Chapter 15

the opposition to the King.

Behind this chapter is the principle of religion. Remember that religion is Satanic in nature, it is the devil’s ace trump, it is Satan trying to gain control of the world which he rules. In verses 1-9 of this chapter we have the opposition of religion to Bible doctrine.

Verse 1 — a religious delegation coming to Jesus Christ. “Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, saying.” The scribes and the Pharisees are often mentioned together because the Pharisees were the political party in the Sanhedrin but with a very strong religious background. We might call them the political party which was actually a religious group. Their concept as far as the southern kingdom was concerned was that religion ought to rule the state, and they favoured the union of religion and state and, of course, they were all very religious people personally. Then they had a hierarchy called the scribes who were theologians and were often Pharisees. They studied the Old Testament scriptures extensively. The word “were” in verse one is not found in the original, it is literally, from Jerusalem. As they approached the Lord Jesus Christ they came in opposition and immediately their opposition is expressed, as is often the case, by a question.

It is very interesting about religious people that they often appear to be very interested in the scripture, and they come as though they were seekers and they seek you on that basis. But in reality they are not seekers at all they are simply looking for an opportunity to express opposition. These people came to Jesus, as it were, seeking information, seeking enlightenment. Therefore they ask a question.

Verse 2 — “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands before [not “when"] they eat bread.” The scribes and the Pharisees contend that the disciples are violating the tradition of the elders.

The tradition of elders

1. The tradition of the elders is the oral law handed down in Israel. It was developed outside of the scriptures, then eventually reduced to writing and collected under a manuscript system called the Mishna. So the tradition of the elders refers to the Mishna.

2. The washing of hands before meals is not a commandment in the Old Testament scriptures but became a very strong part of the Mishna. This is why they did not use the word “scripture” .

3. It was however an excellent practice for sanitary reasons, but the rabbis and the elders made it a sign of spirituality. In other words, they said you were not spiritual unless you washed your hands before meals.

4. Whatever the benefits of sanitation they do not extend into the spiritual realm.

5. Here is a case, then, of taking something good and making a false issue out of it.

6. Washing before meals is not a means of spirituality, it is merely a sanitary precaution.

7. The disciples of Jesus quite obviously did not observe this taboo and therefore they came under the critical guns of the scribes and Pharisees.

Eleven of the disciples are from Galilee and they run the gamut from fishermen to publicans. Apparently the Galileans were not too strong on sanitation, the Judaeans were. The only possible person who could have washed his hands before meals would be Judas Iscariot because he was the only one from Judaea. The rest are all from Galilee.

Now the question of the scribes. The principle is that religion is constantly looking for the opportunity to criticise anyone who loves the truth or seeks to learn doctrine. This is something we should all remember. We are going to get opposition from other believers on this point. It is from the shallow believer, the believer who is not interested in doctrine, the believer who is confused about doctrine, the believer who thinks that happiness in life is simply going out and having fun. It is this kind of believer who is going to give you the opposition.

Principle: Religion is constantly looking for the opportunity to criticise those who love Bible doctrine. The second principle is: good in itself is not spirituality. This is a good taboo because it has to do with sanitation but good in itself is not spirituality.

Verse 3 — Jesus answers a question with a question. “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” We have here doctrine versus tradition. In tradition here we have a good thing, a taboo, and there is nothing wrong with it except that it is not spirituality. Jesus therefore says that this is not an issue. Whether the disciples wash their hands or not is not an issue in spirituality. But the scribes have brought this up, the issue of Bible doctrine versus the tradition of the elders, so Jesus is going to give them a bona fide illustration of what they are trying to say, and He is turning it against them. They have something in their tradition called the corbon, and He is going to show them the corbon versus the fifth commandment.

What is the fifth commandment? — Exodus 20:12. It has to do with divine institution number three, the family. “Days … long” refers to life span. If you are going to have a long life span here is one of the issues which determines it. The word “honour” has a number of concepts. As it occurs in the Hebrew here it refers to the principle of obedience to the authority in the home, the mother and the father. This commandment is designed not only for that period of time which we call childhood but it also have some concepts later on after one reaches adulthood. However, its primary concept is in childhood. This is the Word of God; this is not tradition; this is not the Mishna, and corbon is tradition, a tradition connected with giving. It is a giving gimmick. We have giving gimmicks today and they had them in that day. Apparently the synagogues were having trouble raising money and they thought of corbon became a part of the tradition.

