Jesus had come to his people, the Jews, but how did Jesus respond to Gentiles he encountered. There are several passages where Gentiles came to Jesus that on the surface looks like he was not very receptive of them. However, he turned these seemingly awkward encounters into teaching opportunities:

Jesus traveled to the region of Tyre and Sidon (Mt 15:21). These are cities in Phoenicia which was considered part of Syria at that time. Therefore, Jesus was in Gentile territory. It would be uncommon for a Gentile woman to approach him. However, the woman was quite desperate. Jesus at first did not speak to her and ignored her. The English translation of scripture sounds as if He was being rude. Yet, He was likely forcing an awkward situation to draw attention to it so that it could be a teachable moment. His words seem harsh, but the woman is persistent and seemed to understand his point. Jesus stated that his current mission was to Israel. The woman replied that she understood that and sticking to Jesus’ analogy stated that even dogs get to eat crumbs. Jesus commended her on her faith and, as requested, her daughter was healed (Mt 15:22-28).

Surprisingly, it seems the Gentiles were more anxious to receive the message Jesus had come to preach to his own people. Christ’s gospel message at this time was to repent because the Kingdom of God was nigh, meaning their acceptance of him would usher in His reign on earth with them which many of the Old Testament prophets spoke about and which all Jews were looking forward to. They believed in the prophecy, just not that it would come true in their lifetime. That would mean they had to decide to change; many were not prepared to do so. It is likely Jesus was using these Gentile conversions at this time to bring his own people to be envious and see the truth (Mt 11:20; Ro 10:19, 11:11).

To understand why the Gentiles were eager to accept, one needs to understand why the Jewish leaders were not. The Jewish leaders were at odds with Jesus because, to them, Jesus' teachings were radical. They may at first seem opposed to the Jewish laws of the day, but upon closer inspection they were not as radical as one may think. Jesus spoke about the heart; the Jewish leaders spoke about action and deed. Many of the Jewish leaders would tithe not only what the Law required but also tithed from the very spices they had (Lk 11:42). Jesus taught that getting the heart right gets the deed right. Jesus criticized them of neglecting justice and love when they obeyed the letter of the law (Lk 11:42). The Jewish leaders ignored the heart and focused on the deed. Jesus understood that getting the deed right does not necessarily get the heart right. Many Old Testament prophets had also taught similarly:

• to obey is better than sacrifice (1Sa 15:22);

• the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit (Ps 51:17)

• rend your heart and not your garments (Jl 2:13)

• I hate, I despise your feast days (Am 5:21)

• Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you (Ml 1:10).

The truth stung because it meant they had to change their world view and how they measured their own righteousness. They had a hard time with that. The Gentiles, however, did not have a pre-established sense of righteousness and so Christ’s words rang true to them, and many were ready for its acceptance. That is likely why the gospel spread so quickly once it reached the Gentiles.

However, this is not to say that Christ ignored the Gentiles. He loved them. After all, he told Nicodemus that he came because God loved the world (Jn 3:16). He often visited the predominant Gentile areas: in Gadara he healed demoniacs (Mt 8:28-34; Mk 5:1-16), he went through the Decapolis healing and teaching (Mk 7:31-35), as well as in Syria (Mt 15:21-28). People from these regions also sought him out for healing and listened to him speak (Mt 4:24-25; Mk 3:8).

I think this shows how inclusive Christ was of everyone. The Jews believed themselves to be God’s people, and rightly so, but they believed it to the exclusion of everyone else. Christ came for the Jews but did not reject the Gentiles. His true mission was our heart. Changing the heart changes everything. It still does.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

In my last post, we saw that Jesus stressed the spirit of the Law rather than just the letter of the Law. He did not shy away from making things awkward with the Jewish leaders of this important nuance. However, this turned to not be a true nuance but a very contentious matter. This week we will see another aspect of this that also made the Jewish leaders at odds with Jesus.

Jesus exposed the error of their thinking process. In Matthew 5, Jesus stated that keeping the Law was a heart matter and not a matter of ritual. He stated that although Moses commanded one to not commit adultery, this even meant that if anyone lusted after another woman other than his wife he was still guilty of breaking the command just as if they had actually committed the act.

Later, in Matthew 15, Jesus stated that “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean,” because these things come from one’s heart. There is no hedge that one can put around one’s thought process, or not very easily. This teaching from Jesus angered the Jewish leaders because for them to accept this it would mean that everything they had been doing and all their superiority in leading such dedicated lives of devotion to the Law of Moses based upon deeds was all wrong and their righteousness was indeed “as filthy rags” as stated by Isaiah (Is 64:6). They just could not accept this.

When one is faced with actual truth, there is usually two polar opposite responses. One either realizes the error of their ways and embraces the truth, or the person vehemently opposes what is being stated and rejects the truth presented. Unfortunately, the Jewish leaders responded the latter way.

Do we not do the same thing? We have our traditions that we do and like. However, sometimes we cannot even give a reason for the tradition even when we do stop to think why. The original intent is lost. Yet when someone points out the true original intent, we get mad because that does not now fit with our preconceived ideas as to why we have the tradition. Or perhaps the tradition has morphed into something not recognized by the original intent. I think this is more likely what happened here. The Jewish leaders had focused so long on the obedience component of the Law, they no longer stopped to think of the original intent of the obedience. Therefore, the obedience became the focal point rather than the intent of the Law one’s obedience was portraying. Sometimes, we, too, need to stop and look at why we do what we do and see if God has a lesson for us that is not at first obvious. God can teach us new things from old things if we stop long enough to hear what He is teaching.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

While it is true that the Jewish leaders of the day thought Jesus' teachings were radical, they were not as radical as people think. Many Old Testament prophets also preached similarly. However, Jesus did create quite a stir wherever he went. Why? Well, Jesus exposed the spirit of the Law rather than the letter of the Law. The Jewish leaders were overly concerned about people breaking the Law of Moses, so over time many self-imposed regulations were placed upon everyone to form a “hedge of protection around the Law.” As usual, although efforts have a good original intent, over time they lose their original purpose. The same was true here. Over time, these man-made, self-imposed, regulations became as binding as the Law itself and even equal in authority. They taught the more observant one was of these laws to the smallest detail, then the more spiritual, the more righteous, one became. Many of the Jewish leaders would tithe not only what the Law required but also tithed from the very spices they obtained. Of course, any time one’s goodness is tied to actions, pride can take hold and make one feel superior to others. Jesus criticized the Jewish leaders for this attitude they had against others. He told them they neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness—the spirit of the law. It was not that they should not do the things they were doing, but they should not neglect the weightier matters of the Law.

However, can we be too critical? Don't we do the same? Aren't we sometimes very legalistic and miss the true spiritual meaning of what we are trying to do? Let's start doing what Jesus did. Let's look at what Scripture is saying in spirit and not just in deed. Jesus raised the Law to a higher plane to show we can only achieve this by allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us. This keeps us humble. If we think we are doing well, then we probably are not; we are really relying on ourselves. It is only through Christ that all things are possible. Let's learn this lesson of what Jesus was teaching for ourselves and become all we can be in Him.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens