Turning the tables on a question designed to trap...

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Invite”. During this series we are looking at several events from history where Jesus engaged and invited those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him.

During this series, we are going to discover what Jesus said to invite those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. During this series, we are going to discover how Jesus said what He said to invite those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. And as we go through this series, our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands in a way that equips and empowers us to follow the example of Jesus when it comes to inviting those who are far from Jesus to follow Jesus and live in relationship with Jesus.  

This week I would like for us to look at an event from history that is recorded in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. And it is in a section of the gospel of Luke that we see Luke give us a front row seat to a confrontation that reveals a timeless truth about how Jesus engaged and invited someone who was far from Him to follow Him. So let’s discover that timeless truth together, beginning in Luke 10:25:

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Luke brings us into this event from history by explaining that as Jesus was engaging in a conversation with His disciples about a short-term mission trip that they had just returned from, a lawyer stood up and put Jesus to the test.  Now this lawyer, who were also known as a scribe, was an expert in the Law, which are the first five books of our Bibles today, which the Jewish people referred to as the Law or Torah.

When Luke says that this lawyer put Jesus to the test, he is revealing for us the reality that this lawyer was trying to trap Jesus with a question. This lawyer was setting a trap in hopes that Jesus would incorrectly answer the question in a way that would jeopardize Jesus status and credibility among the people.

Luke then revealed the question that was posed to Jesus in order to trap Jesus: "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Now this question, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: Jesus, what must I do so that I can experience eternal life with God in Heaven? What must I do to be right with God so that I can obtain a ticket to Heaven?”

The reason why this question was a trap was due to the fact that there was great disagreement when it came to the answer to this question. And the lawyer believed that however Jesus answered this question, Jesus would end up offending someone.

Now here is a question to consider: Has anything changed? Is this not the question that is still asked today? And do not people argue and debate the answer to this question? Doesn’t the answer to this question still end up offending someone? Maybe you are here this morning, and this is a question that you have.

Maybe you are wondering “What must I do to experience a relationship with God?  What must I do to be right with God so that I can obtain a ticket to Heaven?” You see, regardless of whether or not you buy the whole Bible, Jesus, or church thing; regardless of how often you have attended church in the past; regardless of the fact that you may feel like you do not know and do not feel that you can ever know about whether or not the Bible or church is real or relevant; regardless of all the bad experiences that you may have had with Christians and churches, this is a question that resonates within us.

This is a question that will cause us to stop and think. Is there a God? And if there is a God, who is God? And if there is a God, how do I get right with God? However, while the lawyer thought that he had trapped Jesus, the lawyer was not prepared for what Jesus would do next, as we see in verse 26-28:

 And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE."

Instead of providing an answer to the lawyers’ question, Jesus, sensing the lawyer’s insincerity, responded by turning the tables on the lawyer. Jesus basically said to the lawyer “What do you think? What do you think God said about how we can experience eternal life with God in Heaven?”

Luke tells us that the lawyer, unable to resist the temptation to show off how much he knew about God, responded to having the tables turned on him by Jesus by quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Deuteronomy. The lawyer, who was not interested in learning from Jesus, but just wanted to trap Jesus with a test, quoted Deuteronomy 6:5, which was part of the Hebrew Schema, which was the Jewish people’s confession of faith. The schema would be recited by all Jewish people as part of their daily prayers and was committed to memory.

This answer would not have surprised those listening and would have seemed like the right response. The idea of loving God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind conveys a sense of total commitment. In our culture today, we would communicate this concept by saying that we should love God with our total being. In addition, this lawyer also quoted from another section of a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Leviticus.

Luke tells us that Jesus, hearing the lawyers answer to his own question, responded by affirming the lawyers answer. And in affirming the lawyers answer, Jesus quoted a section from a letter in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of Ezekiel.

In Ezekiel 20:11, the prophet Ezekiel reminded the Jewish people that the Lord had given the Jewish people His commandments to reveal His nature and character and the nature and character that the Jewish people needed to possess and display in order to live in relationship with Him. Jesus quoted this Old Testament passage as a command to the lawyer.

Jesus basically said to the lawyer “You answered your own question correctly. Now make sure that you are living your life in obedience to your answer. To be right with God so that you can obtain a ticket to Heaven make sure that you are living your life in obedience to the Lord’s command to love the Lord with your total being and to love your neighbor as yourself, because you will show your love for the Lord by how you love your neighbor.”

Now I want us to imagine ourselves in this event from history as this lawyer. Place yourself in his shoes. You have just tried to trap Jesus with a question in a way that would jeopardize Jesus status and credibility among the people. However, Jesus just turned the tables on you in a way that forced you to answer your own question and that made Jesus look even better in the eyes of the people.

You are this lawyer. What would you be thinking at this point? How would you be feeling? How would you respond? Tomorrow we will see the lawyer’s response…

Inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we challenge people to follow Jesus in a way that elicits, encourages, and exposes a genuine relationship with Jesus...

This week we are looking at an event from history that is recorded in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. After having a confrontation with the self-righteous religious leaders of the day over His unwillingness to have His disciples follow their man-made rules, which we looked at last week, Jesus and His disciples withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. Upon arriving near these cities, as Jesus and His disciples remained outside of the city, a Canaanite woman approached them to request that Jesus heal their daughter.

