Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: You've lived your life so far assuming that Christianity is a quaint myth, an antiquated system, a dangerous lie. But now you wonder, are you too distant? Too much of an outsider to ever be welcomed in? Can you see today that Jesus Christ specializes in welcoming those who were far off? He has readied a place at his table.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I'm Steve Hiller and Jonathan, I am sure that there are some listeners who can identify with that. They really are wrestling with and struggling with: Would God, could God, really accept me? And I hear you saying the definitive answer to that question is yes.

Jonathan Griffiths: The invitation of Jesus Christ to his great feast, to his salvation banquet as the Scriptures sometimes present it to us, it is an unlimited invitation for anyone who would repent and believe. Now, of course, repentance and belief are essential. We don't come to the table, we're not ushered into the banquet until we do that. But for anyone who would come, there is the invitation, there is an open door there.

And I have no doubt that there'll be some listening who feel, it's not for me. I've gone too far, I've fallen to too great a depth, and Jesus Christ couldn't welcome me. And the great news of the gospel is that the saving work of Jesus Christ reaches all who would turn to him in repentance and faith, and there is an invitation for you.

Steve Hiller: Well, one of the great things about that invitation is Jesus also says that if you come to me, I will not turn you away. And so, I hope you'll continue to listen to this broadcast today, continue to open your Bible and join us in the book of Matthew. We're in chapter 15, looking at verses 29 to 39, as we continue a message called "The God Who Makes All Things New." Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: Next, a comprehensive invitation. As we come to the gospel accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, as we come to Matthew's account as we do today, we need to remember that the story of Jesus begins very much within the nation of Israel and among the Jewish people. Jesus was born as an Israelite. Matthew has been at pains to show us already that Jesus is himself the long-awaited Messiah of the people of God, the promised king in David's line who would redeem the nation.

But in our previous passage in Matthew 15, there has been this very dramatic turning point, a breathtaking departure. If you were with us last time, you'll remember that Jesus had recently had a very dispiriting encounter and exchange with the religious leaders who came to him from Jerusalem. They had heard, if you remember, that Jesus' disciples weren't keeping all the religious rules that they so treasured. And so they came to question and to challenge Jesus.

As they did so, Jesus revealed that they actually had no understanding of the deeper and real spiritual issues, of the defilement of sin, the filthiness of the human heart, the need for cleansing. And then as we're thoroughly discouraged watching all this taking place, watching these religious leaders get it just so very, very wrong, Jesus moves on beyond the border of Israel's territory to Tyre and Sidon in the north. He enters into another encounter now with a Gentile woman, a Canaanite, a real outsider.

She came to him, you remember, in dire need. Her daughter is oppressed by a demon. Jesus makes a point of saying, "Look, I came in the first place for the people of Israel." But this lady, she persists. Jesus ultimately extends his gracious work to her and he praises her faith. And in that moment, in that key moment, we see with certainty that the saving reach of Jesus Christ is not limited but extends beyond the one nation and indeed reaches the nations.

And so now in this section as we've seen, Jesus is continuing in Gentile territory. He's on the far side of the Sea of Galilee, on the more desolate eastern shore, Gentile territory. He's engaging with outsiders, non-Israelites, and it's very striking that Jesus extended his merciful healing ministry to the Gentiles as we've seen here. The messianic blessings of Isaiah 35 are being extended and the Gentiles see that, they wonder at it, they glorify the God of Israel. And Matthew puts it that way to emphasize the point.

It's wonderful, but we could look on that and we could think this was just an emergency situation. Jesus was in transit, he was just passing through, and these needs were presented before him in great numbers. He was a bit like the doctor on a flight heading somewhere else, going on vacation, but a passenger on the plane falls ill. The captain puts out a plea, "Is there a doctor on board?" And so he pulls out his medical bag and he intervenes, but he wasn't actually there to do medical work. He wasn't on the flight for that purpose, he was heading for the beach, just in transit.

Now, if we wonder whether the healing of these non-Israelites was just kind of a flash in the pan, a diversion, this next incident removes all doubt. Here in this next incident, Jesus signals in a powerful way that his kingdom invitation and kingdom welcome extends very much to the outsider, to the non-Israelite, to the people of the nations. Now, as has happened before, Jesus has got a crowd of people before him.

