Matthew 16:1-12 - Not bread

16:1-4

The Pharisees and Sadducees again come and demand a sign. Jesus answers by pointing out the perverse they were. They had seen quite enough to provide all the proof that was needed. They could read the weather, but could not understand what was before their eyes. They were a "wicked and adulterous” generation. The issue they should have been concerned about was the state of their hearts. The sign to come would be the resurrection of Jesus, but even that would do them no good.

16:5-12

The disciples were not much brighter. Jesus warned them to beware of having the same mindset as the Pharisees and Sadducees, but they thought he was talking about bread. Jesus reminds them of the two feeding miracles, Jesus was concerned about something much more important. Then the disciples finally understood.

Matthew 15:1-39 - Faith

15:1-20

The Pharisees and teachers of the Law continued to try and catch Jesus out, using his disciples as the “weak” point. However, they betrayed their fundamental failure, they focused on externals. So they raised the matter of hand washing.

Jesus immediately turned the tables on them, drawing attention to how they broke the law of God. They had found a “clever” way of getting round the command to look after our parents. Jesus quotes from Is 29:13, their supposed honouring of God was nothing but a sham.

Jesus then turns to the crowds and teaches them the truth. \it is what is inside our hearts that defiles us. The disciples realised how offensive this was to the religious leaders. Jesus responds that they were blind guides and would be rejected by God. They were not the people to fear or listen to. Our hearts are the problem.

15:21-28

The legalism of the Pharisees is contrasted with the faith of a Canaanite woman. She comes to Jesus because her daughter is ill and is demon possessed. The disciples saw her simply as a Canaanite woman, someone who was not part of Israel, if anything, an enemy of Israel, so they urged Jesus to send her away. Initially Jesus seems to go along with this request, telling the woman that his mission was to the Jews. However, the woman is not easily put off, Jesus commends her faith and heals her daughter.

15:29-39

We now get another feeding miracle, this time four thousand people. The crowds followed Him as always, and many were healed.. The disciples seem to have learnt nothing from the previous incident, and urges Jesus to send the people away. Once again all were fed with ample left over.

Matthew 15:1-20 - The heart of the matter

15:1-20

The Pharisees and teachers of the Law continued to try and catch Jesus out, using his disciples as the “weak” point. However, they betrayed their fundamental failure, they focused on externals. So they raised the matter of hand washing.

Jesus immediately turned the tables on them, drawing attention to how they broke the law of God. They had found a “clever” way of getting round the command to look after our parents. Jesus quotes from Is 29:13, their supposed honouring of God was nothing but a sham.

Jesus then turns to the crowds and teaches them the truth. \it is what is inside our hearts that defiles us. The disciples realised how offensive this was to the religious leaders. Jesus responds that they were blind guides and would be rejected by God. They were not the people to fear or listen to. Our hearts are the problem.

Matthew 14:22-36 - Out for a walk

14:22-36

Having done one miracle, we then see another. Jesus dismissed the crowds after they had been fed and told the disciples to head to the other side of the lake by boat, He himself went up a mountainside to pray.  A storm got up on the lake and Jesus walked out to them.The disciples thought it was a ghost, not expecting a man to walk on water,. Jesus assured them that it was him, and for a time Peter also walked on the water, but then realising what he was doing he began to sink. Jesus reached out and caught him.  May be we can take this as an indication that if we set out to do something for Jesus, and then things start to get difficult He will reach out to us.They were amazed at Jesus, saying “truly you are the Son of God.. They reached the other side, and were met by more crowds.

Matthew 14:1-21 - Feeding time

14:1-12

Herod the tetrarch had had John the Baptist beheaded. However, he felt guilty and knew that he had done wrong, so he thought that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead, and now with miraculous powers. John had called our Herod’s sin. He had taken Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. Herodias was as guilty as he was, and she saw and took the opportunity to have John killed. John’s disciples knew thatJohn had been preaching about Jesus, so they told Jesus what had happened.

14:13-21

The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is contained in all the gospels. Jesus withdrew to a solitary place, after hearing the news of John, but the crowds followed Him. Jesus had compassion on them and healed the sick. Note that while the healings were a sign, they were also done out of compassion for people. The disciples saw a practical problem, how to feed the people, and saw the only solution was to send the crowds away. Jesus saw a different solution. So He got the disciples to organise the people. There was enough for everyone, and twelve baskets of left overs were collected.

Matthew 13:44-58 Still more parables

13:44-46

There are more parables to come. This one shows how determined we should be to find the kingdom. The man in the parable sells all he had to buy the pearl, and was glad that he had.

13:47-52

Jesus returns to the end of days, stressing that there will be a judgement. It can seem that justice is not done, but there will come a time when judgement is done. The angels will separate the good from the bad.

13:53-58

Jesus then moves on and explains that “a  prophet is without honour in his own town”. This worked out in his not doing many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Matthew 13:24-43 - More parables

13:24-30

Jesus then tells them another parable, this time the parable of the weeds. Some might have wondered why God doesn’t just zap all the bad people. This parable explains why.They might have wondered where the bad folk had all come from. The Law was good, how come then that there is so much evil? Jesus explains that the enemy had sown the weeds. Having accepted this the natural reaction was to pull up all the weeds. Jesus’s answer to this suggestion is no, because they might also uproot the good stuff as well. God is concerned with saving as well as judging. But there would come a time of distinction, this would happen at harvest time, then the weeds would be collected and burned, the wheat would be gathered in.

13:31-35

Jesus tells yet another parable, or rather two parables, about the mustard seed and the yeast. The kingdom can seem to be small and inconsequential, but like the mustard seed it grows into the largest of garden plants, and the birds nest in it. Like yeast, it works its effects through everything. Matthew then quotes from Psalm 78:2, showing that in speaking in parables Jesus is fulfilling the Scriptures.

13:36-43

The disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable of the weeds. The key difference between the disciples and the religious leaders is that the disciples were willing to learn from Jesus. The same applies to us. We will not understand everything, but when we don’t we do not decide that God is wrong, but ask Him to instruct us. There will be a final reckoning.