As a Canaanite, this would be a woman who was not Jewish ethnically or religiously. Instead, this woman was from an ethnic group who were considered the enemies of the Jewish people and who worshiped false gods instead of the Lord. This was a woman whose descendants the Lord had commanded the Jewish people to conquer and destroy from the land that they had been given by the Lord, which the Jewish people referred to as the Promised Land. In spite of the risks of approaching Jesus and His disciples, took the risk to approach Jesus from a distance and request Jesus to do what she believed He could do to help her daughter.

Matthew explained that Jesus responded to her request with silence. Now for this Canaanite woman, this response would not have been that unusual, based on the history of the ethnic hostility and animosity that existed between the groups. The woman, however, responded by persisting in her request, which would have challenged the social and cultural expectations of the day. While Jesus listened to the woman, the disciples wanted nothing to do with the woman. Instead, they wanted Jesus to drive the woman away. Matthew tells us that Jesus responded to the disciples request by explaining, loud enough that the woman would have been able to hear, that "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Once again Jesus response would have been what would have been expected by a Jewish person to someone who was viewed as an enemy of a different ethnicity. This response would have challenged this woman as to why she was asking Jesus to do for her what she was asking Him to do. Instead of being on her way and leaving them alone, Matthew explained that this woman came closer to Jesus. And upon approaching Jesus, this woman bowed before Him and proclaimed, “Lord help me!”

Jesus responded to this woman’s request by telling a parable: "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Now a parable is an earthly story that is designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. The point that Jesus wanted to make unmistakably clear in this parable was that the children, i.e. Jewish people, were in a position of right and privilege, which the dogs, i.e. Gentiles like this Canaanite woman, cannot hope to share.

Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as this Canaanite woman. I want us to place ourselves in her shoes. You are this Canaanite woman. You have heard about this Jewish guy named Jesus. You have heard the word on the street that He teaches like no one else teaches. You have heard the word on the street that He can miraculously heal people who are sick or who are possessed by evil spirits.

And your daughter, whom you love, is suffering greatly at the hands of an evil demonic spirit. And you know enough about the Jewish religious system to know that Jesus was doing the very things that their Messiah was predicted to be able to do. So you approach Jesus and place yourself in the most vulnerable position possible, risking verbal abuse and even physical harm, in hopes that Jesus would heal your daughter. And how does Jesus respond to you? Jesus responds to you by refusing to answer your request and then calls you a dog. Jesus ignores you and then calls you an ethnic slur. You are the Canaanite woman. What would you be thinking? How would you be feeling? How would you respond?

Now right about now you are thinking “surely Jesus would not have used an ethnic slur to disrespect this woman. Dave, you cannot be right. Jesus would never speak to someone in such a way.”  If that thought and question is running through your mind, here’s the thing: as much as you may want to sanitize Jesus words here, that is exactly what Jesus said. And we know that is the case because of how this woman responded to Jesus.

Now this begs a second question, which is “Why? Why would Jesus say such a rude and disrespectful thing to this woman?” We discover the answer to these questions in what the woman has to say next, which Matthew records for us in Matthew 15:27:

 But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."

Now the woman’s response, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Well, if we Canaanite Gentiles are dogs, at least the dogs have their due as well. Even Canaanite Gentile dogs like us have a right to be fed, even if all we get is the leftovers.” You see, this woman responded to Jesus ethnic insult with a feisty response. This woman responded to Jesus parable by turning Jesus parable against him.

And whether she realized it or not, this woman’s response revealed the important reality that the Messiah and His mission of rescue, while beginning with the Jewish people, would not end with the Jewish people. This woman, in her response, was reinforcing the reality that the Messiah's activity amongst the Jewish people was designed so that the Jewish people would be a light to all ethnicities and nations, not just the Jewish people.  

You see, by telling this parable that contained an ethnic slur, Jesus was challenging this woman in a way that stretched and humbled her heart. By telling this parable that contained an ethnic slur, Jesus was challenging this woman in a way that would elicit and encourage her faith in such a way that her faith in Him would be exposed for everyone to see. We see Jesus reveal the reality of this woman’s faith in Jesus by His response to the woman’s feisty and witty comeback, which Matthew records for us in verse 28:

Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once.

Matthew tells us that Jesus responded to this woman’s feisty and witty response to His parable by proclaiming her faith in the presence of His disciples. Jesus recognized the justice of her case and the boldness of her refusal to accept defeat when He ignored or denied her request. As a result of her faithful persistence and humility to continue to engage Jesus, she won the argument and Jesus responded by granting her request. You see, Jesus did not change His mind and mission. Instead, Jesus used this verbal debate to draw out the great faith of this woman who was an enemy of the Jewish people from a different ethnicity.

And it is here that we discover a timeless truth when it comes to inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus. And that timeless truth is this: Inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we challenge people to follow Jesus in a way that elicits, encourages, and exposes a genuine relationship with Jesus.

Inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we recognize the reality that, just like the Canaanite woman and her love for her daughter, people may be drawn to Jesus because of the admirable qualities and strengths within them. Inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we recognize the reality that, just like the Canaanite woman, Jesus did not always make it easy for people to respond.

Instead, Jesus challenged the woman and stretched and humbled her heart, because Jesus desired that there be a response of genuine understanding and deep commitment. And in the same way, inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we challenge those that we are inviting to follow Jesus and live in relationship with Jesus with a desire that there be a response of genuine understanding and deep commitment.

You see, when we read the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, we discover that Jesus never presented the gospel in a way so as to make it as easy as possible by ignoring the challenging or difficult elements of the message of the gospel. The timeless reality is that the message of the gospel contains challenging ideas that are difficult for people to hear, such as the call to turn from their rebellion and turn to a relationship with Jesus that places Him first.

The message of the gospel contains challenging ideas that are difficult for people to hear, such as the call to live a life that is driven by a desire to become like Jesus, and not just receive forgiveness from Jesus. And as followers of Jesus we are called to share the message of the gospel to those in our immediate sphere of influence, to dare to reach out with the message of the gospel to those who are not in our immediate sphere of influence, and to care about the whole world hearing about the message of the gospel.

So here is a question for us to consider: How are you inviting people to follow Jesus? How do you share the message of Jesus with those who do not know Jesus? Are you trying to invite people to follow Jesus by ignoring challenging or difficult elements of what it means to follow Jesus? Are you simply inviting people to receive something from Jesus, or are you inviting people to follow Jesus as they receive something from Jesus? 

Because inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we challenge people to follow Jesus in a way that elicits, encourages, and exposes a genuine relationship with Jesus...

Would Jesus use an ethnic slur?

This week we are looking at an event from history that is recorded in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew where  Matthew gives us a front row seat to an event from history where Jesus invited someone to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. After having a confrontation with the self-righteous religious leaders of the day over His unwillingness to have His disciples follow their man-made rules, which we looked at last week, Jesus and His disciples withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon.

Historically these two cities were enemies of the Jewish people. And because of the history of animosity and hostility between the Jewish people and these cities, Jesus traveled to this region to get away from the opposition that He was experiencing from the Jewish religious leaders of the day. Upon arriving near these cities, as Jesus and His disciples remained outside of the city, a Canaanite woman approached them to request that Jesus heal their daughter.

As a Canaanite, this would be a woman who was not Jewish ethnically or religiously. This woman, who was familiar with the Jewish religious system and their hope in a promise of a Messiah, called Jesus the Son of David. So this woman, fully aware of the history and animosity that existed between her descendants and the Jewish people, took the risk to approach

We looked on as Matthew explained that Jesus responded to her request with silence. Now for this Canaanite woman, this response would not have been that unusual, based on the history of the ethnic hostility and animosity that existed between the groups. The woman, however, responded by persisting in her request, which would have challenged the social and cultural expectations of the day. You see, this woman was prepared to suffer ridicule and rejection and even physical danger in order to bring her daughters need to the attention of Jesus.

Now, while Jesus listened to the woman, but failed to respond to the woman, the disciples had a much different response: "Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us." While Jesus listened to the woman, the disciples wanted nothing to do with the woman. Instead, they wanted Jesus to drive the woman away. Matthew tells us that Jesus responded to the disciples request by explaining, loud enough that the woman would have been able to hear, that "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Once again Jesus response would have been what would have been expected by a Jewish person to someone who was viewed as an enemy of a different ethnicity. This response would have challenged this woman as to why she was asking Jesus to do for her what she was asking Him to do. At this point, the disciples were hopeful that this woman would be on her way and leave them alone. However, that is not what happened, as we see in Matthew 15:25:

 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"

Instead of being on her way and leaving them alone, Matthew explained that this woman came closer to Jesus. And upon approaching Jesus, this woman bowed before Him and proclaimed, “Lord help me!” By using the word Lord, this woman was expressing her belief that Jesus had the power to do what she asked. This woman responded to Jesus silence and the disciples hostility by placing herself in perhaps the most vulnerable position possible in hopes that Jesus would do what she requested.

Now you might be thinking “Well Jesus is not being like Jesus here. I mean, after all, Jesus loves everyone, so why is Jesus being so indifferent and so unloving to this woman. I mean if Jesus was taking the test “what would Jesus do” in this situation, he would fail the test because he is not doing what Jesus would and should do.” Now if I have just described what is running through your mind; if you are here this morning and think Jesus is not being very Jesus like here, just look at what Jesus does next.

Because what Jesus does next is to respond to this woman’s persistence by making a statement that is one of the most shocking and stunning statements recorded in the entire Bible. As a matter of fact, the statement that Jesus makes next is so unlike Jesus that we may have a hard time wrapping our minds around the reality that Jesus would make such a statement. So let’s look at Jesus statement in verse 26:

 And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

Matthew tells us that Jesus responded to this woman’s request by telling a parable: "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Now a parable is an earthly story that is designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. To fully understand this parable, we first need to understand how Jewish people viewed dogs.

