Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon where a Canaanite woman (a Gentile) came to Him. She cried to Him for mercy calling him “Lord, Son of David.” She acknowledged Him as the rightful king of Israel which most Jews had not done. Jesus does not answer initially and she persists until the disciples get irritated and want her sent away. Jesus answered that his mission was to the lost sheep of Israel. Only Israel was being offered salvation and blessing at this point. The woman remains undeterred and persists in seeking Jesus’ help for her daughter. Jesus uses the illustration of a household mealtime. He is the master providing bread for the children (Israel). It would not be right to take the food meant for the children and throw it to the dogs (Gentiles). Jesus is not refusing her, but testing her. Her reply acknowledges Israel’s status and that she is not looking to take away Israel’s blessing. Instead, she recognises that even the leftovers are sufficient for her. Jesus praises her great faith and immediately heals her daughter.

From there Jesus walks along the Sea of Galilee and goes to sit on a mountain. The crowds follow him bringing along their various sick to Jesus’s feet where He healed them. The phrase “they glorified the God of Israel” strongly suggests that these people were Gentiles and show that the leftovers the woman had spoken of were indeed sufficient to bless the Gentiles.

The crowd stayed with Jesus for three days so He had compassion on them. He told His disciples that He wasn’t willing to send them away in case they fainted on the way home. The disciples seem to have forgotten Jesus’ previous miracle feeding the five thousand men because they ask where they are going to get enough bread to feed such a large crowd. Again Jesus asks what food they do have. Taking the seven loaves of bread and the few fish they have, He tells the crowds to sit, gives thanks, and breaks the bread giving it to the disciples to distribute to the crowds. Everyone eats to their satisfaction and there are seven baskets of bread leftover. This crowd was four thousand men along with women and children. This is a similar but different miracle to the feeding of the five thousand (Jesus refers to both as separate instances in Mat 16:9-10). There are differences in the size of the crowds, the food Jesus blessed and broke, and the number of baskets of food leftover.

It can be so easy to remember and focus on our limitations and forget the power of God that has previously worked in our lives. What can you do to remember what God has done so that when you face difficulty you focus on God’s power to work rather than your limitation?

Some of the Scribes and Pharisees had travelled from Jerusalem to follow and accuse Jesus. They questioned why His disciples didn’t follow the tradition the elders had of washing their hands before they ate. This was not a hygiene issue as it might be today but rather a ritual intended to remove any defilement they might have inadvertently brought about (such as brushing against a Gentile in the market). This was not required by the law of Moses but was a tradition that had been elevated to the same level as God’s law.

Jesus levels three charges against them to show that their traditions were unbiblical.
Their tradition was used to violate God’s command that they honour their father and mother. They had come up with a system to avoid supporting their parents in need. They would dedicate their money as a gift to God in temple use. But this was just a ruse to allow them to continue to use their money to make more money for themselves.
They were hypocrites because they honoured God outwardly but their hearts were far from Him (Isa 29:13).
Their worship was in vain because they did not worship in truth but based on “the commandments of men.”

Jesus then tells the people that “it is not what goes into one’s mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth.”
The disciples came to him concerned that He had offended the Pharisees. They made the same mistake many Christians do today in being more concerned about the offence of those in Christian “authority” than they are about the truth. Jesus says to leave them alone. These leaders were failing to lead people in truth and even worse, were leading them astray, like blind guides leading the blind.
Jesus explained that what goes into the mouth does nothing to defile a person but simply passes through the digestive system and comes out the other end. But what comes out of the mouth is based on what has taken root in the heart and that shows if a person is defiled. From the heart come all manner of evil thoughts of murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. These things are what defile a person (and they are evidenced by what comes out of our mouths).

Are you more concerned with tradition than the truth? Perhaps you’re anti-tradition, but then are you more concerned with being anti-tradition than the truth?
Are you more concerned about what others think, like if you’ve offended them, than the truth?
And what do the things coming out of your mouth reveal about your heart?

