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September 24, 27 A.D.  –  Thousands turn to Jesus, Because of One Man —   The Year of the Lord’s Favor #54

David Chupp The 70 Weeks with Jesus Blog , , ,

Week 32 ———  Another Miraculous Feeding
Matthew 15:32-38      Mark 8:1-9

Jesus feeds the 5000(+), and the following day, they want him to feed them again.  But he challenges them to think deeper and tells them he is the Bread of Life.  They are disappointed in Jesus and unable to understand his teaching about eternal life because they are only concerned about earthly things.  Many of his disciples quit following Jesus.  Then, on the Day of Trumpets, Jesus has a confrontation with the authorities from Jerusalem about purity.  Then Jesus goes north to Gentile territory and at first refuses to heal a Gentile woman’s child.  She challenges Jesus that Gentiles should at least get the scraps from the Messiah’s table, and Jesus commends her for her faith. We often underestimate the importance of this encounter.  Jesus traveled 16 miles north, talked to this woman, and healed her child; then, the next day, they traveled 20 miles south to put the discussion with this woman into action on a larger scale.  (If you haven’t read #53, stop now and read that one first.)

Jesus doesn’t return to Capernaum but travels further east to the east side of the Sea of Galilee, to the Decapolis, which is Gentile territory.

Jesus and the disciples have been here before.  It was where they landed in the boat after the stormy night when Jesus calmed the seas.  They encountered the demoniac, and Jesus sent the demons into the pigs that hurled themselves into the sea.  After losing about 2000 pigs, the people did not favor Jesus staying around.  So they insisted he leave.  The former demoniac asked to go with Jesus, but Jesus said:

Mark 5:19-20   “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”  And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Now, I like the ESV translation, but they missed it here.  “Go home to your friends…”  This man didn’t have any friends.  He was the scary, strong man who lived in the graveyard and busted out of chains when they tried to restrain him.   That Greek says, “Go home to yours.”    The NIV gets it right: “Go home to your people.”

Jesus is saying: “Don’t come with me; I’m going back to the Jewish side of the lake; you go witness to your people, the Gentiles.”

The last time he was in the Decapolis, just a little over a month ago, Jesus was there only a few hours and was kicked out of the country.   Wait until you see what happens this time…

Matthew 15:29-31   Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there.  And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.1

This time, he is welcomed by huge crowds who stay with him for three days of teaching.  The Gentile crowds come to Jesus for healing, and Jesus starts healing them without hesitation.  This is possible because of what happened before.  God had a plan.  God led Jesus to this area to cast the demons from this man who would be his witness.  God led Jesus to Syria and then brought this desperate mother to him.  God’s plan worked because that man who was formally demon-possessed was willing to be a witness and because this woman would not consider letting Jesus go without healing her daughter and because she insisted that Jesus was the Messiah of this Gentile also.  She spoke for more than her daughter; she spoke for all the non-Jewish people in the world.   God used these two individuals to bring about his centuries-old plan.  All these people are being healed because two people were obedient to the task God gave them.  They are the unsung heroes of this story.

So here they are, healing and teaching a huge crowd of Gentiles.  And look what happens next:

Matthew 15:32-34   Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”   And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?”   And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”  

This story should sound familiar.  It was just a week ago he fed the 5000.  But this is different.  These are Gentiles 

This is the big difference:  In the last miracle of feeding the 5000, the disciples had compassion for the crowd. This time, both Matthew and Mark make a point of saying it was Jesus who had compassion on the crowd after three days.  Why the difference?  Could the disciples not have the same level of compassion because these people were Gentiles?  Remember that these Jewish disciples had been taught by their religious leaders that eating with Gentiles was forbidden.  It brought on all kinds of uncleanness. It was much like the lunch counters in Birmingham in 1960, when African Americans were not allowed.  There were just some things you didn’t do.

Just two days ago, Jesus confronted the Pharisees about their traditions.  “You don’t wash your hands the right way, Jesus;  everyone knows that.”  You don’t eat with Gentiles, Jesus.  They are unclean.  There are just some things you don’t do.”

If these disciples are going to fulfill Jesus’ command at the end of Matthew’s gospel to “Go into all the world,” then they are going to have to drop their racist viewpoints. Are they there yet? Unfortunately, not.  

Peter still holds on to the false traditions he learned as a child.  It takes a miraculous vision of a sheet in the 10th chapter of Acts and a devout Roman Soldier to convince Peter that Gentiles can accept Jesus as their lord.   People were still preaching that you had to become Jewish to be saved.  So, a church council is convened to answer the question in Acts 15: can Gentiles be saved without becoming Jews?  Gentiles are finally completely welcomed in.  

