NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER EIGHT

Part II

So our Lord takes this opportunity to address what happens to people with such an inconsistent and faulty mindset. He wants His critical opponents to know that even though they claim full citizenship in the family of Abraham and first in line to receive all the promises God made, others were being invited to take their place.

Verses 11-12: “Let me tell you, many people will come from the east and from the west. These people will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in God’s kingdom. And the subjects who should be given the kingdom will be thrown out. They will be thrown outside into the darkness, where people weep and grind their teeth in agony.

What makes this statement by Jesus so important, is that He just witnessed more faith in a Roman soldier, a non-Jew, than He had encountered throughout Israel among the Jews. The kingdom of God was supposed to belong to them simply because they were the legal descendants of Abraham. But not so, says Jesus! There are others in this world being invited to take your place if you refuse to believe that I’m the One promised by God as the Messiah. To the Jews, their anticipation of being part of the world to come was based on inheritance, not faith.

In the Jewish Babylonian Talmud we read: “Whoever recites this psalm: ‘Praise of David’ ¹ three times a day, is sure to inherit the world to come.”² Scholars say, that by using the word “inherit,” the person reciting this Psalm is then considered a son in order to inherit the world to come.³ This encouragement to recite certain religious prayers, psalms, or sayings in order to gain higher ground in the world to come is not restricted to the Jews. It has been practiced, and still is practiced, by many religions around the world.

We are also told that it was taught in a document called the “Tanna debe Eliyyahu” (a writing of Elijah), which is not part of the Mishnah, that: “Whoever repeats halachoth⁴ may rest assured that he is destined for the future world, as it says, His goings are to eternity.”⁵ So it is clear that this was considered by the Jews as an inherited right. There are many religions that teach if a child is born into a home where the parents practice that faith, and the child is subjected to the rites and rituals of that belief, they automatically become part of the religious community and eternal heirs to whatever that religious doctrine teaches.

Told among the Jews there was another allegorical story being told that goes like this: “Rabbi Beroka Hoza’ah used to frequent the market at Be Lapat where Elijah often appeared to him. Once he asked the prophet, is there any one else in this marketplace who has a share in the world to come?”⁶ In other words, did Elijah see any Jews shopping or working there, because they would be the only ones who had a guaranteed share in the world to come. This was a privilege given only to them because they were the descendants of Abraham. But so was Ishmael. Still they did not recognize his descendants because he was not the promised son of Sarah. Yet they could not see that another promised Seed of Abraham had arrived.⁷

This is what Jesus encountered, and why He was so resisted by the Jewish leaders by telling them you cannot claim what God Himself has not promised. And the only way to gain that promise is through faith in Him as the Messiah. Also it was taught by the school of Rabbi Ishmael that “One who finds himself physically impure on the Day of Atonement, let him be worried as to whether or not he can survive for a year, because if he survives the year, he is assured of being a child of the world to come.”⁸ In other words, there was nothing else they could depend on except their own works to save them, so they much hope and pray they don’t do anything to lose it.

And we also read that at one time a newly promoted council to the Temple Mount sent out this edict: “Who is destined for the world to come? He who is meek, humble, bowing when they enter and on the way out, and a constant student of the Torah without claiming any merit for it.”⁹ This was another way of saying that one should do all the works demanded by the Law, but don’t claim any credit for performing them, let them do the claiming for you. And in one Jewish mystical book we find this hope expressed: “Let all your works be for the sake of heavens. It is good to possess those that shine with brilliance, and the more the better. When you do them, be happy in the world. Good things come to you forever.”¹⁰

But Jesus came to let people know one cannot earn their way into the kingdom of heaven on their own. They need help; they need a Redeemer. Jesus said that He was the Gate, and it is only through Him they will be allowed entrance into the world to come. Therefore, they must believe in Him alone as their Lord and Savior.

I have listed these in order for you to have a better idea of the mindset facing Jesus when He talked about the Kingdom of God and who will enter there. No wonder Nicodemus had such a look of disbelief when Jesus told him these things didn’t count, that he had to be born anew. But the warning given here by Jesus about the Jews losing their position in the family of Abraham, continued to fester in the hearts of many Jews down through the ages.