Jesus dismissed the crowds He had just fed and sent His disciples back over the sea. He then went up onto the mountain by Himself to pray. Jesus knew the importance of spending time alone in prayer with His Father. He had withdrawn to be by Himself but had been interrupted by the crowd. While He had compassion on them and served them, He still made the time to be alone with God. Sometimes life gets in the way of our time with God—usually for things far less noble than caring for others. We must make sure we don’t let life completely crowd out our time with God. Is your time with God important enough that you make the time necessary each day?

The disciples find themselves in a bit of a storm pushing against the wind and beaten by the waves. Between about 3 and 6 am, Jesus comes to them walking on the water. When they see Him they are terrified and think they are seeing a ghost. But Jesus eases their fear and lets them know it is Him. Peter seems to have a burst of faith and asks to join Jesus on the water. Jesus calls him to join Him. He gets out of the boat and walks to Jesus on the water. But it doesn’t take long before his focus shifts to the wind and the waves and he becomes afraid. Doubt starts to set in and he begins to sink. He calls out to Jesus to save him. Jesus reaches out His hand, takes Peter and asks why he doubted. When they got into the boat, the wind stopped and the disciples realised that Jesus was the Son of God and worshipped Him. Just like with feeding the crowds, Jesus invites us to do the impossible with Him. But when our focus shifts to the cares and concerns of this world instead of staying fixed on Jesus, then our faith will fail. Where is your focus? Are you focusing on Jesus, the One who makes all things possible? Or are you focusing on your situation and battling to figure out how you are going to get through it all?

When Jesus arrives back on land, the people recognise Him and bring their sick, wanting at least the chance to touch the edge of His clothes. The crowd has probably heard of the woman who was healed from touching his clothes (Mat 9:20-21). Unlike the disciples, the crowd hasn’t come to the deeper realisation of who Jesus is.

King Herod heard about Jesus’ rising fame and thought it was John the Baptist who had come back from the dead. Herod had thrown John the Baptist into prison because he had spoken against Herod’s incestuous marriage to his brother’s wife, Herodias. While Herod had wanted to kill John the Baptist, he hadn’t because he feared the people who believed John was a prophet. At Herod’s birthday bash, Herodias’ daughter did a sensuous dance that so pleased Herod that he offered her whatever she wanted. Being led by her mother, she asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Herod was more concerned about saving face in front of his guests than his fear of the people or dealing with his own conscience. So he bowed to the pressure and ordered that John be beheaded in prison and his head given to the girl who gave it to her mother. John’s disciples came and took his headless body and buried it and then told Jesus.

Herod allowed his pride and peer pressure to force him into making decisions on the spot that he knew were not right. His whole life was full of compromised decisions which built on top of each other. Eventually it came to the point that, despite knowing that what he was doing was wrong, he could no longer help himself. He had surrounded himself with a wife and friends who were all helping him to continue in sin all leading to him murdering John the Baptist as a prize for a dance.

When Jesus heard of John’s death, He withdrew by boat to a desolate place. But Jesus was growing in popularity and the crowds followed him on foot. When Jesus got to land He saw a great crowd had gathered and He had compassion on them and healed their sick. When it got late, the disciples wanted to send them away so they could get food, but Jesus told them to give the crowds something to eat. How were they supposed to feed this huge crowd when all they could find was five small loaves of bread and two fish? Jesus took what they had, told the crowds to sit and then after praying broke them and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. Everyone ate and was satisfied and the disciples still collected twelve basketfuls of leftovers. The crowd totalled five thousand men as well as women and children (perhaps 20,000 to 25,000 people).

Jesus asked the disciples to do something far beyond anything they could possibly handle in their own strength. Jesus took what they had and multiplied it. Jesus can take what little we have to offer and multiply it so that people’s needs are met. We are the mediators between those who have need and the One who can more than supply that need.

Together these two stories provide a contrast. On the one hand is Herod who’s selfishness and pride lead him down the path to murder. On the other hand is Jesus who’s selflessness and humility lead Him, despite His personal grief, to have compassion on and help thousands. Pride narrows our focus to only ourselves. Humility opens our focus to see others.

