Jesus & Breaking The Barrier

This past weekend we got back into our series of going through the book of Matthew and it found us in Matthew 15:21-28. A controversial passage for sure. In this passage, we find Jesus fresh off of performing miracles and challenging the religious systems of His day. He wants to find some rest for Himself and His disciples. And so they travel into non-Jewish territory for the first and only time that we see recorded in the Gospels. They travel to Tyre and Sidon, which was considered enemy territory for the Jewish People.

Jesus is approached by a persistent women who not only is asking for her daughter to be healed by Jesus, but in the process of doing so she is breaking down cultural and religious barriers in the process. In this portion of scripture we learn what it means to have faith that is persistent. Jesus declares His love not just for a select group of people, but for all people. And in the process invites His disciples and us into a whole new way of thinking.

Matthew 28:19-20, is put into action and is a challenge to us going forward. We are faced to wrestle with questions such as:
- Do we have our own prejudices and particularities?
- Do we ever close the door on people who we feel don’t deserve forgiveness?
- What does it mean to truly love like Jesus? Even loving our enemies?

Jesus crossed the racial divide and barrier in order to love this woman. What barriers is he calling you to cross in order to love somebody else?

Tune into this past weekend’s podcast as we walk through this passage and allow God to search our hearts in the process.

~ Pastor Jordan McLellan | Adult Ministries Pastor