Matthew 15:3 — “But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye [plural],” now He puts it on their backs, “also transgress the commandments of God by your tradition?” The commandment refers to the doctrine of the Word of God, in this case Exodus 20:12. The religious traditions of the Pharisees are legalistic and therefore are contrary to the principle of grace. Washing the hands before meals is a good thing but to make it a part of spirituality is a bad thing and becomes legalism. In other words, you are doing something to become spiritual, you are washing your hands. So a good thing is magnified out of its context and it becomes legalism when it is brought into the spiritual realm. And now Jesus is going to show them that they are the ones out of line. So He says, “by your tradition,” which is dia plus the accusative, and literally, “because of [the existence of] your tradition” you are in violation of the Word of God.

Verse 4 — So this question is going to be resolved now but not by their tradition. When they approached they put the emphasis on their tradition, that is their criterion, but Jesus is going to answer them by going from the traditions and taboos which they have developed to the Word of God. He is going to start from the Word of God.

There is a problem here, and that is the fact that religion always substitutes tradition and a program for doctrine. They emphasised their tradition and their program and the Word always emphasises doctrine (and this is an issue that we have to face as believers).

The fifth commandment is given in this verse — “For God commanded,” this is the Word now, “saying, Honour thy father and they mother.” And Jesus now gives the meaning of the second part of that commandment. The Greek word “honour” means not only to obey, but it also means to have respect for authority, to honour on the basis of respect for authority rather than on the basis of love. And notice: The word “commanded” is in the aorist tense; the word “saying” is present linear aktionsart: kept on saying. The aorist tense means that this is a once and for all principle and He keeps saying this to every generation. There is a contrast between the aorist and the present tense: “God commanded,” aorist tense; “saying,” present tense [keep on saying]. Every generation is involved. “He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” This is the way God looks at it. There is a divine discipline for believers or unbelievers and those who reject parental authority are going to die the death, and it means they are going to die young; “let him die the death” is a very difficult phrase. There is no way to get around it, it is tough and it is meant to be that way because the only thing that holds a nation together is divine institution number three. Stability in family life leads to stability in national life, and as goes the families of the nation so goes the nation itself. Instability in family life leads to instability in national life.

The corbon gimmick, verses 5,6.

Verse 5 — “But ye say.” “Ye say” is tradition, and we now have another part of the Mishna; “Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, A gift ["It is” is not found here].” A gift is the corbon.

Corbon is the Greek word and is translated “gift” here. Corbon is the word used in Mark chapter seven, verse eleven, and the word is actually taken from a Hebrew word charav, and it is a word for sacrifice, to make something a sacrifice. The word refers to a sacrifice or a gift which was brought to the altar. It was used for the Levitical sacrifices in Leviticus 1,2, and 3. This word was taken out of its context by the religious crowd and given a broader religious meaning. They decided when they wanted to raise money the way to do it was this: Get a person to leave his money to the synagogue or to the temple, and in order to do that what you do is pronounce all of your estate corbon. And when you say your estate is corbon it means that it will go to the temple, but in the meantime you can use it, you can spend it, and you do not have to pay taxes on it. So here was a way of avoiding income tax and keep from giving to your parents. And that is the way it was used and that is the principle that is involved here.

Now what is the problem? The parents come to the child, the parents are destitute, and they ask for help, for money. The child who is now an adult says: “I am sorry, I can’t give you any of my money, my estate is corbon.” Therefore he can spend it any way he wants to, he can live it up and have a big time, but he doesn’t have to give his parents a cent because everything he has by way of money belongs to the temple, it is corbon. This is the way they avoided helping their parents.

They did it in the name of tradition; they did it in the name of corbon. So corbon, then, violates the fifth commandment. And Jesus points out that the traditions actually violate Bible doctrine. Rather than criticising these disciples for not washing their hands before meals they had better take another look at tradition. They claimed tradition was salvation and spirituality when in reality tradition was in violation to salvation and spirituality.

The last phrase in this verse is an idiom, “by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me” means literally: Everything that I might have used for helping you is corbon.

Verse 6 — He now makes the application. “And honour not his father or his mother.” In other words, when they say corbon they honour not mother and father; “Thus have ye made the commandment of God null and void by your tradition.” In other words, legalism always attacks doctrine and legalism always makes null and void the grace of God. One ounce of legalism destroys the grace of God.

Verses 7-9, the indictment.