Did not the prophet Jeremiah say: “If you people of Judah don’t listen to Him, I will hide and cry. Your pride will cause me to cry. I will cry very hard. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.”¹¹ After reading this, one Rabbi said prophetically: “…this is the result of ‘the pride of Israel, which is why the Torah will be taken away from them and given to the Gentile nations.”¹²

As far as what happens to those who thought the kingdom was theirs, only to find out that others had taken their place, the idea of being thrown out to join those who were wailing and gnashing their teeth, was also part of Jewish tradition. For in their own writings we read: “What is the meaning of the verse, with hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth?¹³ Because they hypocritically flattered Korah in return for the feast he set before them, the Prince of Gehenna¹⁴ gnashed his teeth against them for their destruction.”¹⁵ Some Jewish scholars believe this is a reflection of what Job says, as the Jewish Targum puts it: “the wicked raging.”¹⁶ I can imagine the looks on the faces of some of the Jewish Rabbis and teachers there in Capernaum. No wonder they wanted to get rid of Jesus so badly.

But there is another factor to consider in this text. One Jewish translation reads this way: “Moreover, I tell you that many will come from the east and from the west to take their places at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven with Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya`akov.”<sup>17</sup> Some English translations render it: “And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven;”<sup>18</sup> there is no mention of eating. In fact, another Hebrews translation it reads: “I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya`akov, in the Kingdom of Heaven.”¹⁹

This has led many Bible scholars to conclude that along the way the sitting down with Abraham, or even reclining at the table with Abraham as some translations put it, was not meant to infer that there would be such a banquet, but rather it was the way people were welcomed into a home.²⁰ But we read in Isaiah where it is said: “The Lord All-Powerful will give a feast for all the people on this mountain. At the feast, there will be the best foods and wines. The meat will be good and tender, the wine pure and clear.”²¹ So it appears that the Master was using this as a way of telling the non-believing Jews that Gentiles would soon be welcomed by Abraham as children of his spiritual family, and co-heirs to the promise of God.²²

Jesus was so impressed by the Centurion’s faith that He turned to the Jewish crowd around Him and wondered out loud why they didn’t have such faith. While there is no specific scripture defining the feast of Abraham, Jesus was no doubt referring to a traditional belief prevalent in His day. In one Jewish apocryphal book we find this passage: “And in the first year of the fifth week, Isaac was weaned in this jubilee and Abraham made a great banquet in the third month, on the day his son Isaac was weaned. And Ishmael, the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, stood in front of Abraham his father, at his residence, and Abraham rejoiced and blessed YaHWeH because he had seen his sons and had not died childless. And he remembered the words which He had spoken to him on the day on which Lot had parted from him, and he rejoiced because YaHWeH had given him seed upon the earth to inherit the earth, and he blessed with all his mouth the Creator of all things.”²³ The Psalmist hints at such an occasion in a Messianic Psalm,²⁴ and Isaiah alludes to such a gathering,²⁵ as does Micah;²⁶ Zechariah;²⁷ and Malachi,²⁸ but there is no mention of a banquet in either instance.

However, in Jewish literature we do find mention of such a banquet in Paradise: “Rabbah said in the name of Rabbi Johanan: The Holy One, blessed be He, will in time to come make a banquet for the righteous from the flesh of Leviathan; for it is said: Companions will make a banquet of it.²⁹ Kerah must mean a banquet; for it is said: And he prepared for them a great banquet and they ate and drank.³⁰ Companions must mean scholars, for it is said: Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken for thy voice; cause me to hear it.³¹ The rest of Leviathan will be distributed and sold out in the markets of Jerusalem; for it is said: They will part him among the Kena’anim,³² and Kena’anim must mean merchants, for it is said: As for Kena’an the balances of deceit are in his hand, he loves to oppress.³³ And if you wish you may infer it from the following: Whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth³⁴.”³⁵

But the real shocker was when Jesus said that as unbelieving Jews they will be thrown out and Gentiles like the Centurion will be allowed it to be part of the celebration as spiritual children of Abraham. As a matter of fact, that may have caused the Jews reaction we find in Luke’s account of this incident.³⁶ As we see, Jesus did not hesitate to grant the Centurion his request. His faith was rewarded with the instantaneous healing of his servant.

