Crumbs from the Table (Matt. 8:5–13; 12:38–42; 15:21–28)
Throughout his Gospel, Matthew indicates crumbs do fall from the table. In Matt. 4:15–16 Matthew quotes from Isa. 9:1–2 because he knows Jesus’s mission to Israel will bless the nations. As Isaiah predicted, a great light is coming to the gentiles through the son of Abraham and Israel’s king. That is precisely what we find in the narrative (see Matt. 8:5–13; 12:38–42; 15:21–28). The son of Abraham blesses all nations through his ministry to Israel. By going to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and unifying Israel again, gentiles are sanctified. The vocation of the messiah is to Israel first, but as we have already seen in the introduction and conclusion, this “Israel first” is not exclusive. Gentiles are blessed through “Israel first.” The following texts support gentile inclusion.
In Matt. 8, in the midst of a string of miracles, a centurion (a non-Israelite) approaches Jesus, asking him to heal his servant. Jesus says he will come, but the centurion replies that he too is a man under authority, and if Jesus only says the word, his servant will be healed (8:8). Jesus affirms the faith of the centurion: “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:10b–12). There are many similarities between this passage and what we have seen with John the Baptist, especially in relation to the themes of judgment and hope. As God is able to raise up children for Abraham from stones, many will come from the east and west and recline at the table with Abraham. But there is also judgment. As trees that do not bear fruit are thrown into the fire in chapter 3, so too the sons of the kingdom of heaven are thrown into the outer darkness. Abraham is portrayed as a founding figure and with familial imagery. It is the table of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—thereby implying that they are the founders. But it is also an open table, a place where new fellowship occurs.
The question remains as to whether both of these texts (Matt. 3 and 8) imply a rejection of Israel. On the surface, it may seem so. The Pharisees and Sadducees are not to presume on their father being Abraham, and the sons of the kingdom are thrown into outer darkness. Yet we can be more precise. Jesus does not reject Israel but rather warns the leaders and redefines the family of Abraham. A redefinition does not necessarily imply rejection. As the Great Commission has already taught us, it can indicate growth. The many who come from the east and the west are gentiles, but these are most likely in addition to the remnant of Israel who has believed. It is not that only the many will come, for some are already there.
Although this is not complete rejection, there is a warning: “The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12).61 Readers must pair this “addition” of the gentiles with the warning to “the sons of the kingdom.” In some mysterious way, the two go together. The warning and even the reality of the sons of the kingdom being thrown into the outer darkness makes room for the gentiles at the table. Just as Abraham had to clear out from his old family to establish a new family, so too there will be some in the outer darkness, and these make room for the many from the east and the west. The First Gospel writer uses Abrahamic imagery to clarify who belongs to the people of God.
The Result of the Mission to Israel (Matt. 11–13)
Matthew 10 speaks of the disciples’ singular mission to Israel, but in Matt. 11–13 readers learn of the result of the mission of both Jesus and his disciples to Israel. The reactions to Jesus’s ministry are not positive as Jesus castigates “this generation.”62 Abraham’s family will grow, but the crumbs need to fall from the table of Israel before this will happen. Jesus and John are both sent to Israel, but readers learn that the reaction has been antagonistic. The disciples have been warned that they will be persecuted for this message, so they should not be surprised. Yet Jesus still indicts “this generation” for being unresponsive. Their guilt lies on their own heads. The people have rejected John and rejected Jesus, so Jesus proceeds to denounce the towns where his miracles have been performed. “Woe to you, Chorizin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. . . . And you Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. . . . But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you” (Matt. 11:21–24). This text needs to be put in parallel with Matt. 4:12–17. The towns in which Jesus does his ministry are the same ones condemned. The natural conclusion from this is that Jesus’s ministry reveals both hardness of heart and those who show true repentance. Jesus’s message, like the message of the prophets, both tears down and builds up (cf. Jer. 1:9–10). In this case, Jesus has indicated that his mission is to Israel, but Israel is hardened to his message, so the message goes out to other towns (Tyre and Sidon).
This reading is confirmed one chapter later with the kingdom parables in Matt. 13. Jesus describes himself as a sower who scatters his words in all different places. Many times the sower’s words will be choked out by the cares of this world, the evil one will snatch them away, or there is rocky ground. Not all, in fact few, will respond rightly to Jesus’s words. Only the good ground produces fruit. This language of generating fruit should cause one to recall the imagery that John the Baptist uses to describe the new family of Abraham. But even more specificity can be garnered from this passage. The disciples ask Jesus why he speaks to the crowds in parables. Jesus answers, “The secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given to you to know, but it has not been given to them. . . . That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand” (Matt. 13:11–14 AT).
