ, the chief shepherd.
 
Keys in the Bible speak of authority. The Bible says for example that Jesus holds the keys of death and hell, meaning he has undisputed dominion over them. 
 
So Jesus is saying here that he entrusts responsibility and authority to those he appoints to leadership roles in the church. A shepherd has a responsibility to lead and feed the sheep, and authority to defend them from attack.
 
Binding and loosing are about, to quote Tom Marshall, “restricting on earth those things that are restrained in heaven, and setting free on earth those things that are free in heaven.”   
 
Reading through the New Testament, I think this binding and loosing applies to three areas; the demonic, inclusion or exclusion from church membership, and forgiving sins.
 
It applies to the demonic; taking authority over evil spirits and what the New Testament calls doctrines of demons, in the name of Jesus, breaking chains of bondage, and setting the oppressed free in prayer through the power of the Holy Spirit. We, the church, have keys to do that.
 
It is also about church affiliation; welcoming into fellowship those who come to faith in Christ and excluding from fellowship wolves who disrupt and unsettle the flock with false teaching and predatory behaviour. We, the church, have keys to do that.
 
And it’s about forgiving or retaining sins as well. Assuring broken, repentant sinners of full forgiveness, and warning any who fall from grace and refuse to repent, with the goal of winning them back. We, the church, have keys to do that.
 
Let me share with you a compelling picture of binding and loosing: it’s a story about deliverance, belonging and forgiveness.
 
There’s a Christian drug rehabilitation mission near Madrid called Bétel. It has given birth to a church of several hundred young men and their families and friends. It’s very colourful and it’s more than a bit chaotic at times. 
 
It’s a church full of former crack addicts, cocaine dealers, petty thieves, lap dancers, gang members, prostitutes, and even the occasional murderer. But through Bétel, these people met Jesus Christ, found freedom from dark addictions, a family to belong to,a future to live for, and forgiveness for their past.
 
When they worship, it is noisy. It is boisterous. They shout loudly and they dance energetically. A man called Raúl was one of the first to be delivered from his heroin addiction. In time, he became one of the elders there. Someone asked him once why people worship so enthusiastically at Bétel; he just said, “We dance because we cannot fly.”
 
That’s the testimony of a man who has seen the gates of hell stormed by the advance of the church Jesus is building. That man has seen the demonic bound and cast out. He has been accepted into a new family. And he has experienced the released blessing of sins wiped out. Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus entrusts the keys of the kingdom to such as him?
 
Ending
 
Remember what I said at the start; vision is a compelling picture of a preferable future that inspires people to action.” 
 
So as I end, let me ask you, is the Holy Spirit stirring you to action? Do you have a passion and a desire to see King’s increasingly filled with the presence of God? Has his vision stolen your heart yet?
 
“I will build my church.” It will be a glorious church. It will be a community of grace and healing where heaven touches earth. 
 
“I will build my church.” It will be a river of truth and blessing that flows out to the nations, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
 
Who do you say Jesus is? Is he, for you, anything less than the Christ, the Son of the living God?
 
Can you hear him calling you into his vision today? Are you ready to lay down every other dream to be subservient to his? Are you passionate about pursuing it? Are you going to pour your time and plough your gifts into seeing his compelling picture become that preferable future?
 
Let’s pray...


Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 28 July 2024
 
 
 

Bread for Everyone (Matthew 15.21-39)

Photo credit: James Barker on Unsplash

Introduction

 

I think today it is best just to dive straight into our passage of Scripture, so we’re in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 15, beginning at v21.

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.” But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”

Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.” But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!” Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.” “Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.”
And her daughter was instantly healed.

Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all. The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.

Then Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the way.” The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?” Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” They replied, “Seven loaves, and a few small fish.” So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground.

Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd. They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. There were 4,000 men who were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children. Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan.

So many questions, so little time! Among the things we may be wondering are these:
1. Why is Jesus in Tyre and Sidon, a pagan and godless territory?
2. Who is this Canaanite, Gentile woman he meets?
3. Why does Jesus ignore her?
4. Why is he then so harsh, and even rude to her, essentially likening her to a dog?
5. This feeding of the 4,000 – haven’t we seen this film before, only bigger and better? What’s the point of this slightly less impressive sequel?

I will attempt to address all these questions, hopefully in a way that both satisfies our curiosity and - more importantly - increases our love for the Lord.