So this gave our Lord the opportunity to preach a sermon on the apostasy He had found among His own people. They knew what power there was when someone spoke in God’s name. In the Old Testament we read where God told Moses: “Get your special walking staff. Take your brother Aaron and the crowd of people and go to that rock. Speak to the rock in front of the people. Then water will flow from the rock, and you can give that water to the people and to their animals.”³⁷ Did not the Psalmist say, “Everyone on earth should reverence and respect the Lord. All the people in the world should revere Him, because when He speaks, things happen. And if He says, ‘Stop!’—then it stops.”³⁸ And again: “He gave the command and healed them, so they were saved from the grave. Thank the Lord for His faithful love and for the amazing things He does for people.”³⁹

I like the way early church father Irenaeus frames his rebuff of the heresies of his day. When applied to this encounter between Jesus and the centurion, here is what he had to say: “For there is no coercion with God, but a good will [towards us] is present with Him continually. And therefore does He give good counsel to all. And in man, as well as in angels, He has placed the power of choice (for angels are rational beings), so that those who had yielded obedience might justly possess what is good, given indeed by God, but preserved by themselves…. But because man is possessed of free will from the beginning, and God is possessed of free will, in whose likeness man was created, advice is always given to him to keep fast the good, which thing is done by means of obedience to God…. And not merely in works, but also in faith, has God preserved the will of man free and under his own control, saying, ‘According to your faith be it unto you;’ thus showing that there is a faith specially belonging to man, since he has an opinion specially his own. And again, ‘All things are possible to him that believes;’ and, ‘Go your way; and as you have believed, so be it done to you’.”⁴⁰

Irenaeus was defending the church’s teaching that men possess a free will, and are endowed with the faculty of making a choice, either good or bad. This was against the heresy that some men are born with a good nature and others with a bad nature, and this is what determines their character. When contrasted with what happened here, the Jews were considered to be the people of the earth who were born good, yet in their pride and arrogance they made a bad decision to reject Jesus and not recognize His power. On the other hand, Gentiles were considered to be the people of the earth born with bad natures, yet in spite of his lack of scriptural knowledge about who Jesus really was, the centurion made a good decision to accept Him and believe in His power to heal. I dare say, after the crucifixion and resurrection, this same centurion exercised his will to believe in Jesus the Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Verse 13: Then Jesus said to the officer, “Go home. Your servant will be healed the way you believed he would.” Right then his servant was healed.

This is how the centurion’s faith was rewarded. So we might ask, did Jesus purposely offer to go to the centurion’s compound to heal his servant so that this soldier could express such belief in His authority to heal? I don’t believe so. Otherwise this would have all been a charade. Also, Jesus would not have expressed such surprise at this centurion’s faith. This further reveals how God allows us to exercise our freewill and choice. He does not set us up for His own success. No wonder Jesus put such emphasis on faith as the thing that could move mountains.

So how did Matthew know that as soon as Jesus spoke those words, the centurion’s servant was healed? I’m sure that with him being a resident of Capernaum, Matthew was told later that as soon as this Roman soldier arrived back at his compound, his family and all the servants immediately told him how this paralyzed servant had suddenly sat up and announced that all the pain was gone.

Let me tell you a personal story. Some years ago when I pastored in the Dakotas, I woke up one morning with blood all over my pillow. The doctor told me that my ear drum had burst, and it was to my benefit that it did so outwardly and not inwardly, where it could have resulted in a more serious infection. Hearing out of one ear became a sudden handicap, especially when I was in the pulpit, and had the musicians play the piano and organ. The piano was on my right and the organ on my left. I could hear the piano fine, but not the organ.

After my sermon I felt inspired to invite those who needed healing to come forward for prayer. Imagine that! Here I needed healing but the Spirit was telling me to invite others. I had called the organist to come and play while the invitation was made. Suddenly I heard a “pop” in my left ear, and the music from the organ flowed in. I announced to the congregation what had just happened! There was a sudden rush of faith among those attending, and many were healed that night and the service lasted an hour longer than it normal because of all the rejoicing and people praying around the altar.

When I arrived back at the house, my oldest daughter, who had gone home earlier because of school the next morning, told me that my oldest sister had called from Maryland about an hour ago wanting to know how I was doing. So I called my sister back and found out that she had attended a service this same evening, when the evangelist told the audience that the Spirit had just spoken to him that someone in the congregation had a family member with an ear problem, and if they would come forward he would anoint them and pray for that family member. My sister immediately got up and went forward.

I asked her if she could remember what time this occurred. When she told me, I remember when my ear popped and it was the exact time. We both began to praise the Lord over the phone for the miracle that had occurred. A few years later when I has having a physical exam, the doctor asked me if I had ever had surgery on my left ear, because whoever performed it did a great job. When I told him that the surgeon was Jesus, he was astounded. Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever! Amen!