Wednesday Bible Study: What Jesus asked, part 16

 

It's only been a chapter, Matthew time, since Jesus fed the crowds miraculously, and He is about to do it again.  Last time, it was a part of our story, but held no question.  This time, it holds the question the Disciples needed to hear, if they were ever going to learn what Jesus was teaching:

"How many loaves do you have?"

 

To see if the Disciples had learned, we need to look at the differences between the two stories. But first, what is the same?  Jesus teaching; the Disciples; the crowd; a little bit of food; and a boat.  So now, step by step, what was different?

The reaction of the crowd, for one.  Matthew gives us no description the first time; neither he nor the crowd had any reference point for the healing Jesus was doing.  Jesus did it totally out of His own compassion (Matt 14:14).  But this time, they were getting the idea of who He was and how He was doing it:

Mat 15:30  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,
Mat 15:31  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.

The crowd was taking a step of faith; they were growing.  What about the Disciples?

Next comes how the thought of food was brought up.  First time, the Disciples, concerned about the physical need, came to Jesus:

Mat 14:15  Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves."
Mat 14:16  But Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."

 But now, Jesus- who had already taught them of His miraculous power- brought it up Himself, to see their response:

Mat 15:32  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."
Mat 15:33  And the disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?"

Answer: They were just as dumbfounded as the first time.  Not one of them said, "Hey, I've seen this before!"  They failed the test.  Why?

Saturday night, we watched a movie that traced the part of modern Christian music in the Church.  And one thing we learned was that the 'doors'- the hearts and minds- of the Church, which should have been sensitive to any movement of the Holy Spirit, constantly had to have its doors forced open.  The Disciples WERE the Church.  And while the crowd- anonymous from a distance- was made of individuals who were being saved, the Church- individuals clearly known and defined- was acting like a monolithic group that wasn't really going beyond the works of a day.  And nothing has changed.

Next, this time they had somewhat greater resources: 7 loaves compared to 5, and "a few" fishes, which we can assume was more than two.   But, here is the thing about that.  The commentators not the way they said it:

Mat 15:34  And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."

The phrase 'small' was an intentional downplaying of what they had.  God had gave them more; they acted as if they had less.  Like we do with our gifts, when it comes to using them for the Lord.  How many Christians would rather write a pages long letter complaining to their Congressman, or customer service, or even put up a bad Yelp review, and never once pick up pen and paper for the Lord? "Oh, but I couldn't do that; I haven't the Scriptural knowledge."  Here's your calling out.

Next, after an incident with the Pharisees- whom He has already put in their place before, they hop the boat, and Jesus makes a statement that exposes His 'Church':

Mat 16:5  When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread.
Mat 16:6  Jesus said to them, "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Mat 16:7  And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread."
Mat 16:8  But Jesus, aware of this, said, "O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?
Mat 16:9  Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
Mat 16:10  Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
Mat 16:11  How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Mat 16:12  Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

So tied up in the physical world, they cannot even break away from it long enough to get His spiritual point.  Last week, I posed this question...

Second reaction was more damning: "Explain this parable." But was it a parable?  Was there anything hidden in what He told the crowd? Jesus essentially gives them the same answer He had already given...

 

And here, the 'leaven of the Pharisees' was clearly metaphorical, and it sailed right past them!  How was it that the more Jesus taught them, the LESS they got?  One of the commentators suggested as a defense that 'leaven' was almost never used in this sense by Jews.  Nor by us, but we get it! No, there was something more going on here, and we learn it from the next set of questions Jesus asks...

Mat 16:13  Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
Mat 16:14  And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
Mat 16:15  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Mat 16:16  Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 

"My Father in Heaven" revealed this answer to them... and yet, not long after, left to his own intellect...

Mat 16:21  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
Mat 16:22  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you."
Mat 16:23  But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." 

 

We of this time have had the advantage- if we took advantage of it- of Spirit filled epistles of Paul and Peter, sermons from Martin Luther and Billy Graham, and the pouring of the Holy Spirit out on believers of the Church age.  They did not.  The crowds, not with Him every day, could see Him as Messiah and God; the Disciples knew Him as a man.  They likely saw Him, eating, dressing, taking care of bodily needs, stubbing His toe on a rock (although certain passages might prove me wrong on that last one!).  How do you put a God you can't see into a man you can?  Answer: You can't.  It has to be 'revealed by my Father in Heaven'.

 

And for them, at that time, in those circumstances, it was a tenuous revelation.  And unless you have given your heart to Christ, it is likely tenuous for you, as well.  To God be all the glory here; I freely admit I had no idea where this was going at the start; the Spirit had it dialed in all along.  Thank You for allowing me to type it out.