The Gentile folk gathered to bring their sick and receive the healing touch. They've been there a long time, this has taken three days, we're told. But when the healings were done, Jesus doesn't send them away. No, he looks on the crowd and his heart is filled with compassion. Verse 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.'"

It's all actually sounding just a little bit familiar, is it not? More or less the same thing happened back in the previous chapter, in chapter 14. Jesus sees a great crowd, they're hungry, he has compassion on them. We've seen it before. And just like before, the disciples seem a little stumped and vaguely irritated. Verse 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?'"

It's actually remarkable that the disciples are asking this question. They've seen Jesus feed crowds by miraculous means before now, but like us, they're a little slow to learn, a little slow to believe. A repeat of the miracle does them no harm, as it does us no harm. The story is in many ways a repeat. Jesus takes the food that the disciples have, in this case, seven loaves and fish. He gets the crowd to sit down, he takes the food, gives thanks, gives the food to the disciples to distribute, and a miracle takes place.

Verse 37: "And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. Those who ate were 4,000 men, besides women and children." Wonderful story, but we've sort of heard it before. Matthew, I mean, surely he's got some space constraints in his gospel. He's been selective with the material that he includes. Why a second feeding miracle that looks a whole lot like the last one in the previous chapter?

I don't know if you've spent any time examining these two miracles, these two events. If we do look at them closely, there's really just one big difference that stands out between them, and it's the numbers. It's the numbers. They're different. And while we don't want to get lost in all the details here, numbers in the Bible do sometimes have significance and symbolic weight to them, and I think that's the case here, most significantly in the quantity of the food left over.

Back in that feeding miracle in the previous chapter, in the territory of Israel, the disciples took up 12 baskets of food that were left over once all the people were satisfied. Here in this second feeding miracle, now among the Gentiles, they take up how many baskets full remaining? Seven baskets full. Think about the numbers. In the Old Testament, the number 12 was deeply meaningful because it was the number of the tribes in Israel. It's a very weighty number for the nation.

And to have food enough for 12 baskets, it says that Jesus has enough to sustain and satisfy the entire people of God. It's very rich symbolism. But lest we come away from that meaning, imagining that Jesus means that his salvation extends only to ethnic Israel, Jesus now repeats the miracle on the far side of the sea in Gentile territory, and the leftover number is not the Jewish number 12, but the creation number 7.

Here is a number not grounded in the history of Israel, but rooted well before the founding of the nation in the very creation of the world. God created for six days and on the seventh, he rested. And in the Bible, the number seven comes to speak of God's finished work in creation. Seven means completeness, wholeness, perfection.

And in an elegant little touch that just underlines the point, we don't see this in English, but in the original, the word for basket here in verse 37, the seven baskets full of broken pieces left over, that word for basket is actually not the same word as was used in the previous feeding miracle in chapter 14 to speak of the baskets left over. No, that previous word was sometimes used to refer to the baskets employed by Jewish people to carry kosher food back in chapter 14. But this word here, it's a more general word that would be used in the Gentile world, more appropriate for a Gentile setting.

And what's the meaning of all this, the number, the baskets? The meaning is simply this, quite simply this: the feast that Jesus Christ provides is sufficient to bring salvation and satisfaction to the people of the world, not simply the nation of Israel. What's the meaning, what's the significance? There is no one who is uninvited to the feast that Jesus provides. There's bread enough, sustenance enough, life enough for all who would come.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths and a message called "The God Who Makes All Things New." It's part of our series from the book of Matthew called "In the Presence of the King." And if you've missed any of the broadcasts in our series, come and listen online. Our website is encounterthetruth.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again, that's at encounterthetruth.org.

When you stop by the website, I hope you'll sign up for our newsletter, check out our weekly e-devotional, and find links there to social media. Again, you're going to find all that and more when you visit encounterthetruth.org. Back to the message. Again, here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: I don't know if you've ever had that experience of walking by a banquet, maybe at a fine restaurant or a hotel. You can see through the windows and there are tables that are set, there's white tablecloths, there's a beautiful feast. Maybe it's a wedding or a black-tie dinner for a club or a society and it looks just beautiful. But the doors are closed, there's someone standing guard, the message is clear: this meal, it's only for a select few.