Verse 7 — “Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying.” Jesus is talking to the religious hierarchy, the scribes and the Pharisees.

Verse 8 — quotation from Isaiah 29:13, “This people [the Jews] draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart [frontal lobe] is far from me.” And what counts with God? What you say, or what you think? What you think, think, think. Christianity is what you think, not what you say, not what you do.

Verse 9 — “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for [instead of] doctrine the commandments of men.” You cannot teach human tradition as doctrine. Religion has the wrong emphasis.

Verses 10-20, the condemnation of religion.

Verses 10,11 — religion has the wrong emphasis.

Verse 10 — “And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear and understand.” Notice that first the scribes and the Pharisees approach and then Jesus calls in all the people. He wants the people to get in on this; He wants them to hear what religion really is and He wants to warn them against religion.

Verse 11 — a parable. A parable takes an ordinary event in life which everyone understands and uses it to match up with doctrine. “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man.” This takes us right back to the washing of hands. So the disciples didn’t wash their hands, and this means that their food was possibly defiled, especially if they handled their food with their fingers as they habitually did. So they eat something that is perhaps going to cause them some trouble physically; “but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth the man.” In other words, it isn’t what you eat that is going to ruin you with God, it is what you say, and what you say is what you think. Words are formed in the mind, and so speaking is inevitably what you think. And if you are thinking envy and jealousy then you are going to malign and gossip; and if you are thinking hostility and implacability then you are going to run down someone else. So the mouth, when it speaks, merely indicates what is being thought. Principle: it is the old sin nature, not sanitation which is the issue in our relationship with God. If the old sin nature controls the life then the person thinks hatred, envy, hostility, pride, jealousy, legalism, and so on. And notice that religion always places the emphasis on the externals, not what you think.

Verse 12 — we have a small parenthesis here to indicate that at this point even the disciples were mad at Jesus. “Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard your remarks?”

Principle: People who will not accept doctrine are offended by doctrine. Religion rejects doctrine, therefore religion fights doctrine. Legalism and religion try to obscure and phase out Bible doctrine — always. And even these disciples have been touched by religion. Instead of being influenced by what Jesus just said, doctrine, these disciples are influenced by the criticism of the scribes and Pharisees. The disciples were not impressed with the doctrine that Jesus gave, the disciples were impressed with the criticism of the Pharisees. And woe to us when we become impressed with criticism of Bible doctrine.

Verse 13 — religion is not a part of the plan of God. “But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” The plant which the heavenly Father plants is any person who believes in Jesus Christ. Regeneration is the planting. It is in the aorist tense, indicating a once and for all planting. If you are not planted by the heavenly Father — which is regeneration, salvation — the you are going to be rooted up. Rooted up is a future passive indicative, the future tense is logical. It is logical that if you are not born again you are going to be rooted up at the last judgement. The passive voice indicates the last judgement; you are going to receive judgement even though you don’t want it. The indicative mood is the reality of the last judgement for the unregenerate.

There is another side which is not stated here. Jesus is only stating one side of the doctrine, He says “every plant [reference to the member of the human race] which my heavenly Father hath not planted [the unbeliever] shall be rooted up [the last judgement].” And on the other side of the coin, anything the Father plants cannot be rooted up [eternal security]. But the scribes and the Pharisees have rejected Bible doctrine, the plan of God, and salvation.

Verse 14 — an analogy to religion. “Let them alone [separate yourself from them].” Stay away from legalistic people, and that means born again believers who are critical of you because you study doctrine and because you come to Bible class. Phase them out; stay away from them. These Pharisees and scribes aren’t doing the disciples any good. The disciples are taking the Pharisees’ side against Jesus, and therefore against doctrine. They are not listening to Jesus, they are only listening to the criticism of the Pharisees, “they be the blind leaders of the blind.” Here you are listening to people who are blind, leading the blind. And who are the blind at this point? The disciples of Jesus are the blind. Who is leading them? Not Jesus but the scribes and the Pharisees. “And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” The rooting up is the principle of eternal judgement but falling into the ditch means failing in life. And a believer who gets tangled up with religion or legalism is going to spend phase two, the Christian life, in the ditch, and they are going to be led by religious leaders rather than by Bible doctrine.

Principle: We as believers are to be led by Bible doctrine, not by religious and legalistic leaders.