Jesus tells two very similar parables, one about a found treasure that someone sells all he has to buy the field it is in so he can own it. The second is about a merchant who finds a pearl so valuable that he sells all he has to buy it. Jesus didn’t give us an interpretation of these parables so we need to figure out what they mean. Some have suggested that the kingdom is so valuable that it demands nothing less than our total wholehearted response and that no sacrifice is too great. The problem with this interpretation is that the parables specifically speak of the field and the pearl being purchased. The Bible is clear that we cannot buy or earn our way into the kingdom. Therefore the parables must be speaking about Jesus, the only one who can pay a price so great that He could buy the kingdom. The kingdom is nothing without its subjects so we are of such value that Jesus paid the ultimate price of His own life to redeem us into the kingdom (1 Pet 1:18-19). Now, because Jesus paid such a high price, our response should be total commitment to Him (1 Cor 6:20; 2 Cor 5:15). What does it tell you about your value that Jesus would pay everything to have you in His kingdom?

The parable of the net speaks of a dragnet that scoops up all kinds of fish. Afterwards, the fishermen separate the edible fish into containers and throw away the inedible. This parable ends the same way as the parable of the weeds. At the end of the age, the angels will separate the good (those who have received their righteousness from Christ through faith) from the bad (those who have chosen to remain in their sins by not accepting Christ’s payment on the cross for their sins).

The final parable speaks of future teachers in the church who, like Jesus, will be expected to teach both the old truths of the Old Testament and the new truths of the Kingdom now found in the New Testament.

Having finished the parables, Jesus returns to his home town of Nazareth. There He teaches, offends, and is again rejection. Jesus describes his rejection in a manner similar to our own proverb, “familiarity breeds contempt.” The people of Nazareth couldn’t see past the fact that He had grown up there as a carpenters sun and as a member of Joseph and Mary. Because of their unbelief, Jesus limited the miracles He did among them.

Jesus told a series of three parables that spoke of the kingdom. The first was also about seed sowed but this time it was all sowed in a field. At night an enemy came and sowed weeds amongst the wheat. The weeds (or tares) mentioned were probably bearded darnel which looks and behaves a lot like wheat, especially in the early stages of growth. Because of this it is difficult to distinguish it from the wheat. Eventually, the servants realise that there are weeds and go to their master to tell him of the weeds and ask if they should remove them. The master tells them it was an enemy’s doing but that to take them out now would also remove some of the good crop. Instead, they should wait until the harvest was ready and then remove the weeds (which would be much easier to distinguish) for burning and gather the wheat to the barn.

Jesus also compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed, a tiny seed, that after being planted grows into one of the biggest of garden plants that is strong enough that birds can nest in its branches. This parable is probably speaking of the small and humble beginnings of the kingdom in the church age. With only the disciples and a handful of believers, how would it grow? It would grow to a large size despite its humble beginnings. In the parable of the sower the birds ate the seed that fell on the path and so may also represent satanic influence in this parable, perhaps as unbelievers. These unbelievers may be those who are drawn to the church because of its size and significance yet remain unsaved. They remain in the church for its physical support and protection (nest in its branches).

The parable of the leaven (yeast) in the flour speaks of something small that spreads throughout until all of it is affected. There are two possible explanations for the leaven. One is that the leaven is the birth of the church from its insignificant beginnings as in the parable of the mustard seed and that the church grows slowly and quietly until it permeates the whole world. But this group of parables has also clearly been speaking of the devil’s influence in the kingdom. Even though the church will have many true believers, it will also be filled with unbelievers who look like genuine believers. It is also possible that the leaven represents Satan’s influence in the church through false believers and false teachers. It’s worth noting that nowhere else in the Bible is leaven used in a positive light (cf. Mat 16:6; Mar 8:15; 1 Cor 5:6-7; Gal 5:7-9).

The disciples ask for an explanation of the parable of the weeds. Jesus explains that the sower is the Son of Man and the enemy who sows the weeds is Satan. There is good seed, believers, and bad seed of weeds which are unbelievers who are religious but lost. Initially there is a superficial likeness between the two but ultimately they have two different destinies. The angels are the reapers who will gather the unbelievers for judgement at the end of the age. We are to be aware that the devil will make attempts to appose the growth of the church through imitation, infiltration, and deceit. He presents a false gospel that succeeds in luring many people along a heavenly path to hell.