Background

We begin in v21 with Jesus leaving Galilee and heading north to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

This actually opens a whole section of Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus intentionally moves away from the overwhelmingly Jewish area of the western shores of the Sea of Galilee.

As we saw last week, Jesus has just clashed with the Pharisees over what constitutes uncleanness, where Jesus abolishes the distinction between clean and unclean food, deeply offending and alienating the religious traditionalists as he does so.

Now, for the rest of chapter 15 and most of chapter 16, he travels to “unclean” Gentile places. And he is going to begin demolishing the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile.

Tyre and Sidon are twin towns about 30 miles to the north of Galilee, in what is now Lebanon. Actually, this territory was given by God to Israel at the time of Joshua. It was included in the Promised Land, but the tribe of Asher, through its lack of faith, failed to subdue the Canaanites, and so it remained in the possession of peoples deeply hostile to the God of Israel. Tyre itself was a busy port and its prosperity fuelled a culture of sinful excess.

Ezekiel 28 says about this city: “In much buying and selling you became violent... Your beauty went to your head... Your heart is arrogant, going around saying, 'I’m a god. I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas' …. because of your great wealth your heart has grown proud...”

Wicked queen Jezebel in the Old Testament was from here. She turned the heart of king Ahab and his people away from the living God. She defiled Israel with false religion and tacky idols and shrine prostitution and child sacrifice. She presided over a reign of terror, persecuting the Lord’s prophets and putting them to the sword.

So what on earth are Jesus and his disciples doing hanging out in a place like this? Basically, it’s because they desperately need to lie low. Everywhere Jesus now goes in Jewish territory, he’s in big trouble.

His own family is upset with him (chapter 12). His own hometown has rejected him (chapter 13). Herod has just executed his close cousin (chapter 14). And as we saw last Sunday, (chapter 15), the religious top brass are confronting him - and everything he says is like poking a bear. Jesus is starting to arouse serious opposition.

He is taking the entire elaborate system of man-made religion, with all its grubby vested interests, and he is unceremoniously dismantling it. He’s becoming, for the religious authorities, public enemy number one.

That's why it says in Mark’s account of this story, “Jesus entered a house in the vicinity of Tyre and did not want anyone to know it.” He needs to get away from the polarised, toxic atmosphere of home. Hopefully, by the time he returns, it will have calmed down.

 

1. The Syro-Phoenician Woman

 

So Jesus and his disciples are facing increasing hostility, and they have been at it non-stop. Every day, every hour, someone turns up with a pressing need. “Fix this, mend that, help my child, feed this crowd, heal my wife.

On top of that, they’ve walked all day, in the heat, on a dusty road. But even here, miles from home, such is his fame and reputation, Jesus cannot keep his whereabouts secret. As soon as she hears that Jesus is nearby, a needy woman with a very troubled daughter finds him, falls at his feet, and pleads, and begs, and implores him to get up, put his sandals and coat back on, and go with her, and sort it all out.

Verse 22 says her little girl is “suffering terribly.” Though the girl’s condition is not described, it does say here that she is “tormented severely” and so I think it likely that her suffering would probably resemble the condition of the young boy we will encounter in chapter 17. It says of him that whenever an evil spirit seizes him, he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he becomes rigid, grinding his teeth, rolling around and foaming at the mouth.

Is there any greater emotional pain than watching children suffer and being powerless to help?
I remember my kids coming home with tears running down their sweet faces because they were being bullied at school. It broke my heart. It gave me sleepless nights. We agonised in prayer about it. We would do anything to make it right for them.

This little girl is deeply troubled, she is oppressed and afflicted - and her desperate mother cannot fix it, nothing works. So, (v22) when somehow informed that Jesus is near, she finds him and abruptly disturbs his rest and begs him to help. And, bewilderingly, Jesus says nothing to her at all. He responds by ignoring her. What is going on?

This is not the Jesus we know, brimming over with compassion for the multitudes! It seems to contradict everything else we read about Jesus in the four Gospels.

Have you ever prayed, and prayed about something that is very important to you only to be met with a stony silence from heaven? Have you ever felt that in answer to your best prayers God just seems asleep? Have you ever felt like giving up bothering to pray because it all feels so useless and ineffective? But she does not give up.

