25-1012sc - Detailed Summary

The teacher reflects on the challenge of preparing for a single class, likening it to a sermon, and considers ways to make it interactive while being mindful of time constraints. He mentions creating a sermon that he plans to expand later. The focus is on a personal study insight about the story of the Canaanite woman’s faith, highlighting a new observation about Jesus' teaching style. Jesus not only teaches through words but also through actions, expecting followers to understand lessons implicitly. The teacher intends to develop this into a two-part sermon. He notes how familiar Bible passages can reveal new insights over time, as if the Holy Spirit illuminates them suddenly, revealing patterns after multiple readings.

The teacher suggests approaching Bible study with a prayer like David’s in Psalm 119, asking God to open eyes to wonderful things in His law, emphasizing that the Spirit responds to a desire to learn. He leads the group in prayer, thanking God for blessings and asking for blessings on the congregation amid their struggles. Specific prayers are offered for Kevin, who is temporarily furloughed from government work, hoping for a quick resolution to budget issues so workers can return and support families, and for personal sustenance for Kevin. The prayer extends to the Tuck family, seeking wisdom and correction for Warren regarding unpaid taxes to prevent losing his home. The group is encouraged to help the poor in the congregation. The prayer concludes by asking God to open eyes to His word, aid understanding and application, and foster deeper, mature faith, all in Jesus' name.

The teacher shares observations from reading Matthew 14 and 15, focusing on Jesus feeding the 5,000, His confrontations with stubborn Jewish leaders who refused to listen with their hearts, and how the poor and downtrodden were more receptive. Jesus prepared disciples for preaching the Gospel worldwide through both direct teaching and subtle examples, which the class will explore.

After His resurrection, Jesus met disciples in Galilee to clarify the Great Commission. In Acts 1:6-8, disciples ask if He will restore Israel’s kingdom, but Jesus redirects, saying times are set by the Father; instead, they will receive Holy Spirit power to witness starting in Jerusalem, then all Judea and Samaria, and to the earth’s remotest parts, establishing a clear order for spreading the Gospel.

The disciples were to witness first to Jews in Jerusalem, giving them priority as the lost sheep of Israel. Jeremiah first applied "lost sheep" to Israelites in chapter 50:6, blaming unfaithful shepherds—religious leaders—who neglected teaching, disobeyed the law, and served other gods, leading the people astray.

Next, outreach extends from Jerusalem to Judea and then Samaria, home to "half-Jews" who intermingled with Gentiles after Assyrian conquests displaced Israelites and repopulated the area with pagans, creating a hybrid religion blending Judaism and paganism while retaining Israelite blood. This dissemination of the Word is likened to earthquake ripples from an epicenter. Finally, it reaches the world’s ends, as the apostles and believers were to carry it.

During His ministry, Jesus mirrored this order by commanding disciples in Matthew 10:5-6, when sending them to practice preaching, to avoid Gentiles and Samaritan cities, focusing instead on the lost sheep of Israel. Jesus viewed the people as lost sheep, knowing their hearts were far from God despite outward motions.

Paul followed this by starting in synagogues with Jews, the lost sheep. After dispersions, only Judah’s remnants returned from Babylonian captivity after 70 years, hence the term "Jews" applies broadly today to Israel’s descendants.

Post-dispersion and the 70 AD temple destruction, which erased genealogies, Jews can’t prove tribal lineages, creating issues for a third temple since priests must be from Levi and high priests from Aaron’s bloodline—God ensured this uncertainty. Most Jews in Israel today are secular, unbelieving in the ancient God, more Marxist and left-leaning.

The teacher questions America’s defense of Israel, treating it like any unbelieving nation despite its democracy, not due to heritage. He suggests sending missionaries to convert them. In Romans, Paul calls believers spiritual Israel, aligning with Jesus' intent in John 10 to unite Jews and others into one flock under one shepherd, as the Good Shepherd knows His sheep and will bring in others not of the fold.

Jesus commanded outreach to Samaritans—half-breeds viewed sympathetically by Him but with horror by disciples, who saw them as unclean lepers to avoid except for business. This required disciples to overcome prejudice to bring the Word.

Disciples saw Gentiles as beyond redemption, but Jesus' teachings, spoken and unspoken, showed His love for them too. Paul followed the pattern in foreign lands, entering synagogues first. In Acts 13:46, he and Barnabas tell rejecting Jews that the Word was for them first, but since they thrust it away and deem themselves unworthy of eternal life—mirroring modern Israel’s state except for Christian Israelites—they turn to Gentiles.