Don’t miss how these stories fit together.   The events in Jesus’ ministry are not random.   Four weeks ago, we discussed how Jesus cast the demons out of this man.  It is a great story but only the prequel to the greater story.  This was the scary, crazy, strong man who lived in the graveyard and broke chains.   Jesus heals him, and he wants to go with Jesus, but Jesus says, no, tell people what God has done for you— he spent four weeks telling what Jesus did for him, and thousands of people came to Jesus.  This story of the persistent mother seems so odd at first glance — God used her as the catalyst to drive the plan to take his kingdom to all the nations in the world.   

God had a plan to reach the whole world.  But God wants to partner with us to accomplish it.  Isn’t this how prayer works?   There are things Jesus won’t do until his disciples come in bold and persistent faith- asking him to be who they know he is.  This woman knew Jesus loved all people; she knew the time was coming for the Gentiles to share in the kingdom.  She merely asked Jesus to be who she knew he was.  Jesus, you are compassionate.  Have compassion for my daughter.

God doesn’t need people to do any work, but God chooses to use people to do his work.   He chooses to partner with us to bring about his kingdom.  And some healings don’t occur because we don’t come before his throne like this woman came to Jesus. She would not give up!  Is this how you pray?   There are people who suffer pain, hunger, depression, and many other things because we refuse to partner with God to take care of them.  We pray the Lord’s Prayer and ask God to do his will on earth, just like it is always perfectly done in heaven.   But some of God’s will is not done on earth as it is in heaven because we are not bold and courageous in approaching God with our requests like this Syrian woman and because we are not willing to follow his will like this Gentile man who had been possessed.    

We Christians have a problem.  We read the Bible, and we say: 
One day, there will be no more sickness or pain.
One day, children will not go hungry
One day, there will be no depression or loneliness.
One day, there will be no homelessness.
One day, there will be no more broken marriages or broken relationships,
One day, God will fix all that

And while we are so focused on that one day, I think God is shouting, “Why not today?”  Why can’t this happen now in your community? Why can’t God’s will be done today?  That is the message of the Syrian mother.  Yes, one day, Jesus will tell his disciples to go to the Gentiles, but why not today?  Why can you not be the Messiah for me and my daughter today?   And I think Jesus was waiting for that one person to ask for his ministry to reach out past the Jews.  So he left the next morning, walked 20 miles, and started healing thousands of Gentiles.

Do you think God wants children to be abused or to go hungry?  Do you think God wants that person who lives near you to be depressed or lonely?  Does God want people to sleep in the cold?  No!  Look at the lessons we have seen in the stories of the past few weeks:

From the disciples at the feeding:   Look at the people around you.  Be compassionate.  Oh, the disciples notice they are hungry.  Then Jesus says, “You feed them.  I will enable you to do it, but you need to do it.” From the mother in Syria:  Be bold and courageous in your requests to Jesus. Ask Jesus to be who you know he is.  From the former demoniac:  It is not enough to sit in the boat (or church) with Jesus.  We need to go back to our people and tell them what Jesus has done for us.  And from all three together, no one in any country or situation is beyond the grace of God.  The Kingdom of God is for all people.

But I can’t let this end without bringing this story home today.  The story of the Syrian woman happened in the area ruled by Tyre and Sidon, what is now the country of Lebanon.  Lebanon is a primarily Muslim country that is home to Hezbollah, an Iran-funded terrorist group.  Hezbollah has been shelling northern Israel for almost a year since the Oct 6 attack from Gaza, forcing over 50,000 from their homes.  Israel has been retaliating with some directed missile attacks.  In the past few weeks, Israel began an intense campaign to stop these terrorists.  There were the exploding pagers and devices and now intense missile attacks.  Hezbollah, like most terrorist groups, hides among the innocent civilians in the country.  Their headquarters was in the basement of a residential building.  So Israel’s attempt to stop the terrorists has resulted in much harm to civilians, in the very area Jesus was in our story and up to Tyre and beyond.

My friend, Chris Todd, lives in Tyre.  Chris was a chicken farmer in Marshall County, Alabama, but he is now a missionary there.  He works with several Christian churches in this primarily Muslim country and serves the Syrian refugees that flooded into Lebanon in Syria’s recent war.  The bombing was initially south of Tyre, and four families were sheltering in his apartment there.  Some in these families converted from the Muslim faith and are now workers in his trauma center and the church there. In the past week, there has been heavy bombardment in Tyre and his neighborhood and at the ministry center.  Since this area is no longer safe, they are seeking shelter further north.   