Her persistence is so unrelenting that the disciples finally snap and say, v23, “Tell her to go away. She is bothering us with all her begging.” All… her… begging. This is not a brief, half-hearted, apologetic and timid whimper for help. No! This is an emotional, insistent, repetitive appeal from a woman so desperate that she refuses to stop.

Jesus then replies, again apparently somewhat coldly, that he is sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. I think what he means by that is that this excursion is intended as a fleeting visit to that region; he is not mandated to set up a mission outpost up here with no one to lead it when he moves on. But still, she will not be denied.

He’s already healed a Gentile centurion’s servant in chapter 8. And Jesus commended him for having more faith than God’s chosen people. Whether she is emboldened by knowing about this or not, she pleads again and again, “Lord, help… me” she says.

Like in Genesis 32 when Jacob wrestles with an angel, she says, in effect, “I will not let you go until you bless me!”

Do you remember Jesus telling a parable about a persistent widow, with the express purpose, it says, of teaching us to pray and not give up? This is the territory we find ourselves in here.

But Jesus then takes our breath away, with one of the most shocking and baffling sayings in the whole New Testament. If this story were not recorded in the Gospels, we would never credit it as being genuine. We would never accept, I don’t think, that these words actually came from Jesus’ lips. Does his reply to her not make you squirm a little uncomfortably in your chair?

We don’t mind Jesus tearing into the pompous, self-righteous Pharisees. We quite like it when Jesus sticks it to The Man. But this? Who would believe that Jesus could be politically incorrect? Imagine how cancelled he would be in 2024!

And yet, it’s not a mistake, it’s not a misprint. Mark records exactly the same thing. Jesus really does say in v26, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” I’ve looked that up in all the Bible versions on my shelf. ESV, NRSV, KJV, NLT, NIV, Good News Bible… Even in The Message paraphrase it comes out pretty well the same.

We like dogs. We call them “man’s best friend.” We throw them sticks to fetch and we pat them on the head. We put videos of them on Facebook. Our public parks are full of happy dogs and doting owners.

But in the Middle East, in Jesus’ day, when Jews spoke of Gentiles as dogs, it was a reference to the fact that they were considered morally unclean and spiritually unqualified. And though Jesus softens the insult somewhat by using a word that people would reserve for a family pet, rather than a stray roaming the dirty streets, it still comes across as harsh, even rude.

But it’s nothing personal. Measured against the holiness of God, it’s just the uncomfortable truth about the godless community this woman belonged to.

They were estranged from God. They were entrenched in their idolatries and superstitions. They wore their hatred of God’s people as a badge of honour. They were cut off from God’s promises and didn’t care. Arrogance and self-sufficiency and vanity, as we’ve seen, were what the city of Tyre was famous for.

This is the uncomfortable truth about all of us too. We are, says Paul, Ephesians 2.3, by nature objects of wrath, fully deserving of it. Our natural state, every one of us, is one of deep-rooted rebellion against God, preferring our ways to his. The Bible says that even our righteous acts, our best efforts, are as filthy rags.

Spiritually, before God, we’re not good people or even bad people. We are dead people, without God, without hope, eternally lost, with no innate moral goodness to commend us, utterly dead in our sins; we need a miracle. Every area of our fallen lives, without exception, needs a touch of God’s saving grace. We are unable to choose by ourselves to respond to God, or to be remotely interested in being saved from our addiction to sin, We need God, in his mercy, to open our eyes and draw us to him.

But if Jesus’ words here take us aback, this woman’s witty and spirited reply is equally startling. And Matthew presents it to us as a compelling illustration of beautiful and tenacious faith. This is the kind of faith God wants you and me to have and display. She does not appear, you will notice, in the least insulted. There is no trace of her taking offence. No hint of complaint. She doesn’t say, “How dare you talk to me like that! Who do you think you are?”

The magnificence of her faith is shown not only by the fact that she refuses to go home empty handed, but also because she totally accepts Jesus’ verdict on her godless, pagan background as correct. She gets it!

To Jesus' shocking comment about dogs, she replies, “That’s true, Lord,” In other words, “Yes, exactly! 100%. I am unclean, undeserving and unqualified. I have, by my own merits, no place at your table.” And yet, she perceives in the words of the Puritan preacher, Richard Sibbes, that there is more mercy in Christ than there is sin in us.

There’s an old Anglican prayer that they use before Holy Communion inspired by this story. Some of you will know it. “We do not presume to come to this your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table. But you are the same Lord whose nature is always to have mercy.”