The first instance of Jesus teaching this pattern is early in John’s Gospel. After the Cana wedding miracle turning water to wine, He went to Jerusalem for His ministry’s first Passover, cleansed the temple, taught Jews, and healed the sick. After heated exchanges with unbelieving leaders, He returned to Galilee, conversing with Nicodemus, a curious leader, about entering God’s kingdom through baptism, which many rejected. En route through Samaria to Galilee, they reached Sychar, site of Jacob’s well with historical significance in Israelite lore.

Jesus engages in a discussion with a Samaritan woman at the well, who has mixed Israeli and Gentile heritage, making her looked down upon by others. While the disciples are away buying food, she mentions the well was built by her ancestor Jacob, confirming her mixed background. She has not lived a life reflective of true belief, having had multiple husbands and currently living with a man who is not her husband, a fact Jesus reveals to her.

The woman recognizes Jesus as a prophet after he reveals details of her life. They discuss differences in worship between Samaritans and Jews, noting that salvation comes from Israel, and she mentions that the Messiah will clarify everything. Jesus directly reveals himself as the Messiah, using the term "I am," echoing Yahweh. This realization excites her, and she rushes back to Sychar to tell everyone she has found the Messiah who knows everything about her.

As the woman leaves, the disciples return with food and are shocked to see Jesus speaking with this unclean Samaritan woman but refrain from questioning him. When they offer food, Jesus mentions having food they do not know about, confusing them as they think in physical terms, wondering who might have fed him, while he refers to spiritual sustenance.

Jesus observes the woman returning with many townspeople, all dressed in typical white tunics, approaching through fields likely planted with spring grain. He uses this sight as a metaphor, telling the disciples to look at the fields white and ripe for harvest. He explains that they will reap where others have sown, with Jesus as the primary sower, but the woman also planting seeds by spreading the news. Jesus provides the growth.

The disciples engage with the arriving Samaritans, who are so impressed they stay with Jesus for two or three days as he teaches them. Jesus never explicitly instructs the disciples to preach to Gentiles; it is an unspoken lesson that opportunities to share the Gospel should not be missed, even beyond the lost sheep of Israel. This mirrors God’s sending of Jonah to Nineveh in Assyria, enemies of Israel, whom God loved despite Jonah’s reluctance, reflecting the disciples' prejudiced attitudes that Jesus aims to change.

Jesus teaches that all people have value, so while the primary order is to go to Jews first, then Samaritans, then Gentiles, souls should be saved wherever opportunities arise. In this instance, after cleansing the temple, teaching and healing Jews, and contending with leaders, Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman leads to a fruitful harvest of believers in Samaria.

The Samaritans readily accept the word because they believe the woman’s testimony and then Jesus himself. This establishes a pattern for the disciples: go to Jews first, and if rejected, shake off the dust and move to others like Samaritans or Gentiles. This aligns with Jesus' parable of the wedding feast, where the father invites relatives first, but upon their excuses and rejection, sends servants to invite everyone from the streets.

The parable metaphorically represents the invitation to salvation and joining the church as the bride in a wedding celebration. Many Jews rejected Jesus' message, though some believed, leading to the pattern of offering it first to Jews, then to the world.

Jesus establishes this outreach pattern, and it is unclear if the disciples connected it to the Samaria events. Now turning to the Canaanite woman, a full Gentile, despite the priority to Jews, Jesus, as God, can save whom he chooses. In Matthew 14:13, Jesus shows compassion on crowds following him, calling them sheep without a shepherd, indicting poor religious leaders as wolves. He feeds the 5,000 mostly Jews, leaving 12 baskets of leftovers, echoing Psalm 23 where the good shepherd provides overflowing abundance, starting with five loaves and two fish.

After feeding the multitude, they travel south by boat to Gennesaret, where Jesus teaches and heals. Scribes and Pharisees challenge him over traditions, seeing disciples eat with unwashed hands, deeming them unclean.

Jesus discusses what truly defiles a person, explaining it is not unwashed hands but the heart’s condition. A good person draws from good in the heart, an evil one from evil; the mouth reveals the heart. He points this at the leaders. For the Canaanite woman’s story, the teacher combines Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-37 for fuller details. Jesus withdraws to Tyre and Sidon, entering a house secretly but cannot hide. A Greek woman from Syrian Phoenicia, whose daughter is demon-possessed, hears of him, falls at his feet, and begs for mercy, calling him Lord, son of David.