Jesus went to this area, and one mother begged for his help.  Jesus used her plea to teach his disciples that his kingdom was not just for the Jews but for the whole world.   My friend, Chris, is fulfilling Jesus’ call in the very place where this story happened.  But they are in crisis, and he needs help.  I want to ask you to prayerfully consider donating to help provide shelter to these Christian brothers and sisters who are fleeing the bombing.2

God is waiting for us to join him in working miracles in our community. 

  1. Matthew lets you know this is a Gentile territory by saying, “They glorified the God of Israel.”  Had it been a Jewish crowd, he would have said, “They glorified God.”
  2. Donations can be given through Chris’s Ministry, Words of Isa. Words of Isa, PO Box 1398, Albertville, AL 35950. (Checks payable to “Words of Isa”.) Venmo: @wordsofisa You can also donate easily online through Paypal: http://paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1879050

September 22, 27 A.D.  –  The Woman Who Would Not Give Up —   The Year of the Lord’s Favor #53

David Chupp The 70 Weeks with Jesus Blog , , , , , , , , , ,

Week 32 ———  The Woman Who Would Not Give Up
Matthew 15:22-28      Mark 7:24-30

Several weeks ago, Jesus fed the largest crowd recorded in his ministry (5000 men plus women and children). Last week, he taught on the Bread of Life and spoke for the first time to a crowd plainly of eternal life resurrection on the last day because that evening began the Day of Trumpets. I told you then that we were at a turning point in his ministry.

His popularity was at its highest after the feeding of the 5000.  It was so popular that John tells us the people wanted to force him to be king.  And Jesus is king, but not the kind of king they think.  So he withdrew (John 6:14-15).  The next day, the crowd finds him again.  They want him to repeat the bread miracle.  But Jesus tells him he is the Bread of Life.  They cannot understand what he is saying because their mind is stuck on earthly things.  And that brings us to one of the saddest verses in the Bible:

John 6:66  After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

But God granted understanding to Simon Peter:

John 6:66-69  So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”   Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 

That evening, the new moon is visible, and it is the Day of Trumpets, which is a required day of rest.  (So both Saturday and Sunday were Sabbath rests that week.)  A group of Pharisees from Jerusalem had been waiting for Jesus to return to Capernaum.  On the Day of Trumpets, they confront Jesus because he and his disciples don’t wash their hands the way the Rabbis had instructed them to keep ritually pure.  (Note that this was not a law from scripture, but something the rabbis added and Jesus found unnecessary.)  It would be like you visiting a church one Sunday, and one of the church elders comes to you and fusses at you because you didn’t wear a jacket and tie.  “Everyone here wears a suit to church.  Next time you come, dress correctly.”    Jesus was all about rules, but only God’s rules.  He had no trouble ignoring their traditions that seemed more important to them than God’s rules.  And this was not a friendly discussion but a confrontation.  The disciples realized that contradicting these authorities could be a problem, and they asked Jesus:

Matthew 15:12  Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

Jesus answered by telling the disciples that the Pharisees were ‘blind guides’ and challenging their whole concept of purity.  

The following day, Jesus and the disciples traveled north out of Galilee, out of Jewish territory, into Syria, the region controlled by the two large cities, Tyre and Sidon. These were very wealthy coastal cities, profiting from their position in the spice trade.  They controlled the region of Syria north of Galilee, and it was not Jewish.1

Now, the people in Syria had already heard about Jesus.  As Matthew noted just before the sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 4:24-25   So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.

 So, some of the people from Syria had already come south to Galilee, blended in with the crowds around Jesus, and found healing. But now, Jesus goes there.

Matthew 15:21-28   And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”   But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”  He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”   But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Jesus enters the southernmost part of this region, and his disciples are likely thinking he is leaving to have some time away from the crowds and the religious leaders who are becoming increasingly antagonistic to him. But Jesus has a hidden agenda.  He doesn’t seek out anyone, but a woman whose child was possessed by a demon hears that Jesus is in the area, so she comes to ask for healing for her child.  The fact that she is not Jewish is much emphasized in the Scriptures.  Matthew (writing to a Jewish audience) describes her as a “Canaanite woman,” using a term that recalls the Old Testament history of Canaanites being the enemy whose worship of idols was a persistent threat to the proper worship of the Israelites.  That the Messiah of Israel would bring healing to a Canaanite, of all people, would be a shocking statement to Matthew’s readers that Jesus’ ministry is for all people.  Matthew furthers the shock value of the story, recording that the pagan woman then addresses Jesus as the “Son of David,” a Jewish messianic title.  

This is an odd Bible story. You probably won’t get it in Vacation Bible School, so we must examine it more closely.

Mark adds the detail that Jesus is trying to escape notice from the people. 