She could have written that herself. She is asking for a single cure for her daughter; one crumb! It doesn’t need to be a complete loaf, or even whole a slice, let alone a full meal. “Lord, I’ll take the scraps. Just one crumb from your table of grace is all I need.” What amazing faith!

So amazing, that Jesus says, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” And the Bible says, “she went home and found her daughter relaxed on the bed, the torment gone for good.” The beautiful thing is that, though all of us are undeserving even of crumbs, if we will come to Christ in humility and brokenness, believing that his mercy is greater than our sin, we all get top seats, places of honour, at his banqueting table!

Praise God for his amazing grace!

 

2. Many People Healed and Fed

 

The feeding of the 4,000, at the end of chapter 15, unlike the feeding of the 5,000 a chapter earlier, takes place on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, the Decapolis, which is Greek-influenced Gentile territory. We know it took place there, because v39 tells us that following this miracle, Jesus crosses over to the region of Magadan, which is on the western shore, the Jewish side. So this is a completely different crowd to the 5,000, and in a very different location.

The last time Jesus was here was at the end of chapter 8, when he drove demons out of a wild, self-harming man called Legion and the evil spirit sent a panicked herd of pigs into the sea. You only get pigs on Gentile land for obvious reasons.

According to Luke, Jesus then said to him, “Stay here and tell everyone what God has done for you.” And that is what he did. Because when Jesus returns here some months later, v33 says there’s a crowd. The man formerly known as Legion has been sharing his testimony and has been very effective. In fact, 4,000 people, over a period of 3 days, come to Jesus for healing and to listen to what he has to say! 

And yet, be honest, don’t you find it a bit underwhelming that Jesus feeds 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, leaving 12 baskets of leftovers in chapter 14, but then feeds a smaller crowd, with more food, and with fewer baskets of leftovers, one chapter later? 

It feels a bit like Jesus’ slightly disappointing second album. But in fact, it’s more like Jesus' poignant sequel to a blockbuster film. Like what comes before with the Canaanite woman, this story is making a vital point about faith. After commending the woman from godless Tyre for her great faith, Jesus cannot but be dismayed at the chronic lack of faith in his own disciples. 

The twelve have witnessed Jesus, not that long ago, feeding to satisfaction a more substantial crowd, with baskets left over. They cannot deny it. The bread and fish passed through their own hands. And yet, gormlessly and faithlessly, they ask each other, apparently at a complete loss, in v33, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?” 

It’s as if the feeding of the 5,000 never happened. No wonder Jesus is so often exasperated by the dullness and unbelief of his disciples; they’re pathetic. He would almost be better off with a dozen scarecrows off eBay.

Here's the lesson: when you forget the great things the Lord has done in your life, like they did,
you end up crippled by chronic doubt and spiritual impotence, like they did.

People of God, we must make a habit, a determined lifestyle choice, of remembering and savouring and retelling the mighty works of God in our lives.

And be encouraged. Though they were chronically unbelieving, Jesus chose them and appointed them for fruitfulness, and he never gave up on them. However fragile your faith is today, if you’re a Christian, the Lord has chosen you to belong to him and he will stay faithful to the end.

 

Ending 

As I close, I want to share an anecdote told by Kenneth E. Bailey, a pastor who has spent most of his life in the Middle East.

As a Christian feast day was approaching, some time in 2003, a Christian woman from a high-class family invited some of her non-Christian neighbours to help her prepare a large pot of rice for distribution to the poor, as was the custom. The women cooked this rice together but before they carried the pot into the street, the Christian host insisted on praying over the rice in the name of Jesus, asking him to bless it, that it would be sufficient for the poor coming to receive this gift of food. She didn’t want anyone to leave hungry.

After her prayer, they all carried this very large pot of rice into the narrow street, placed it on a table, and began serving it to those who gathered. The woman of the house then returned to her kitchen to supervise the clean-up. Not being Christians, the other women handing out the rice had never heard the Gospel stories of the feeding of the multitudes. But after a while, one of the women ran into the kitchen, and with her eyes wide open said, “What is happening? We have been distributing this rice in large bowlfuls for some time and the level of the rice in the pot has not gone down!”

Some people say that the day of miracles is past. Don’t listen to them.

In reality, there has never been a ‘day of miracles’, some long lost golden age. There’s no “day of miracles”, there's only a God of miracles and he… never… changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 14 July 2024.

