Daily Lesson for Tuesday 12th of December 2023

Bible scholars believe that the Gospel of Matthew had been written specifically for a Jewish audience, and that Mark was written with primarily a Gentile audience in mind. It is helpful to keep this distinction before us as we study the Gospels.

Notice how Matthew describes this mother using her nationality or race: Canaanite. Mark is led by the Holy Spirit to use additional terms to describe this mother as “a Greek” or “a Gentile” and then gives additional information: “a Syro-Phoenician by birth” or “a Syrian of Phoenicia”—the only time that this term is used in the Bible.

Consider how this story in Matthew 15:1-39 would impact the intended primary audience with their background and worldview. Matthew’s audience would see this mother as a despised heathen. This comes from the Jewish people’s historical experience with the Canaanites as an idol-worshiping people group whose evil lifestyle and practices had long been a stumbling block to their nation. Even Christ’s disciples did not consider the possibility that this woman had faith and was part of the kingdom of God!

In Mark 7:1-37, Mark’s audience of Gentiles would have a different response from that of Matthew’s. The Gentiles did not have the same experience as the Jews did with the Canaanites. Instead, the Gentiles would identify with this woman, “a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth” (NKJV). Jesus healed one of their own! For the Gentiles, this woman would be regarded as a beloved mother who was concerned about the fate of her daughter and wanted the Master to heal her, regardless of this mother’s ethnic and national background.

“Christ did not immediately reply to the woman’s request. He received this representative of a despised race as the Jews would have done. In this He designed that His disciples should be impressed with the cold and heartless manner in which the Jews would treat such a case, as evinced by His reception of the woman, and the compassionate manner in which He would have them deal with such distress, as manifested by His subsequent granting of her petition.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 400.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-11-in-tyre-and-sidon/

Daily Lesson for Monday 11th of December 2023

Despite challenges, external and internal, Jesus graciously extends the call to us for His mission to the cities.

Jesus was moved with compassion for the multitudes, such as are found in cities. Luke 19:41 describes how Jesus wept over Jerusalem. We may not understand the depths of Jesus’ love for His children, even for the “faceless masses” living in cities. This is why in Matthew 9:38 Jesus tells us to pray, so that our motives and hearts can be like His.

In Matthew 4:25, the multitudes following Jesus came from Galilee, from the ten city-states of the Decapolis to the east, from Jerusalem, and from Judea to the south. Besides Samaria, what region was missing? The coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, part of Phoenicia, along the Mediterranean Sea and northwest of Galilee. We now see why Jesus went to this area! This trip to the region of Tyre and Sidon was one of Jesus’ cross-cultural mission trips.

“After the encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus withdrew from Capernaum, and crossing Galilee, repaired to the hill country on the borders of Phoenicia. Looking westward, He could see, spread out upon the plain below, the ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon, with their heathen temples, their magnificent palaces and marts of trade, and the harbors filled with shipping.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 399.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-11-seeking-the-multitudes/