In the Jewish culture of the day, dogs were viewed as unclean animals that were not to be associated with. And in the Jewish culture of the day, Gentiles, like this Canaanite woman, were often derogatorily referred to as dogs. Jews often referred to Gentiles as dogs as an offensive ethnic slur. In our culture today, this would be similar to using the “n” word to describe a black person. The point that Jesus wanted to make unmistakably clear in this parable was that the children, i.e. Jewish people, were in a position of right and privilege, which the dogs, i.e. Gentiles like this Canaanite woman, cannot hope to share.

Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as this Canaanite woman. I want us to place ourselves in her shoes. You are this Canaanite woman. You have heard about this Jewish guy named Jesus. You have heard the word on the street that He teaches like no one else teaches. You have heard the word on the street that He can miraculously heal people who are sick or who are possessed by evil spirits. And your daughter, whom you love, is suffering greatly at the hands of an evil demonic spirit. And you know enough about the Jewish religious system to know that Jesus was doing the very things that their Messiah was predicted to be able to do.

So you approach Jesus and place yourself in the most vulnerable position possible, risking verbal abuse and even physical harm, in hopes that Jesus would heal your daughter. And how does Jesus respond to you? Jesus responds to you by refusing to answer your request and then calls you a dog. Jesus ignores you and then calls you an ethnic slur. You are the Canaanite woman. What would you be thinking? How would you be feeling? How would you respond?

Now you might be thinking “surely Jesus would not have used an ethnic slur to disrespect this woman. Dave, you cannot be right. Jesus would never speak to someone in such a way.”  If that thought and question is running through your mind, here’s the thing: as much as you may want to sanitize Jesus words here, that is exactly what Jesus said. And we know that is the case because of how this woman responded to Jesus. Now this begs a second question, which is “Why? Why would Jesus say such a rude and disrespectful thing to this woman?”

Friday we will discover the answer to these questions in what the woman has to say next...

How can a loving God destroy whole civilizations like He did in the Old Testament?

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Invite”. During this series we are looking at several events from history where Jesus engaged and invited those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. During this series, we are going to discover what Jesus said to invite those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. During this series, we are going to discover how Jesus said what He said to invite those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. And as we go through this series, our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands in a way that equips and empowers us to follow the example of Jesus when it comes to inviting those who are far from Jesus to follow Jesus and live in relationship with Jesus.  

This week I would like for us to look at an event from history that is recorded in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. And it is in a section of the gospel of Matthew that we see Matthew give us a front row seat to an event from history where Jesus invited someone to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. So let’s take that front row seat together, beginning in Matthew 15:21-22:

Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed."

Matthew begins to give us a front row seat to this event from history by providing the context in which this event from history took place. After having a confrontation with the self-righteous religious leaders of the day over His unwillingness to have His disciples follow their man-made rules, which we looked at last week, Jesus and His disciples withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. Now Tyre and Sidon were cities that were located north of the region of the Galilee that marked the northern edge of the territory of the Jewish people. And historically these two cities were enemies of the Jewish people.

And because of the history of animosity and hostility between the Jewish people and these cities, Jesus traveled to this region to get away from the opposition that He was experiencing from the Jewish religious leaders of the day. You see, no self-respecting Jewish religious leader would consider traveling to such a place where there were people that they viewed to be enemies of the Jewish people.

Upon arriving near these cities, as Jesus and His disciples remained outside of the city, a Canaanite woman approached them to request that Jesus heal their daughter. As a Canaanite, this would be a woman who was not Jewish ethnically or religiously. Instead, this woman was from an ethnic group who were considered the enemies of the Jewish people and who worshiped false gods instead of the Lord. This was a woman whose descendants the Lord had commanded the Jewish people to conquer and destroy from the land that they had been given by the Lord, which the Jewish people referred to as the Promised Land.

Now, as we have talked about in the past, so often when I talk with people about God and Christianity, one of their biggest push backs is “How can a loving God destroy whole civilizations like He did in the Old Testament. Your God sounds like a God of wrath, not a God of love. If that is what God is like, I want no part of Him”. Maybe you are here this morning, and this is one of your biggest reasons for resisting or rejecting Christianity. My response to that objection or push back is this: to understand why God commanded the Jewish people to destroy the nations that inhabited the Promised Land and to possess the Promised Land, we first need to understand two things about these nations, which are referred to in the Bible as the Amorites or the Canaanites.

The first thing that we need to understand is that the people who made up the nations that inhabited the Promised Land were some of the most inhumane and cruelly wicked societies that ever lived. These were societies that sacrificed their infant children to false gods; these were societies that were involved in sexual behavior that was so twisted and perverse I cannot even begin to describe in mixed company. In these societies young children were often suffocated and buried alive in the foundations of their homes as an act of worship to their false gods.

In fact, many historians and archaeologists describe the Canaanite society as being perhaps the most wicked society that ever lived. In another section of the Bible God made it clear to the Jewish people that they were not receiving the Promised Land because they were especially good; they were receiving the Promised Land because the inhabitants of that land were exceptionally evil.

The second thing that we need to understand is that God did not simply wake up one morning and decide to wipe out an entire culture and society as a wrathful, angry God. Some 400 years before commanding the Jewish people to conquer and destroy the peoples that lived in the land of Canaan, God predicted and proclaimed to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, that after being enslaved in Egypt, the Jewish nation would return to and take possession of the land that was promised to his descendants.