The Chosen: Yes or No?

The Chosen is a crowdfunded TV series based on the life of Jesus, as seen particularly through the eyes of his followers. It is free to view through the show's app and it also features on platforms like Netflix and YouTube. From humble beginnings, The Chosen has quickly become extremely popular. The show's creators have set themselves the goal of reaching an audience of one billion viewers around the world, and they are well on the way to their objective with the work of overdubbing the show into multiple languages ongoing.

If you haven’t watched to the end of Season 4 yet, please be advised that this post will contain some spoilers.

At the time of writing, The Chosen has just concluded screening the fourth of seven planned seasons, each with eight roughly one-hour episodes. Jesus is poised to enter Jerusalem on a colt, and the city awaits, palm branches at the ready, to acclaim him as king.

I’ll put my cards on the table straightaway. I like The Chosen very much. So much so, I have watched every episode and most of the after-show interviews, and occasionally used clips from the show in my sermons. It is extremely well filmed; the cinematography, casting, acting, scriptwriting, set design, costumes and music are all first class. In fact, it’s by far the best and most professional Bible-based drama I have ever seen.

Standout scenes for me are Jesus turning water into wine, Jesus and Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the miraculous catch of fish, the calling of Matthew, the cleansing of a leper, the healing of a paralysed man, the raising of Lazarus, and Mary of Bethany pouring the jar of very expensive perfume over Jesus' feet. There are many other scenes that are extremely well done, too many to mention. Some are very moving indeed.

I do wonder, now that the show is situated at the start of Jesus' last week, whether we will see some scenes that in the Gospels are clearly set earlier in time; like the parable of the prodigal son, the woman caught in adultery, the raising of the widow of Nain's son, Zacchaeus, the rich young ruler and the transfiguration…

Perhaps they will be done later as flashbacks. Or maybe in altered sequence (the Gospel writers themselves sometimes arranged their material in non-chronological order to make a particular theological point). Perhaps they will be omitted altogether.

Of course, adapting the material we have in the Gospels for the screen absolutely requires some artistic license if it’s going to work. To simply commit to camera what we have from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John with no supplementary material would come across as one-dimensional because film is a medium which requires more layers than the Gospels offer. Every cinematic adaptation of every work of literature does this - and has to.

Because of this, various backstory scenes are added in to the series, like Mary buying the aforementioned nard perfume from a high-class merchant (accepting nothing but the very best and the shop's entire stock), and James and John discussing how they are going to approach Jesus to ask him for positions of prestige in his coming reign. I think these scenes amplify the Gospel narratives in a helpful way.

Also, some characters are given textures to their personalities that spring more from a screenplay writer's creative imagination than from chapter and verse. So, for example, Matthew is a little bit autistic (which might help explain for example his slightly quirky way of grouping Jesus' genealogy into groups of 14) and James son of Alphaeus is somewhat disabled.

The result is that we develop a sympathetic bond with these characters we might not otherwise do and I think this is fine, as long as we keep in mind that The Chosen is a flawed dramatisation, and not an inspired clarification, of holy scripture.

Sometimes the scriptwriters make brilliant connections between Old Testament promise and New Testament fulfilment through introductory scenes involving the likes of Jacob and King David. These are superbly done and offer profound insight into the Bible's rich unity.

Other times though, the producers develop storylines, nowhere found or even hinted at in scripture, that I think become much too prominent. So, after his sons James and John leave their fishing nets to follow Jesus, Zebedee starts an olive oil business to help support the ministry. Did he really? No. Mary Magdalene loses the plot and regresses back into her previous darkness only to be once again restored. Did she really? No. Thomas falls in love with a young woman called Ramah who is tragically killed by a Roman official. Did any of this happen? No. I think these kinds of additions are unwarranted and distract unhelpfully from what God has chosen to reveal to us.

For newer Christians still unfamiliar with the Bible, I’m sure it might be confusing sorting out which parts of the show are fact and which are fiction. I think the creators' time would have been better spent filming some of the missing scenes I listed above rather than going down these fictional and unnecessary rabbit holes.

That cautionary note aside, I commend The Chosen as a great piece of art to enjoy as a supplement, not a replacement, for regular Bible reading, and I’m looking forward to season five, which will probably be released in early 2025.

I’d be interested to hear what you think.


This post first appeared on King's Church Darlington's website.