Jesus initially ignores her; disciples urge sending her away as she cries after them. He states he was sent only to Israel’s lost sheep, saying it is not right to take children’s bread and give it to dogs. She replies that even dogs eat crumbs from the master’s table. Impressed by her great faith, Jesus grants her request; the demon leaves her daughter instantly, healing her. The woman returns home to find her daughter lying peacefully on the bed, the demon having left her. Once again, Jesus has a heated discussion with Jewish leaders, observing their hardened hearts. He then travels northeast along the Mediterranean Sea to the area between Sidon and Tyre, spanning about 25 miles, originally part of Canaan. The inhabitants were Phoenicians, often identified by their cities, but at this time, the region is called Syro-Phoenicia due to Syrian conquest and repopulation.

As Jesus travels with his disciples, this Gentile woman hears of him and seeks him out in this vast area of about 25 by 10 miles. Despite being a Greek Gentile from a remote area, she addresses him as the son of David, hoping he can heal her severely demon-possessed daughter, as no one else could. The teacher reflects on the severity of demon possession, drawing from personal experience working on the psych floor at the Sheriff’s Department, where he encountered criminally insane individuals who seemed demon-possessed, evoking intense fear. This contrasts with one’s own minor issues, affirming sanity. The woman’s young daughter, perhaps around four to six years old, suffers greatly, driving her desperation. Hearing of the Jews' Messiah gives her hope, and she immediately seeks Jesus, likely guided by the Spirit given the improbability of finding him quickly in such a large area.

Jesus anticipates this encounter, as it defies chance. Commentators may disagree, but it provides an opportunity to demonstrate his superiority over demons—fallen spirits who rejected God and followed Satan—establishing himself as Messiah to whom every knee, human and spirit, will bow, glorifying God.

The woman finds Jesus and pleads for mercy, addressing him respectfully as Lord, Son of David, a title she learned from hearsay, which is accurate but one she has no inherent claim to as an unbelieving Gentile until motivated by her daughter’s need.

Jesus remains silent initially, prompting the disciples to urge him to send her away, viewing her as having no place, being an unclean Gentile, and finding her persistent cries annoying and uncomfortable. This mirrors their earlier reaction to mothers bringing children to Jesus, where they tried to shoo them away, only for Jesus to rebuke them sharply, emphasizing that the kingdom belongs to such as children. The disciples' hearts, like many before knowing Christ, were hardened, prejudiced, easily annoyed, and unloving, needing lessons. The Canaanite woman also learns she cannot claim Jesus' attention merely by titles. Jesus states he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. She then bows humbly, acknowledging him as master and pleading, "Lord, help me," marking a turning point. Jesus tests her further, saying it is not fair to take children’s bread and throw it to dogs.

Driven by a mother’s desperate love to heal her child from demon possession, the woman responds wisely, accepting her position as a Gentile with no claim like the Jews. She humbly positions herself as a little dog under the master’s table, part of the human family nonetheless.

She recognizes that even a crumb of blessing from Christ—where bread symbolizes God’s word—would suffice to heal her daughter, akin to how dogs claim fallen scraps. The teacher humorously recalls feeding unwanted liver to his dog as a child. Her response shows deep understanding of her place as an uninvited Gentile, not at the table where Jews receive first access to God’s word, but able to claim a fallen crumb from the master’s table. This imagery illuminates her realization of Christ’s identity.

Jesus, impressed, praises her great faith and instantly heals her daughter by commanding the spirit out. The woman returns home to find her child healed, likely strengthening her belief in Jesus as Messiah more profoundly than the Samaritan woman’s experience, given the personal miracle. As a Canaanite Gentile possibly from a pagan background, hearing of Israel’s God and the Messiah title transforms her life. The disciples witness this even more unclean person than the Samaritan receiving praise for her faith, likely enlightening them that even the lost can be saved. Jesus, as God, loves all and can act outside the order of Jews first then Gentiles. This story follows his argument with hard-hearted leaders who rejected him; instead, he encounters this woman en route through Sidon to the Decapolis—ten mostly Gentile cities on the east side of the lake, inhabited by Syrians. There, he teaches, heals, and feeds 4,000 mostly Gentiles. Viewing the big picture, Jesus adheres to the order but silently teaches disciples through example to reach Gentiles after their people. This forms the crux of the teacher’s upcoming sermon. Class time ends, inviting questions or comments.