For 400 years God endured the incredible wickedness of the Amorites and the Canaanites. God extended grace for 400 years in order to provide that society the opportunity to change their evil ways. And after 400 years, God chose to use the Jewish people as an instrument to exercise His justice and judgment on the people of the land of Canaan, who had refused to change and were left with no excuse or defense for their wickedness. 

In addition, God also used other nations to exercise justice and judgment upon the Jewish people as a result of their wrongdoing and injustice. Throughout the Old Testament, God used the Assyrian Empire and the Babylonian Empire to exercise His justice and judgment upon the Jewish people for their wrongdoing and injustice. And during the period of history in the life of Jesus, the Jewish people were living as a conquered people under the Roman Empire as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. Throughout the letter that make up the Bible, we see God use nations to exercise His justice and judgment of the wrongdoing and injustice of other nations. 

Now, with that background information in mind, Matthew tells us that this woman, who was familiar with the Jewish religious system and their hope in a promise of a Messiah, called Jesus the Son of David. You see, God had promised the Jewish people that He would send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah, who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world. And one of the titles that was used to describe the Messiah was the Son of David, as the Messiah would be a descendant of the Jewish people’s most famous king, King David. 

So this woman, fully aware of the history and animosity that existed between her descendants and the Jewish people, approached Jesus from a distance and shouted a request that He would heal her daughter. In addition, this woman, in making her request explained the reason behind her request. Apparently, this woman’s daughter was possessed by a demon and was being treated cruelly and severely by this demon. So this woman, in spite of the risks of approaching Jesus and His disciples, took the risk to approach Jesus from a distance and request Jesus to do what she believed He could do to help her daughter. Matthew then recorded Jesus response to the woman’s request in verse 23-24:

 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, "Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us." ²⁴ But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Matthew explained that Jesus responded to her request with silence. Now for this Canaanite woman, this response would not have been that unusual, based on the history of the ethnic hostility and animosity that existed between the groups. The woman, however, responded by persisting in her request, which would have challenged the social and cultural expectations of the day. You see, this woman was prepared to suffer ridicule and rejection and even physical danger in order to bring her daughters need to the attention of Jesus. The strength of this woman’s love for her daughter drove her to see her need for Jesus.

Now, while Jesus listened to the woman, but failed to respond to the woman, the disciples had a much different response: "Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us." The disciples response, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: Do what she wants so that she will go away and leave us alone. While Jesus listened to the woman, the disciples wanted nothing to do with the woman. Instead, they wanted Jesus to drive the woman away.

Matthew tells us that Jesus responded to the disciples request by explaining, loud enough that the woman would have been able to hear, that "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." With this phrase, Jesus was basically saying to His disciples and to this woman who was within earshot of the conversation “the Messiah was sent to the Jewish people, not those who were not Jewish.”

Once again Jesus response would have been what would have been expected by a Jewish person to someone who was viewed as an enemy of a different ethnicity. This response would have challenged this woman as to why she was asking Jesus to do for her what she was asking Him to do. At this point, the disciples were hopeful that this woman would be on her way and leave them alone.

However, that is not what happened, as we see tomorrow…

Inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we reject the temptation to add man-made rules to the message of Jesus...

This week we are looking at an event from history that is recorded in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Mark. In this event from history, as the Pharisees and some of the scribes had made the trip from Jerusalem to northern Israel to check up on Jesus, these self-righteous religious leaders saw that some of Jesus disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed.

These Jewish religious leaders had created a man-made law and elevated it as being as equal to the commands of God. And as these religious leaders observed Jesus disciples not following the traditions and laws that they had made for the Jewish people to observe, they responded by questioning and challenging Jesus as to why He would allow His disciples to disobey their commands, which they viewed as being as equal to God’s commands.

Jesus responded to the question by accusing the Pharisees and scribes of being hypocrites. Jesus backed His accusation by quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. Jesus was exposing the reality that the Pharisees and scribes were focused on forcing others to be obedient to their manmade rules while being disobedient, and leading the Jewish people to be disobedient, to God’s rules.

Jesus then provided an example where the Pharisees and scribes had invalidated God’s clear commands by elevating their man-made rules to the status of being equal to God’s rules. Jesus provided this example to point to the reality that God did not give humanity the authority to increase and add to the commands and demands that He has given humanity. Jesus point is that God is the only one who has the right to make laws about following Him and demand that we obey those laws about following Him. Jesus point is that no human being has the right to make laws that they demand obedience to that is equal to the obedience the God demands when it comes to His laws.

Jesus then hammed His point by telling a parable. If Jesus was telling this parable in the language that we use in our culture today, this parable would have sounded something like this: “Hey listen up and pay attention because this is important. There is nothing outside of anyone that can cause someone to be impure spiritually. Instead, it is what comes out of you that reveals the reality that you are already impure spiritually.”

Now I want us to take a minute an imagine ourselves as one of Jesus followers listening to this confrontation. You have grown up your whole life learning not only the commandments of God, but also the traditions of the Elders. You have grown up your whole life with a list of rules that clearly came from God that you needed to follow, along with a list of rules that came from the religious leaders that you needed to follow in order to be right with God. You grew up your whole life with an understanding that the rules that came from the religious leaders needed to be followed because they helped make sure that you obeyed the rules that came from God.