Mark 7:24   And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.   And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 

He is not there to minister.  He doesn’t seek out anyone, but a woman whose child was possessed by a demon hears that Jesus is in the area, so she comes to ask for healing for her child.  Both Mark and Matthew emphasize the fact that she is not Jewish.  Mark says, “Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth” (Mark 7:26).   Matthew (writing to a Jewish audience) describes her as a “Canaanite woman,” using a term that recalls the Old Testament history of Canaanites being the enemy whose worship of idols was a persistent threat to the proper worship of the Israelites.  This was a derogatory term.  That the Messiah of Israel would bring healing to a Canaanite, of all people, would be a shocking statement to Matthew’s readers.  Matthew furthers the shock value of the story, recording that the pagan woman then addresses Jesus as the “Son of David,” a Jewish messianic title.

She “comes out” of her village to seek out Jesus, leaving her daughter at home.  She begs for mercy.  How would you expect Jesus to respond to this woman desperate for healing for her daughter?   Jesus does not even respond to her at all.  But she is persistent, and she will not be turned aside.  Eventually, the disciples ask Jesus to send her away “for she is crying out after us.”  They begged Jesus to heal her daughter so she would leave.  But Jesus responds:

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

We have heard Jesus use that phrase before, when he was sending out the 12.

Matthew 10:5-7   These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

So Jesus ignored this woman’s request for help because she is a Gentile?  He has healed some Gentiles before.  What is going on?  Still, she doesn’t give up.2

But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
And then Jesus replies:  “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Whoa, Jesus.  That sounds bad, even in our culture, where we love dogs and some treat them like children.  But in the Jewish world of Jesus’ day, dogs are not pets. They are scavengers, a nuisance, unclean animals. It is definitely a derogatory reference.   The disciples were not surprised at all when Jesus said this.  They probably were thinking the same thing.  What is Jesus doing?

But this woman won’t let that comment slow her down. She is a mother with a sick child.  She will not be dismissed so easily.  “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.”  She embraces the derogatory comment and continues to make her case.  Somehow, this Gentile woman has got it into her head that Jesus is her Messiah also.

After his death and resurrection, Jesus told the disciples to go into all the world.  His ministry will be for all, not just the Jews.  But this woman begs Jesus to take that future hope for the Gentiles to be part of God’s kingdom and make it happen now.  

And suddenly, everything changes.  

Jesus turned and said, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” Her daughter was healed instantly.

Jesus has a crucial lesson to teach these disciples.  But this lesson is so contrary to their thinking that he knows he will have to take extreme measures to teach it.  He has emphasized several times that his mission was first to the Jews, which is just what was foretold in Scripture. Jesus is being faithful to the story of the Bible.

Once, there was only one nation in the world, but they rebelled against God, building a tower they hoped would rise to heaven.  So, God divides them into many nations.  And God chooses one man from all the nations to be the way he will restore the world.  This man, Abraham, will be the “father of many nations,” and his family will be the means of redemption for all.  His people are rescued from slavery in Egypt,

After deliverance from Egypt, God tells the children of Israel they are to be a kingdom of priests to carry his message through the world.  But they fail to follow God and be that kingdom of priests. So God chooses a king to lead the people in justice, mercy, and obedience, but David fails also.  Then God promises that one day, a king will come from the house of David who will succeed in keeping God’s covenant and be the leader that will bring all nations together under God.  And that king is Jesus.

Isaiah had predicted a time when all nations would come to the house of the God of Jacob.

Isaiah 2:2-4   It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

“I ain’t gonna study war no more.” the old spiritual song says.  Why? Because all the nations will one day be united under Jesus.  There will be no more war.  But this is all in the future.  First, Jesus must come and reach out to the lost sheep of Israel.  He plans to take his gospel to the rest of the world, but all in due order.  Jesus has to fulfill a covenant promise to Abraham.  How many disciples are there?  How many tribes of Israel were there?  Jesus is rebuilding the house of Israel so that they will finally become the kingdom of priests. Are these 12 ready to fulfill that mission?  Unfortunately, not yet. 

Like us, the disciples are slow learners.  Something drilled into you from your childhood is difficult to shake off.  Many of my generation grew up in families where racism was the norm.  Some of my friends have struggled to shake off those old prejudices and hate.  Changing your mind often takes a real-life experience with someone who surprises you by not meeting your negative expectations.  When people found out we were adopting a biracial girl, some people thought we were crazy.  But they watched this girl grow up, and they grew to love her.  Those same people who were so against our adoption would now fight anyone who made a racial statement around our girl.  

Racism is removed through relationships.