It is important first of all to be 100% sure that we are wheat and not weeds. Satan’s deception includes things like thinking that we are Christians if we have Christian parents, or because we go to church, or because we do certain things regularly. The wheat is only those who believe in Jesus for eternal life (John 14:6, 1:12).
It is also very important to know that the church contains those who have the appearance of believers but are not. The ones to watch out for specifically are those who end up teaching falsehood. Many of the New Testament letters contain warnings of false teachers infiltrating the church. How do we recognise them? By knowing the truth so well ourselves (knowing our Bibles) that we can tell when they stray from what the Bible teaches. How well do you know your Bible? What are you doing to know it better?

Because the Jews had begun to reject Jesus and His offer of the Kingdom, He changes tack and begins to teach using parables.

“Parable” comes from the Greek words para and ballõ, which together mean “to throw alongside”. A parable is like an illustration that takes a known truth and throws it alongside an unknown (spiritual) truth comparing them to each other. They are earthly stories with heavenly meanings.

This first parable speaks of a sower who sows seed in his field. The emphasis of the story is on the results of his sowing. The seed fell on four different types of ground; the path, on rocky places, among thorns, and on good soil. Because of this the farmer had four different results. The seed on the path was eaten by the birds. The seed on the rocky ground sprang up but because of the lack of depth of soil it soon withered. The seed that fell among the thorns grew alongside the thorns which choked them. The seed that fell on the good soil grew to maturity, produced grain with an abundant yield, some of it more than others.

The disciples noticed Jesus’ change in teaching style and asked Him why He had changed.
His first reason was to continue to teach truth to His disciples. He was making known the secrets, or mysteries, of the kingdom of heaven. The mysteries are those truths that were not revealed in the Old Testament but which were now being made known to those Jesus taught.
Secondly, Jesus spoke in parables in order to hide these truths from unbelievers. The secrets of heaven would be given to the disciples but hidden from the religious leaders. Even what they had previously known would no longer be clear to them. Jesus’ teaching in parables carried a judgemental aspect to it.
Third, He spoke in parables in order to fulfill Isaiah 6:9-10. God told Isaiah that many people would not understand his message, now Jesus receives the same response. Many people heard and saw but they did not understand. The disciples were blessed because they had the privilege of seeing and understanding the truths that those in the Old Testament had longed to know.
The disciples saw and believed; the leaders saw and rejected. Because the leaders turned from the light they had been given, God gave them no more light.

Then Jesus explained what His parable meant. The four results of the sown seed are compared to the four results of someone hearing the kingdom message.
First, the seed on the path is when someone hears the message but does not understand it, and thus does not believe it, the devil snatches away the word that was sown. This clearly represents those who do not get saved.
Second, the seed on rocky ground is someone who responds to the truth and believes but because the truth doesn’t take firm root in their heart they are unable to endure. They don’t have a firm foundation that allows them to stand in the face of any opposition. Some think that this type of person is also an unbeliever but because the seed sprang up they must have believed the message of salvation. Sadly it is possible for a believer to fall to the point that their faith is no longer effective in their life (apostasy). Everlasting life, once received, is everlasting even if one’s faith later fails (John 10:28).
The third seed fell amongst the thorns and represents believers whose hearts are deflected away from God toward the attractiveness of the things of this world. The cares of this world are the worries and concerns of this life and the deceitfulness of riches represent the false security found in the pursuit of worldly wealth. These things distract a believer from his or her focus on God and the result is a believer who is unfruitful.
The final seed is received by ready and faithful believers who show different levels of commitment resulting in different levels of productivity and resultant fruit. The difference in results is not because of any defect in the seed (the Word of God) but in the condition of the hearer’s heart.