Verse 15 — “Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.” Peter is a little uncomfortable right now because he just realises that the Lord is talking about him. Peter and the other disciples are being led by the blind. Peter understands the narrative but he doesn’t understand the doctrine.

Verse 16 — “And Jesus said, Are ye yet without understanding?”

Verse 17 — “Do not ye yet understand?” Notice that He twice says, Don’t you understand yet? — “Whatsoever entereth into the mouth.” He is explaining the parable of verse 11 — “goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?” into the latrine.

Verse 18 — “But those things which proceed out of the mouth.” Words are formed where? In the mind; “come forth from the heart [frontal lobe]: and they defile the man.” In other words, the sins of the tongue receive emphasis because the sins of the tongue express the sins of the mental attitude.

Verse 19 — “For out of the heart [frontal lobe] proceed evil thoughts, murders.” In other words, before you murder someone you lose your temper, you have a mental attitude — “adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies”

Verse 20 — “These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”

Principle: It is the old sin nature, not sanitation, which is the issue in life. And in our relationship with God as believers it is again what you do about the old sin nature, rebound, rather than washing your hands. In other words, it is better to be inwardly clean than to have clean hands.

What did the Pharisees have? They had clean hands but dirty minds. Jesus is saying that it is better to have a clean mind and dirty hands than to have clean hands and a dirty mind.

The solution to religion: regeneration.

Verse 21 — “Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.” Tyre and Sidon are the two cities of Phoenicia which have been rebuilt. They are occupied by Phoenicians, a branch of the Canaanites, and these people have resumed their great sea trade. When Jesus goes there He is going to a Gentile area.

Verse 22 — “And, behold, a woman of Canaan,” a Phoenician woman, “came out of the same coasts, and cried [kept on crying] after him.” She didn’t cry in the sense of using tears, she cried in the sense of importunity. In other words, she kept calling to Him to get His attention; “saying [kept on saying], Have mercy on me, O Lord [title for deity].” Here is a Gentile woman who recognises the deity of Christ, and we assume from this address that the woman is already eternally saved, based on the principle of 1 Cor. 12:3, that no one can call Jesus Lord apart from the ministry of the Spirit; “son of David” — she recognises that Jesus Christ is the God-Man and that in His humanity He is the ruler of Israel. She calls Him the son of David and all of the Canaanites and all of the Phoenicians are familiar with David and the Davidic line and the Davidic claims to the throne of Israel. This woman is most unusual because apparently this is her first contact and already she knows more than most of the disciples because she has a clear understanding of the doctrine of the hypostatic union. She understands that Jesus Christ is the unique person of the universe, that He is God, and at the same time He is true humanity, and that He is the God-Man forever and that He can help her.

This woman has a daughter who is dying and one thing is clear: she definitely understands the source of problem-solving. She has a very serious problem and she recognises that only Jesus Christ has the answer. She is relying entirely upon the Lord, not on any outside help, no strategy of human viewpoint, it is strictly a matter of depending on what the Lord has provided.

“my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.” Actually the Greek does not say “grievously vexed with a demon,” it simply says, “demon-possessed.”

Verse 23 — Jesus Christ refuses to answer her. The reason is because He is trying to teach His disciples a lesson; He is trying to emphasise the importance of the faith-rest technique to them and He is testing them. And they failed to pass the test. There is a series of tests in this chapter and they failed to pass all of them. “But he answered her not a word.” The aorist tense refers to a point of time and also indicates He is going to answer her later on. But first of all the disciples have to be tested, and they are going to fail miserably as only stupid believers can, and especially when there is no excuse when Jesus Christ has been doing the teaching; “and his disciples came,” aorist tense indicating the same point at which Jesus was maintaining silence; “and besought him,” imperfect tense which means they kept on begging him; “saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.” This means simply that they were embarrassed and they were inconvenienced by her importunity. It was very embarrassing for them because they are Jews and a Gentile woman is following, screeching “Have mercy.” However, if they had listened to her words they would have saved themselves some real embarrassment later on with their faith-rest down! And that is exactly why the Lord kept quiet. They had their eyes on self [they are embarrassed], they are guilty of a little self-pity, and the only way the disciples could have passed the test was to have a little compassion. They cannot help but they could take her to Jesus or ask Jesus to stop and help this woman. After all, He has been healing people all over the place.