The parables are the vehicles confirming the hard hearts of the crowds. The parables are meant not to enlighten but to ratify the condemnation of the people. Matthew then says that this is to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah (6:9–10) says to the people of Israel: “‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.’ For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them” (Matt. 13:14–15). Matthew applies the words of Isaiah to Jesus’s context. The crowd and religious leaders have seen, but they will not perceive. Their hearts have grown dull. The disciples are given the secrets of the kingdom in the parables, but some in Israel are kept from it.63
The indication in Matthew’s narrative is that the mission to Israel can at least partially be described as a mission of hardening. Jesus condemns the towns he has been ministering in, and he speaks in parables so that the people will not turn and be healed. If we compare this with the rest of the passages we have already surveyed, then it seems that the mission to Israel leads to condemnation on Israel (in part), and then this leads further to an expansion of the people of God. The gentiles are welcomed into Abraham’s family if they have faith in the messiah. The new requirement of the people of God is not ethnicity but repentance and faith.
Jesus Begins to Establish His New People (Matt. 14–18)
Matthew 13 is a turning point, confirming a mixed reaction to Jesus’s kingdom message, and then in chapters 14–18 Jesus begins to establish the new people of God. Though there are many texts we could go to, two passages demonstrate this theme most clearly. In Matt. 14–18 we see the double theme of Jesus continuing to care for the Israel of faith and welcoming gentiles through the two feasts over which Jesus stands as shepherd.64 Matthew 14 begins by comparing two different feasts. Herod, the king of the Jews, throws a feast where the center of the meal is John the Baptist’s head. Invited to Herod’s feast are the leaders of the day. This is a macabre feast with the prominent citizens of the city. It is set in contra
st to the feast over which Jesus presides; Jesus provides food for the common people in a deserted place, not in the palace (the feeding of the five thousand). Later there is another occasion when Jesus provides food for the people (the feeding of the four thousand, in Matt. 15).
While we have already examined this text briefly in the Moses chapter, these two feeding stories also relate to Jesus as the new Abraham. Jesus feeds not only the people of Israel (the 5,000) but the gentiles as well (the 4,000). This section contributes to our understanding of Abraham’s family because although Jesus does condemn Israel’s leaders, there are also hints in his Gospel that the people of Israel are more open to Jesus’s message. The message of Jesus goes out like seeds sown: some falls on good soil, others on bad soil. Yet in every case, Jesus expands his mission to encompass not only Israel but also the gentiles. At least three arguments indicate that the second feeding, the feeding of the four thousand, is a feeding of gentiles.
First, the literary structure surrounding these two texts supports this. Generally Matt. 13:53–17:27 follows the Markan sequence, indicating that Jesus moves from Jewish to Gentile territory. The transition comes in 15:1–21, where Jesus explains why he and his disciples break the tradition of the elders. The debate with the Pharisees and teachers of the law alerts readers to a turn toward gentile inclusion. The faith of a Canaanite women in the next section confirms this switch (15:21–28). Unlike Mark (who calls her a Syrophoenician woman), Matthew unambiguously calls her a Canaanite, the common OT term for Israel’s adversaries. What is evident from this survey of the landscape of Matthew’s narrative is that he has made a conscious alteration, from Jesus preaching and ministering first to the Jews to his ministering to the gentiles. Many of the same actions are mirrored (such as healings and feedings), but with slight nuances, signaling a similar ministry but a change of audience.
Second, the gentile feeding is supported by the different numbers used in the feeding stories. Jesus breaks seven loaves, and the disciples collect seven baskets of leftovers.65 The number seven points to the completion and fulfillment of God’s purposes, a common theme in Matthew.66 The number four thousand is symbolic of people coming from the four corners of the earth. Jesus invites all to sit and dine with him, not only the people of Abraham. The gentile crowd participates in a messianic banquet with him, which can explain the disciples’ lack of understanding for this second feeding. This does not mean these numbers are nonhistorical; symbolic does not equal ahistorical.
The final argument for this being a gentile feeding concerns the larger OT background to the feeding. Several passages speak to the feeding theme in the OT.67 In Isa. 25:6–10 the prophet writes of Yahweh spreading a banquet on the mountain, where he makes a feast for “all peoples.”68 Yahweh swallows up the covering, the veil that is cast over all peoples, over all nations. Moreover, the feast is abundant, with rich food and well-aged wine, as the abundance in Matt. 15 overflows into seven extra baskets. Matthew uses Isaiah extensively in his Gospel, so it is not a stretch to see allusions to Isaiah’s promise at the feeding of the four thousand. Jeremiah 31:10–14 also speaks of the nations coming to a great banquet. Yahweh tells the “nations” and those “far away” that they will be “radiant” over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they will languish no more. There is also the passage in 2 Kings 4:42–44 where Baal-shalishah brings Elisha loaves of barley and ears of grain; although it does not seem like it will be enough, Elisha tells them that the Lord will provide, and they will have some left.