And now you have just heard Jesus accuse the religious leaders of your day of creating man-made religious rules that actually resulted in you breaking the rules of God, not obeying the rules of God. Now you are one of Jesus followers. What would you be thinking? How would you be feeling? How would you respond? We see the disciple’s response in Mark 7:17-23:

When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹ "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. ²³ "All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."

Mark tells us that upon getting away from the crowds and getting back home, Jesus disciples began to question Him about the parable. Jesus responded to their questions that revealed a lack of understanding by providing them a biology lesson that contained a deep spiritual truth. Jesus explained to His disciples that whatever physical food that enters anyone’s body by eating cannot cause someone to be impure spiritually, because the source of a person’s spiritual impurity is not their stomach.

Physical food that enters into a body does not stay in the body, but passes through and leaves the body. Some food passes through faster or more painfully than others, right? I mean we have all experienced this reality. Jesus then explained that what causes someone to be spiritually impure is not from what comes from the outside, but what is already inside the human heart. 

Jesus revealed the deep spiritual reality that the external actions that cause us to rebel against God, sexually, relationally, physically, emotionally, and intellectually are the result of what is already present in the heart. Jesus used this parable to prove the point that external, man-made rules cannot, do not, and will not make a person right with God.

And it is here that we discover a timeless truth when it comes to inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus. And that timeless truth is this: Inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we reject the temptation to add man-made rules to the message of Jesus. Inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we recognize the reality that man-made rules have no power to attract people who are far from Jesus to Jesus. Instead man-made rules only drive those who are far from Jesus further away from Jesus.

You see, man-made rules only produce rebellion against authority and against God. When we add man-made rules to God’s rules, we immediately increase the likelihood of resistance to our authority. The most difficult people to reach who are far from Jesus are those who were raised in legalistic churches and homes that emphasized man-made rules and who have rebelled from such authoritarian rule making and rule keeping. And intuitively we know this to be true, don’t we?

And for some of us, this may be your story. For some of us this morning, this is why we left church. For some of us, this is why we have been so resistant to accepting an invitation to attend church. You may have left church and resisted the invitation to return to church because you have had a bad experience  where you were forced to follow rules that did not come from Jesus who were given by people who lived hypocritical lives that looked nothing like Jesus.

Inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we recognize the reality that man-made rules are ultimately a religious system of the world that is based on rules and not a relationship with Jesus. Man-made religious rules tend to focus on the outside behavior, while God is focused on the heart and our inner motivations the produce the behavior. You see, our rescue from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God is not based on our rule-keeping performance. Instead, our rescue from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God is based solely on trusting in Jesus performance for us.

And inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we recognize the reality that man-made rules only empower followers of Jesus to separate themselves from those who are far from Jesus. Man-made rules only empower followers of Jesus to separate from those who are far from Jesus because the very man-made rules that are designed to keep us right with God are designed to keep us apart from people who are far from Jesus.

Man-made rules only empower followers of Jesus to separate from those who are far from Jesus because the very man made rules that are designed to keep us right with God undermine our desire to love, serve and communicate the message of Jesus to those who are far from Jesus because we must make sure that we do not break any of our man-made rules when we are around those who are far from Jesus. Man-made rules only empower followers of Jesus to separate from those who are far from Jesus because man-made rules undermine our ability to relate to those who are far from Jesus in a comfortable way because we feel out of place and those who are far from Jesus feel uncomfortable with us.

So, here is a question for us to consider: Are you adding man-made rules to the message of Jesus?  Because inviting people to follow Jesus in a way that follows the example of Jesus requires that we reject the temptation to add man-made rules to the message of Jesus...

An example of elevating a man-made rule over God's commands...

This week we are looking at an event from history that is recorded in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Mark. Yesterday we looked on as the Pharisees and some of the scribes had made the trip from Jerusalem to northern Israel to check up on Jesus. And as they came to check up on Jesus, Mark tells us that these self-righteous religious leaders saw that some of Jesus disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed.

We talked about the reality that the issue was not that Jesus disciples were eating with dirty hands. Instead, we discovered that because the priests were entering into the very presence of the Lord in the Tabernacle, the priests were required to carefully wash their hands and feet so that they would be ceremonially clean as they served as a minister to the Lord. However, while this command was only given to the priests who would be entering into the tabernacle to serve and minister to the Lord in the presence of the Lord, in Jesus day, this command that had been given by the Lord to the priests had been extended to be required of every Jewish person according to the oral tradition what was taught by the Jewish religious leaders of the day.

Thus, the Jewish religious leaders had created a man-made law and elevated it as being as equal to the commands of God. And as these religious leaders observed Jesus disciples not following the traditions and laws that they had made for the Jewish people to observe, they responded by questioning and challenging Jesus as to why He would allow His disciples to disobey their commands, which they viewed as being as equal to God’s commands.