And you gaze on somewhat longingly, wishing you could go in and take part. I actually had an experience just like that the other day. I was staying in a hotel for some meetings and I was walking through the hotel restaurant, the main restaurant, to reach another room where my party were waiting. And as I entered the main restaurant of the hotel, casually dressed, I was greeted by the sight of a full room of people dressed in black tie, tuxedos, all looking very smart and so on.

And as I wandered in, thinking, "Oh, this looks rather nice, thank you, I will take my seat," as I wandered in, one of the servers came and stood in my path and politely pointed the way round the back of the restaurant to the room where my party were seated. It was a private function, no entry for the riff-raff like me. You will remember how earlier in chapter 15, the Gentile woman, the Canaanite, came to Jesus to ask if she might receive his help, if he might work his power to release her daughter from demonic oppression.

And Jesus hesitated and he said he'd come for the people of Israel. He spoke in a way that seemed a little harsh. He said, as you remember, in verse 26: "It wasn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." See, Jesus, he'd given bread miraculously to the people of Israel in the previous feeding miracle back in chapter 14, but he held back just a little from offering his bounty to this Canaanite woman.

She persevered nonetheless and in great humility and faith said this: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table." Think of the bread imagery here. And Jesus, of course, commended her faith and released his power just as she had asked. So what's happening now in this feeding miracle? What is the point that Jesus is making? He's making the point that the dogs, the outsiders, the people not previously invited to the wedding, the people not wearing the black tie, he's making the point that the banquet is for them too.

There's food enough. Oh, yeah, there's provision. There's an invitation. In fact, there's no one who is not invited to the feast that Jesus provides. In our day and age, it's a little hard, I think, for us to imagine the nature of the division between the Israelites and the non-Israelites in the day of Jesus. The walls were high, the barriers were very, very real. The promises of God were for the children of Israel and the nations around, they were unclean and uncouth.

To have contact with Gentiles, to enter their homes was to become unclean. To sit down for a meal with a non-Israelite, it was practically unthinkable. But now Jesus, in this grand miracle, in this powerful visual aid, is not simply throwing crumbs to the dogs, he is inviting the outsider to come in and sit down for a meal, a feast. Notice the power of this, verse 36: he invites them, please, sit down.

He takes the food, he prays a prayer of thanks. This is suddenly now a family meal, a familiar and a warm occasion, one of feasting, one of fellowship and no one is excluded. The Bible speaks wonderfully of a coming day when the people of God will sit down for a banquet in the presence of Jesus Christ. There will be a great supper, a wonderful celebration, a rich feast in the presence of the King. And to be invited to that supper, to sit at that table, it means life eternal.

It means joy without limit. It means full salvation. Here in this ancient scene, we have a little picture, don't we? A foreshadowing. And in the kindness of Jesus, here is the point: the invitation to the banquet has no limit. It will take a response of humble faith to come, to be willing to sit at the feet of Jesus and to receive, but anyone can come. No one who asks will be denied.

I just wonder, I suspect, really, that there might be some among us, some listening who feel like total outsiders to the things of Christ. You're here, you're listening because there's a part of you that would love to enter into the community, to be part of the family, to receive from Jesus, but for whatever reason, you have long assumed that you are an outsider, excluded. This is not for you.

Perhaps it's simply a matter of your record and your history. You know what you've done, you know that it's wrong in the sight of God, you actually feel too unclean. You sense you would be turned away. The Gentiles were by definition unclean under Old Testament law. They were by definition excluded, but Jesus welcomes them unreservedly. And of course, his doing that, it raises a big issue for us.

How is it that Jesus can welcome the outsider, the unclean, to his great feast? The scene here, it raises the question for us, but the issue in a way remains unresolved for a little while, and it looms very, very large in the gospel story. The answer to the question will come later in the story. Jesus is actually pointing us there to his central work, to his great aim. The answer comes, doesn't it, when Jesus dies on the cross?

When he sheds his blood to make the unclean clean, to pardon the guilty, to include the excluded. See, the death of Jesus on the cross of Calvary is the only means by which this feast on the hillside makes any sense. Jesus Christ can welcome the unwelcomable because he intends to die to pay the price of their admission, to remove any obstacle to their participation.