Which ground does your heart represent?
Is it hard and unreceptive? (I certainly hope not if you’re reading this. But if you have not believed in Jesus Christ as your saviour, then this is you)
Is your heart lacking in depth, are you not taking the time to allow God’s truth to sink into your heart and give you the solid foundation you need to stand against the attacks that will come on your faith?
Are you surrounded by the cares and distractions of this world so much so that they are crowding out your time and attention from the things of God. Not all the things of the world are bad, but anything that continually takes your time away from serving God is.
If you have a receptive heart, that is fantastic, but there’s still a question for you; how receptive is your heart? Are you living for God in a way that’s producing a fruitful yield of thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold? What are you doing to increase your yield for God?

When Jacob died, there was great mourning by his sons and their families. Joseph arranged for his physicians to embalm his father. The Egyptians mourned for him as well. Joseph then arranged to have his father taken to be buried as he had requested. A great many people went in the procession to bury Jacob.

Now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers feared that he might now take retribution on them. They clearly had not believed that they had been completely forgiven. They go back to Joseph and fall on their knees before him asking for forgiveness again. Joseph wept when he heard their repeat confession and assured them they need not be afraid because he would not seek revenge for that is God’s prerogative. Joseph again pointed out that while they had intended evil against him, God meant it for good. Just like Joseph’s brothers battled to accept his forgiveness and tried to earn his favour by becoming his slave, sometimes we battle to accept that God has completely forgiven us and we try to earn our forgiveness through various ways. Our forgiveness is not based in anything we do or have done, but in the promise of the One who forgives. God has said that if you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life (present), you will not come into judgement (future), and you have passed from death to life (past) (John 5:24). Do you believe that promise?

When Joseph was 110, he died in Egypt. He reminded his brothers that God had promised to take them out of Egypt to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He too requested that they take his bones from Egypt and bury him there, which was later done by Moses (Exod 13:19).

Jacob gave each of his sons a “blessing suitable to him” (v. 28). There are some interesting things to note in the blessings.

Reuben was the firstborn son and should have received the double portion as his birthright. He represented his father’s manly strength and held a place of power and dignity. He forfeited his position because he defiled his father’s bed and sinned with Bilhah, his father’s concubine (Gen 35:22).

Because of their actions, Simeon and Levi also didn’t receive a blessing but rather a prophecy that they would be scattered among Israel.

Judah was elevated above his older brothers. Just as Joseph had received the birthright in terms of land, Judah received the birthright in regards to government. Rulership would remain in the tribe of Judah until Messiah came and then would remain forever (Rev 5:5).

The other sons received blessings regarding to prosperity in land, commerce, or from enemies.

Joseph is blessed as the one who persevered, unmoved, in the face of hostility because he was strengthened by the Mighty One of Jacob. Jacob felt that he had been more richly blessed than his ancestors and now wished that such blessings would come to Joseph who had been separated from his brothers.

Finally Jacob instructs his sons to bury him in the field where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah where buried. Then he lay in bed and breathed his last.

Jacob blessed his sons based on who they were—what they had done, endured; their character. If you were to receive a blessing today, what would your blessing be? Would it be more of a curse because you have repeatedly succumbed to sin? Would it be a blessing because of your perseverance? In Jesus we are all given an inheritance in the kingdom, not because of works we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us. Our inheritance is secure, yet we can look forward to additional blessing if we choose to lay down our lives and live for Him.

Jacob is on his death bed and Joseph comes to him with his two sons. Jacob reiterates the promise that God had made to him. Jacob gave Joseph the double portion of inheritance through his two sons. Jacob elevates Ephraim and Manasseh to the status of his own sons replacing Reuben and Simeon. This recognition of Joseph’s two sons had an effect when land was apportioned to the tribes of Israel years later by Joshua in the promised land.

When Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons, he gave the birthright to Ephraim who was the younger instead of the tradition of the eldest. Joseph tried to correct the “mistake” but Jacob assured that he had done it intentionally. Years earlier Isaac had unintentionally given the birthright to his youngest, Jacob, but now Jacob does it intentionally and in tune with how God had been working. Man had a tradition where the firstborn received the birthright, but God does not do things mans way. For years God had reversed the order man planned: Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, and now Ephraim over Manasseh.