Verse 24 — Jesus answers. “Then Jesus answered and said,” now the test increases, “I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Immediately He challenges the woman’s faith. In the previous verse His silence challenges the faith-rest of the disciples. Have they learned anything? Have they developed any compassion? What is their mental attitude in an embarrassing situation? And, above all, are they relaxed? In fact the disciples were just as tense as they could be. So he now tests the woman when He says that He is sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And this woman doesn’t qualify in any way because, first of all, she is saved and not lost, and secondly, she is a Gentile and not a Jew, and what makes it embarrassing for the disciples is that she is a Gentile woman.

One thing that tenses up people more than anything else is self-righteousness. This is a situation that the disciples cannot handle. You’ll never stay loose until you learn to claim the promises of God. When you do you will stay loose in all kinds of situations, regardless of what legalistic believers think. Just remember something about legalistic believers: What ever they think or say, it is not important. Forget it. Whatever comes from self-righteousness is no good.

The disciples are out of line but the woman is in line. The woman is right and Jesus proves it by making this statement: “I am not sent, except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Obviously she recognises the problem that the Lord has and yet she comes back with this tremendous persistence of faith. She knows that even though the doctrinal position is to the lost sheep of the house of Israel she is a believer and she knows that grace supersedes any purpose stated through doctrine. And she is appealing to His grace in the only way that we as believers can appeal to the grace of God, and this is through the faith-rest technique. Even though the Lord’s mission is to Israel here is a woman in a jamb, in a helpless situation, and she knows that God deals with individuals even while He is fulfilling an overall plan. God in His grace never overlooks a believer in a jamb. Jesus really went to Tyre and Sidon to help that woman, and at the same time to alert His disciples to the importance of the faith-rest technique which they are going to need very shortly. And so the Holy Spirit is telling us the by the wording of this particular paragraph that the only reason Jesus went to Tyre and Sidon was to contact this woman, so that this woman could follow Him, and so that the disciples could get tied up in knots and fail to see the issue, and so that Jesus could help a woman who has a persistent faith-rest life. While her situation was hopeless, Jesus has just stated a plan which makes it doubly hopeless. Now, you have a hopeless situation at some time in your life and you look at a piece of doctrine which says it is twice as hopeless. What are you going to do? Fall apart? No! When you have a hopeless situation and it suddenly becomes twice as hopeless you faith-rest it. Put it in the Lord’s hands, and leave it there. And that is exactly what this woman does, she is consistent and persistent in her faith.

Verse 25 — “Then came she and worshipped him, saying [she kept on saying], Lord, help me.”

Verse 26 — “But he answered and said,” He continues to test her faith, “It is not fitting to take the children’s bread.” Who are the children? The Jews; “and to cast it to dogs.” He is amplifying His previous statement that His mission is to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The word “dog” is first used for Gentiles in Psalm 22. In the ancient world dogs were unclean and vicious, they lived on garbage, and men rode horses whenever possible so they wouldn’t be bitten by the dogs, and the dogs and the rats fought for all the trash in the city. The Jews regarded the Gentiles as dogs because the Gentiles ate pork and other things that were forbidden in the Mosaic law.

Verse 27 — “And she said, Truth [doctrine], Lord: yet [she now applies a superseding principle of doctrine] the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” She regarded her problem as a crumb. She had the divine perspective. She is saying in effect: “Now look Lord, I am not asking for bread. Problem-solving is crumbs.” The crumbs refer to problem-solving.

Verse 28 — “Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith.” Now remember that Jesus has healed thousands of people and there wasn’t any faith involved at all. Why is faith involved here and why does He mention it? He is telling His disciples: Take a look at this woman. This is what you need.

“be it unto thee even as thou wilt” — she has positive volition, she has put the problem in the Lord’s hands, the Lord hands it back solved; “And her daughter was made whole from that very hour” .So there we have the victory of the faith-rest technique.

Having seen the great object lesson the disciples are going to fall flat on their faces again on exactly the same principle. There has to be a lesson which will test all of the disciples at the same time with regard to the faith-rest technique.

Verses 29-39, the failure of the disciples.

Verse 29 — “And Jesus departed from thence.” He left this Gentile country of Phoenicia and now goes back into the land; “and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.” When He came near to the Sea of Galilee He was setting up the situation so that the eleven disciples an have a chance to use faith-rest. These disciples are born again but all of them together do not have nearly as much faith as the one Gentile woman. The Sea of Galilee is a place where Jesus has demonstrated before many times the principle of the faith-rest technique. He probably sat down where the disciples could watch the Sea of Galilee to remind them of the incident of the great storm and the incident when Jesus came to them on the water. They had needed faith-rest and they failed. So they cannot look at the Sea of Galilee without remembering faith-rest and the importance of it. Jesus is now doing something to physically demonstrate the principle, He sat down. That’s faith-rest.