Mark tells us that Jesus responded to the question by accusing the Pharisees and scribes of being hypocrites. The word hypocrite, when used in Jesus day, referred to one who was an actor or a pretender. In our culture today, we would refer to such a person as a poser. A hypocrite creates a public impression that is at odds with one’s real motivation or purpose. A hypocrite fails to follow the message and teachings that they impose on others. Jesus point behind His accusation was that the Pharisees were hypocrites because they were giving an appearance to the Jewish people about where they were at in their relationship with God that was at odds with where they were truly at in their relationship with God.

Jesus backed His accusation by quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. Jesus was exposing the reality that the Pharisees and scribes were focused on forcing others to be obedient to their man-made rules while being disobedient, and leading the Jewish people to be disobedient, to God’s rules. After quoting from Isaiah, Jesus hammered His accusation home by proclaiming that the Pharisees and scribes were neglecting, or abandoning, the commandment of God. Instead the Pharisees and scribes were focused on holding fast to the tradition of men that they had turned into commandments of men that held equal weight to God’s commands. After accusing the Pharisees and scribes of hypocrisy, we see Jesus provide an example of their hypocrisy in Mark 7:9-13:

 He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. ¹⁰ "For Moses said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER'; and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH'; ¹¹ but you say, 'If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),' ¹² you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that."

Jesus provided an example where the Pharisees and scribes demonstrated that they were experts at setting aside, or rejecting the commandment of God as being invalid, in order to validate their manmade religious rules and traditions, by quoting from another section of the book of Exodus. In Exodus 20:12, as the fifth of the ten commandments, God had commanded the Jewish people to honor their father and mother. In addition, in Exodus 21:17, God commanded the Jewish people that anyone who spoke evil of their father or mother was to be put to death.

However, the Jewish people of Jesus day had made a man-made religious rule that 'If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban. Now a natural question that could arise here is “What does that even mean? Now the word corban refers to an offering that was made to God. You see, what would happen is that a Jewish person would make a vow, by using this phrase, that would place a ban on an object so that it could not be used for anything except a sacred use for God. This vow would result in the object being vowed being viewed as an offering dedicated to God and forbidden to be used for anything other than God.

In Jesus day, when a man declared his property as being corban to his parents, he neither promised it to the temple or prohibited its use to himself. Instead he would be legally excluding his parents from any ability to have access or receive any benefit from it. However, if the son later regretted the vow that he made, under the tradition of the Elders he was not allowed to change the vow that he had made.

And because of that reality, the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus day had invalidated God’s clear commands by elevating their man-made rules to the status of being equal to God’s rules. Jesus provided this example to point to the reality that God did not give humanity the authority to increase and add to the commands and demands that He has given humanity. Jesus point is that God is the only one who has the right to make laws about following Him and demand that we obey those laws about following Him. Jesus point is that no human being has the right to make laws that they demand obedience to that is equal to the obedience the God demands when it comes to His laws.

Jesus then hammed His point by telling a parable. Now a parable is an earthy story that is designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. So let’s look at this parable together in verse 14-16:

 After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. ¹⁶ "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

Now when Jesus used the word defile here, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to make common or impure. If Jesus was telling this parable in the language that we use in our culture today, this parable would have sounded something like this: “Hey listen up and pay attention because this is important. There is nothing outside of anyone that can cause someone to be impure spiritually. Instead, it is what comes out of you that reveals the reality that you are already impure spiritually.”

Now I want us to take a minute an imagine ourselves as one of Jesus followers listening to this confrontation. You have grown up your whole life learning not only the commandments of God, but also the traditions of the Elders. You have grown up your whole life with a list of rules that clearly came from God that you needed to follow, along with a list of rules that came from the religious leaders that you needed to follow in order to be right with God. You grew up your whole life with an understanding that the rules that came from the religious leaders needed to be followed because they helped make sure that you obeyed the rules that came from God.

And now you have just heard Jesus accuse the religious leaders of your day of creating man-made religious rules that actually resulted in you breaking the rules of God, not obeying the rules of God. Now you are one of Jesus followers. What would you be thinking? How would you be feeling? How would you respond?

Friday, we will look at the disciple’s response...

Forcing others to follow man-made rules while disobeying God's rules...

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Invite”. During this series we are looking at several events from history where Jesus engaged and invited those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. During this series, we are going to discover what Jesus said to invite those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. During this series, we are going to discover how Jesus said what He said to invite those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. And as we go through this series, our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands in a way that equips and empowers us to follow the example of Jesus when it comes to inviting those who are far from Jesus to follow Jesus and live in relationship with Jesus.  

This week, I would like for us to look at an event from history that is recorded in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Mark. And it is in a section of the gospel of Mark that we see Mark give us a front row seat to a confrontation that Jesus had with a group of people who had their own perspective when it came to how people were to engage those who were far from God and were to live in relationship with God. So let’s take that front row seat together, beginning in Mark 7:1-5:

The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, ² and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) ⁵ The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?"

Mark begins to give us a front row seat to this confrontation by providing the context by which this confrontation would take place. However, to fully understand what is happening here, we first need to understand who was involved in this confrontation and what the phrase “eating their bread with impute hands, that is unwashed” means. When Mark refers to the Pharisees and some of the scribes, the Pharisees and scribes were two different groups of Jewish people who were the self-righteous religious leaders of Jesus' day. Both the Pharisees and the scribes were aware that Jesus had grown in popularity in the eyes of the Jewish people. And as a result of His growing popularity, Jesus was viewed as a threat by the Pharisees and the scribes to their position and power that they loved.