And friend, if you feel your sin and your guilt, your record of wrong, if you feel that that excludes you, would you see today that Jesus Christ offers you an open invitation, an invitation that is purchased by his own death? It may be that you feel an outsider simply because you've come from a very, very different place. You were raised in another faith, perhaps, or you've embraced a secular worldview that seems to exclude the claims of Jesus Christ, and that has been your assumption for as long as you can remember.

You've lived your life so far assuming that Christianity is a quaint myth, an antiquated system, a dangerous lie. But now, even perhaps just today, you are seeing something different. You're seeing Jesus in another light. But you wonder, are you too distant? Too much of an outsider to ever be welcomed in? Can you see today that Jesus Christ specializes in welcoming those who were far off? He delights in saving those who lived at a distance.

Can you see today that he has prepared a spiritual meal for you? He has readied a place at his table. It may be that you're assuming today that you won't be included here, really because you're just more or less excluded just about everywhere you go. You don't tend to fit in. You see yourself as a natural outsider. Maybe people don't tend to warm to you very easily. You struggle to find a place in community wherever you go.

And having experienced that so much, you assume it must be the same with Jesus Christ and with his people. Can you see today that Jesus welcomes all who come and he excludes none who ask? Would you know and believe today that there is a place at his feast for you? Outsiders need to see the wonder of this, and we who know Jesus Christ and who have already come in, we need to be reminded of this truth as well.

I'm afraid we're so very inclined to be so very tribal in our outlook. We find it very easy, don't we, to form a group and to close ranks and to put up barriers of exclusion to others? That's such a strong instinct for us. We see those, don't we, whose way of life, whose habits and hobbies, whose interests and involvements, whose background and breeding are unlike ours? And what do we do? We so easily write them off, we so easily ignore them.

We see those who are new to the faith or whose Christian community is rather unlike ours, different networks and traditions and emphases and histories, and we easily just turn a bit of a cold shoulder and withhold our welcome. Or we see those who are not believers at all but are taking an interest in the faith, but they've come from a long, long distance away, socially, culturally.

And our instinct is to think, well, they're not going to fit. And rather than plead with them, plead with them to come into the family of God, we give them polite and passing attention and assume that nothing much will come of their interest. Or worse, we give them no attention at all because somehow we fear, and we wouldn't articulate this even to ourselves and certainly not to others, but somehow we fear that their entry into the family of God would upset the balance, disturb the atmosphere, change things in ways that we wouldn't like too much.

But it's so very alien, alien to the heart of Jesus, to the purpose of Jesus. He welcomes all who come. Friends, do we share his heart? Do we issue his welcome? Do we rejoice in the comprehensive nature of his invitation to outsiders and to sinners, to the spiritually needy and hungry? How big is the mission of Jesus Christ? How far-reaching is his gospel? How wide is the scope of his work? Praise God, it is more comprehensive than you and I can imagine or dream.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth, wrapping up our message "The God Who Makes All Things New." And if you've missed any part of today's broadcast, or you want to go back and listen again, you can do that at our website, encounterthetruth.org.

Encounter the Truth is able to be on this station, make the website, the podcast, and all the things that happen behind the scenes happen because of your generous financial support. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a book written by Paul Mallard. It's called "An Anchor for the Soul." And Jonathan, how would reading this book be helpful in our Christian walk?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, if we're going to keep walking with the Lord Jesus Christ day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, we need stability. We need stability. And in order to have stability, we need to understand who Jesus is and what he's done for us. And Psalm 22 is a wonderful Old Testament passage that points us to Jesus and teaches us about his work on the cross for us, entering into the depths of human suffering and bearing the cost of sin in our place at Calvary.

I think for each one of us, taking the time to reground and re-anchor our faith in the saving work of Jesus is going to do us tremendous good, and I just love to get this book into your hands.

Steve Hiller: Again, it's called "An Anchor for the Soul" written by Paul Mallard, our thank-you gift to you for your financial support this month. You can give online at encounterthetruth.org or over the phone. Our number is 1-833-99-TRUTH. Again, the website is encounterthetruth.org and the phone number is 1-833-998-7884.

You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, P.O. Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M1. Or in the US, Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Breda, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.