Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Tuesday - Matthew 15 - Jesus Responds



W
E know Jesus.  We are familiar with His biography.  As such, perhaps we do not naturally pause in contemplation as we encounter (in this chapter) His responses to various situations. But if we had no context for Christ’s reactions, some of them would seem highly unusual.

Rather than answering the scribes and Pharisees when they came to Him with a question, Jesus began to interrogate them; pushing in the opposite direction of their line of thinking (Matthew 15:1-11).  When Jesus’ disciples expressed their concern about how the Pharisees had been offended by His questions, He replied simply that they were not “planted” by the Father, and He said, “Let them alone…” (Matthew 15:14). When Jesus was approached repeatedly by a Canaanite woman on the behalf of her demon possessed daughter, He ignored her at first, then He basically called her a gentile dog (vs. 26) – before eventually granting her petition.  The point is that Jesus’ responses to people were not always anticipatable.  He wasn’t just trying to please people.  He was always teaching truth.  And, His decisions were governed by His holy nature & by the wisdom given to Him by the Holy Ghost.

Even though we may question many of the circumstances that we encounter in life, God is always acting in accordance with His perfect and eternal will.  His “behavior” may not always match our expectations, but still, He does everything well (Mark 7:37).

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