Although Jesus has cared for gentiles as individuals, not until this point does Jesus feed the gentiles as a whole. This is because after Matt. 13 there has been a shift in the narrative. Jesus has performed his ministry (chaps. 5–9) and sent out his disciples with the same mission (chap. 10), yet the response is not positive. Therefore Jesus reiterates the nature of the kingdom (chap. 13) and then establishes his new community, which he later calls “the church” (16:18; 18:17). In Matt. 14–17 he shows that this new community of Abraham consists of both Jews and gentiles. In chapter 18 he instructs them on how they are to treat one another in the community discourse—a sort of pre-instruction manual for Jews and gentiles in the assembly, on which Paul builds his epistles.
The feeding stories are therefore enlightening not just for Mosaic imagery but also for the definition of the family of Christ. Readers need to remember Yahweh’s promise to Abraham that he will have his own land, family, and blessing. The OT interprets this blessing in physical terms. Israel will have a kingdom with walls, water, and food. By providing food for the people on the mountain, Jesus as the apocalyptic messiah is fulfilling the promises to Abraham. He feeds Israel as Yahweh did in the wilderness, but he also feeds the gentiles in fulfillment of the prophecies that the gentiles will stream to Zion to eat the banquet with Yahweh. As the son of Abraham, Jesus constitutes the new people of God.
Condemnation and Warnings to Israel’s Leaders and Israel (Matt. 19–25)
Although there has been a shift, the tension between the gentiles’ inclusion and the Jewish particularity of the family of Abraham continues to grow as Jesus comes nearer to his death. Jesus heals “large crowds” that follow him (Matt. 19:2), indicating that they are not completely hardened. Yet the Pharisees and religious leaders begin to test Jesus to see whether they can catch him in his words. They ask him about divorce (19:3–11), and Jesus warns the people about the dangers of riches (19:16–22). The disciples state that they have left all things to follow Jesus, and he says that they will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Jewish particularity). But Jesus also speaks about gentile inclusion: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matt. 19:29–30, emphasis added). Jesus not only promises thrones to the disciples but also promises eternal life to “everyone” who follows him. The promises to Israel are not canceled, but Abraham’s family is expanded.
When Jesus enters Jerusalem, the jealousy of the Jewish leaders is on full display. The crowds shout, “Son of David!” to Jesus as he enters the city (Matt. 21:9), but those in Jerusalem wonder who this person is (21:10). Even worse, the chief priests and the scribes are “indignant” (21:15). Jesus does not go in to restore the temple, as the messiah was expected to do, but turns over the tables and condemns the temple. He quotes from Jeremiah’s temple sermon, where Jeremiah condemns the people of Israel for corrupting the house of the Lord. The curses upon the temple are confirmed as Jesus curses the fig tree (21:18–19). Jesus seems to be condemning the corrupted system. The temple is in disarray, the leaders are mad at the crowd, and Jerusalem doesn’t know what to do with this messiah figure. The messiah has come, but Abraham’s ethnic children are not ready for him. This text is important because by condemning the temple and cursing the fig tree, Jesus chastises Israel through their main symbol.
The chief priests and the elders of the people come to test Jesus and ask him, “By what authority are you doing these things?” (Matt. 21:23). Jesus counters their question with another question, refuses to answer, and then gives three parables that condemn Israel’s leaders for their hard-heartedness. Two of the parables are about a vineyard, a common image for Israel, and one concerns a wedding banquet. First, he tells the parable of the two sons (21:28–32). One of the sons agrees to work but doesn’t, and the other says he won’t work but ends up going into the vineyard. Jesus says this parable is about “tax collectors and prostitutes . . . entering the kingdom of God ahead of you [religious leaders]” (21:31 NIV). The religious leaders are those who say they will work but don’t, while the tax collectors and prostitutes are those who later change their minds. By this parable Jesus indicates that the family of God expands to include tax collectors and prostitutes. Those who do the will of the father are the sons and daughters of Abraham.
The next parable also concerns a vine
yard (Matt. 21:33–46). A landowner plants a vineyard and cares for it. He leases it to tenants, and when the time comes for harvest, he first sends his servants to collect the fruit. The tenants beat, kill, and stone the servants. The landowner sends another round of servants, and they do the same. Finally, he sends his son, thinking they will respect him, but they kill him so that they can have his inheritance. Jesus asks the religious leaders what the landowner will do with the tenants. They rightly reply, “He will destroy those terrible men and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his fruit at the harvest” (21:41 AT).
Jesus quotes from Ps. 118:22–23, reinforcing their answer: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Matt. 21:42). The quote indicates that Jesus’s rejection by the leaders of Israel will be the means by which God establishes his purpose and builds the new community of the people of God. A rejected stone becomes the cornerstone. Jesus confirms this by saying that the kingdom of God will be taken away from the religious leaders and given to those producing fruit. Only through the condemnation of Israel is the kingdom open to all. The chief priests and the Pharisees understand that he is speaking about them, and they seek to arrest him. Jesus’s words endorse their condemnation and even further it. For without these words they would not be so upset by him and thereby send him to the cross. Jesus’s message is the means by which the leaders are condemned, Jesus goes to the cross, and then the family of Abraham expands.69
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