And it was in this context that Mark tells us that the Pharisees and some of the scribes had made the trip from Jerusalem to northern Israel to check up on Jesus. And as they came to check up on Jesus, Mark tells us that these self-righteous religious leaders saw that some of Jesus disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. Now when Mark uses this phrase, he is not saying that Jesus disciples were not washing their hands before eating a meal.

You see, this was not an issue of Jesus disciples eating with dirty hands. We see Mark reveal this reality with what he says in verse three: “For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders”. But what does that even mean? If the disciples were not eating with dirty hands, then what was the problem that they needed to wash their hands? And what is Mark referring to when he refers to the traditions of the Elders?

To answer these questions, we first need to understand something about the history of the Jewish people and how they worshipped the Lord. You see, in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible, called the book of Exodus, we see the Lord give the Jewish people clear instructions when it came to how they were to approach the Lord in worship. As part of those clear instructions, the Lord had commanded those who served as priests of the Lord to wash their hands and their feet before entering into the Tabernacle.

Now the Tabernacle was the place where the presence of God dwelt among the Jewish people as the Lord led the Jewish people into the land that He had promised them.  Because the priests were entering into the very presence of the Lord in the Tabernacle, the priests were required to carefully wash their hands and feet so that they would be ceremonially clean as they served as a minister to the Lord. It is important to understand that this command was only given to the priests who would be entering into the tabernacle to serve and minister to the Lord in the presence of the Lord.

However, in Jesus day, this command that had been given by the Lord to the priests had been extended to be required of every Jewish person according to the oral tradition what was taught by the Jewish religious leaders of the day. Thus, the Jewish religious leaders had created a manmade law and elevated it as being as equal to the commands of God. And as these religious leaders observed Jesus disciples not following the traditions and laws that they had made for the Jewish people to observe, they responded by questioning and challenging Jesus as to why He would allow His disciples to disobey their commands, which they viewed as being as equal to God’s commands.

Now here is a question to consider: how often can we find ourselves in the place where we are making man made rules and elevating them to the place that they are viewed as being equal to God’s rules? You see, as followers of Jesus, we are to take the message and teachings of Jesus and the commands of Jesus and use wisdom and discernment to make sure that we apply the commands of Jesus in a way that is clear and obvious for our cultural setting.

However, in the process of striving to interpret and apply the message and teaching of Jesus and the commands of Jesus to our cultural setting in a way that makes those commands clear and obvious, we run the risk and the potential danger of creating rules for following Jesus that overstep and go beyond the rules that Jesus gave for following Him. And as Mark continues to give us a front row seat to this confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day, we see Jesus reveal the reality that the religious leaders of His day had done just that. Notice Jesus response to the religious leader’s question in verse 6-8:

 And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. ⁷ 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.' ⁸ "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."

Mark tells us that Jesus responded to the question by accusing the Pharisees and scribes of being hypocrites. However, to fully understand Jesus response, we first need to understand what Jesus means when He uses the word hypocrites. The word hypocrite, when used in Jesus day, referred to one who was an actor or a pretender. In our culture today, we would refer to such a person as a poser. A hypocrite creates a public impression that is at odds with one’s real motivation or purpose.

So, to be a follower of Jesus who strives to follow the message and teachings of Jesus, yet sometimes falls short is not being a hypocrite. A hypocrite is someone that says, “here is the message and teachings of Jesus, and you need to follow them, but I am not going to follow them”. A hypocrite fails to follow the message and teachings that they impose on others. Jesus point behind His accusation was that the Pharisees were hypocrites because they were giving an appearance to the Jewish people about where they were at in their relationship with God that was at odds with where they were truly at in their relationship with God.

Jesus backed His accusation by quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 29:13, the prophet Isaiah called out the Jewish people of his day as being hypocrites because they were focused on being obedient to their man made rules while being disobedient to God’s rules. And in the same way, Jesus was exposing the reality that the Pharisees and scribes were focused on forcing others to be obedient to their man made rules while being disobedient, and leading the Jewish people to be disobedient, to God’s rules.

After quoting from Isaiah, Jesus hammered His accusation home by proclaiming that the Pharisees and scribes were neglecting, or abandoning, the commandment of God. Instead the Pharisees and scribes were focused on holding fast to the tradition of men that they had turned into commandments of men that held equal weight to God’s commands. Now here is a question to consider: how often can we find ourselves in the place where we are doing the exact same thing?

How often can we find ourselves focused on external behavior while ignoring our heart motivations that lead to our behavior? How often do we focus on the “what” of behavior without focusing on the “why” of the behavior? You see, just like the Pharisees and scribes, man-made human religious rules tend to focus on the outside behavior, while God is focused on the heart and our inner motivations the produce the behavior.

After accusing the Pharisees and scribes of hypocrisy, we see Jesus provide an example of their hypocrisy. Tomorrow we will look at that example together…