Verse 30 — “And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them.” Once again the setting for the test is made. All of these hopeless cases were brought along to Him. They have just left Canaan where a hopeless case was healed, now they are going to see in one day again hundreds of hopeless cases. These cases are all going to be handled the same way, Jesus will demonstrate His power by healing them all. So in this sense the crowd demonstrates more faith than the disciples.

Verse 31 — “Insomuch that the multitude wondered [was astounded], when they saw.” “They saw” is a present active participle, present linear aktionsart, they kept on seeing it. They saw it time after time, and it means the disciples saw it. What did they see? — “the dumb to speak [to chatter], the maimed were made whole, the lame to walk [kept on walking], the blind to see [kept on looking]: and they glorified the God of Israel [Jesus Christ].” Now we have the setting to find out if the disciples have learned anything.

Verse 32 — “Then Jesus called his disciples to him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now three days.” After these people were healed they didn’t leave, they were grateful. There was just one problem up on that mountain, there was no supermarket, no food; “and have nothing to eat.” Now He calls in His disciples because they have had many illustrations of the faith-rest technique and now He wants to see if they have learned anything. They flunked the test; “and I will not send them away fasting.” Fasting has no spiritual connotation or blessing to it here. And fasting, when it has spiritual connotation, has nothing to do with giving up food or giving up anything else. It has the connotation of spending time ordinarily used for legitimate things such as eating in Bible study and prayer. Here, on this occasion, it has no spiritual connotation at all, they simply were without food. And that is all it means, “lest they faint in the way.”

Verse 33 — “And his disciples say unto him, Whence [“should we have” is not found in the original].” And the word “whence” means, What do you want us to do about it? They have been watching the Lord perform miracles for three days and they just stand there with a blank expression. The teaching of our Lord was fantastic, He taught them in every way, and yet they all stand around and say, “Whence.” Dumb! There is just one thing we can say about the disciples: they were the recipients of the grace of God or they never would have made it.

“so much bread in this desert, as to fill so great a multitude?” Notice, they have failed to

remember and apply the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14), they failed to remember the Lord’s faithfulness to them on the Sea of Galilee, and they failed to appreciate the miracles of our Lord on this very mountain in the past three days.

Verse 34 — “And Jesus said unto them, How many loaves do you have? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.” But what difference does it make whether the fishes are little or big? There is a reason why they said “little fishes.” They are piling on unbelief on unbelief.

Verse 35 — “And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.” Notice, He did it. Last time He told the disciples to tell the people to sit on the ground but this time He tells them Himself.

If we were organising such a group today we would have them all working — some fishing, others hunting, etc., just to get some food. But Jesus said: Sit down and do nothing. That is grace. That doesn’t mean to have a blank mind, it means you put your mind in gear and your body in neutral, and you claim the promises of God. God does not help those who help themselves.

Verse 36 — “And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave [kept on giving] to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

Verse 37 — “And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that were left seven baskets full,” one basket for each loaf of bread.

Verse 38 — “And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.” So, again, there could have been as many as ten thousand people present on this occasion.

Verse 39 — “And he sent away the multitude, and took a ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.” The disciples have failed, and that is why Jesus has sent the multitude out and that is why He clears out. He has to train the disciples again; new situation. Since chapter eight the disciples have been consistent, they have consistently fallen on their faces. Every time they have had an opportunity to claim the promises of God and to use a little doctrine they have consistently failed to use the faith-rest technique, they have consistently failed to apply doctrine, in fact they have consistently failed to learn doctrine.

Before there will a breakthrough there have to be more such experiences, and every now and then there will be a glimmer. There was a glimmer in chapter 14 when Peter climbed over the gunwales of the boat. In chapter 16 there will be another glimmer: Peter is going to open his mouth and say the right thing — for once. And then for another year he will close his mouth and say the wrong thing. In fact he will say the wrong thing so long that by the time we get to chapter 26 he is denying the Lord. And then he is going to say the right thing to God, which is 1 John 1:9. And then, before you know it, he is going to start saying the right thing again, and that is his famous sermon on the day of Pentecost. So, if you have had your foot in your mouth for a long time, think of Peter.