We have seen that in our churches who minister to our homeless community.  As part of our program, we encourage churches to sit at the dinner table and have discussions with our ‘neighbors without homes.’  This helps in two ways.  Our church members discover that our ‘neighbors without homes’ are real people with real problems.  They lose many of their prejudices and become more interested in helping.  Secondly, our neighbors, many of whom have had poor encounters with churches, meet church people who care about them.  Conversations around a table go a long way to remove their memories of bad experiences with people who see them as worthless.

Prejudice is overcome through experience.

So, what happened in Syria with this woman is a critical step in God’s plan.  I think God set Jesus up.  God sent Jesus and the disciples walking about 16 miles to this region in Syria, and Mark tells us Jesus doesn’t want to be seen.  But God makes sure this woman with a sick child finds out Jesus is there.  God is using her as the catalyst to begin Jesus’ ministry to the Gentiles.  They walk 16 miles from home, encounter this persistent mother, and the next morning, get up and start walking 20 miles back south.  Something profound has happened.  Look at where Jesus goes.  This time, he doesn’t return to his home base in Capernaum but goes further west to the Decapolis, an area of the Gentiles.   Here, Jesus will test his disciples to see if they learned anything from his interaction with the Gentile woman the previous day.

Jesus and the disciples have been here before.  It was where they landed in the boat after the stormy night when Jesus calmed the seas.  They encountered the demoniac, and Jesus sent the demons into the pigs that hurled themselves into the sea.  After losing about 2000 pigs, the people did not favor Jesus staying around.  So they insisted he leave.  The former demoniac asked to go with Jesus, but Jesus said:

Mark 5:19-20   “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”  And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Now, I like the ESV translation, but they missed it here.  “Go home to your friends…”  This man didn’t have any friends.  He was the scary, strong man who lived in the graveyard and busted out of chains when they tried to restrain him.   That Greek literally says, “Go home to yours.”    The NIV gets it right: “Go home to your people.”

Jesus is saying: “Don’t come with me; I’m going back to the Jewish side of the lake; you go witness to your people, the Gentiles.”

The last time he was in the Decapolis, just a little over a month ago, Jesus was there only a few hours and was kicked out of the country.   Wait until you see what happens this time…

Peter will not understand this concept of the expansion of the Kingdom to the Gentiles until Acts 10, and it will take a vision of a sheet from heaven and a devout Roman soldier to convince him.  The tradition that God was for the Jews alone ran very deep in the psyche of all the Jews.  Jesus will take extreme measures with this woman to begin the lesson.  He demonstrates their own racism in how he initially treats her.  Sometimes, we can see things in others we cannot see in ourselves.

Jesus is being very intentional. He began his ministry only to the Jews but, as predicted in the scriptures, will eventually expand his kingdom to everyone. In Matthew 28, he tells the disciple, “Go into all the world…”   And we are at a turning point.  He makes this journey into Syria and will go to the Decapolis, another primary Gentile territory, and then up to Caesarea Philippi all in the next week.  He will test the disciples to see if they have learned the lesson to have compassion for the nations.  (And they will fail.)

Like us, the disciples are slow learners.  Something drilled into you from your childhood is difficult to shake off.  Many of my generation grew up in families where racism was the norm.  Some of my friends have struggled to shake off those old prejudices and hate.  Changing your mind often takes a real-life experience with someone who surprises you by not meeting your negative expectations.  We have seen that in our churches who minister to our homeless community.  As part of our program, we encourage churches to sit at the dinner table and have honest discussions with our ‘neighbors without homes.’  This helps in two ways.  Our church members discover that our ‘neighbors without homes’ are real people with real problems.  They lose many of their prejudices and become more interested in helping.  Secondly, our neighbors meet church people who care about them.  Conversations around a table go a long way to remove their memories of bad experiences with people who see them as worthless.

Jesus has already shocked his followers by offering to go to the centurion’s home after the sermon on the mount, by touching a leper, and by ministering to a Samaritan woman.  But he is now going to push them further.  Let’s see what he does next.

  1. It is interesting to note some similarities between the visit of the prophet Elijah to this same region.  Elijah encounters a widow in Zarephath (felt to be modern-day Sarafand, a city between Tyre and Sidon.)  This is another woman whose child is healed.  It is amid a famine in the land, and God multiplied her oil and flour so that the little she had never ran out, just as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes. 
  2. Don’t miss how the Bible displays this woman’s initiative in a positive light.  This is atypical of narratives about women in this day.  And this is not the only gospel story that does this.  (See also the initiative of the women with the 12 years of bleeding and the woman in the parable Jesus tells in Luke 18 of the woman who would not stop pleading with the unrighteous judge for justice.