Jesus and the Gentiles

[B-A-C]

There are few passages of scripture where it mentions Jesus interacting with Gentiles (non-Jews).

Matt 15:21; Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon.
Matt 15:22; And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed."
Matt 15:23; But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, "Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us."
Matt 15:24; But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." ( also see Matt 6:10; )
Matt 15:25; But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"
Matt 15:26; And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
Matt 15:27; But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."
Matt 15:28; Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once.

We see here that Jesus was in the area of Tyre and Sidon (primarily Gentile towns). In those days it was part of Syria (it is located in modern day Lebanon). Jesus also mentions these places in Matt 11:22; and Luke 10:14; in the day of judgment.
Also it also specifically says she was a Canaanite woman. At first He ignores her. Then He tells her He was only sent for
the "the house of Israel". Then He tells her He shouldn't give the bread to the dogs. (are Gentiles dogs?) but finally
because of her answer, He heals her daughter.

We see this same story in Mark 7:24-31; with some slight differences.
Rather than being called a Canaanite it says...
Mark 7:26; Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
(Of course Canaanites were also considered Gentiles). Also the wording of Jesus's reply is slightly different.
Mark 7:27; And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

 

[B-A-C]

We do see a couple of areas where Jesus did preach to Gentiles.

Matt 4:13; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.
Matt 4:14; This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: ..( see Isa 9:1; )
Matt 4:15; "THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES--
Matt 4:16; "THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED."
Matt 4:17; From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

It seems even Gentiles were told to repent.

 

[B-A-C]

Luke 17:11; While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee.
Luke 17:12; As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him;
Luke 17:13; and they raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
Luke 17:14; When He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they were going, they were cleansed.
Luke 17:15; Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice,
Luke 17:16; and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.
Luke 17:17; Then Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine--where are they?
Luke 17:18; "Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?"
Luke 17:19; And He said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has made you well."

This is a great passage with a lot of lessons. Although it doesn't specifically say so, the inference is that they were not all Jews.
At least one of them was a Samaritan ( in verses 18 Jesus calls him a "foreigner" ).
I love this passage, because it says "as they were going, they were cleansed". Sometimes we have to be obedient to Jesus before the healing starts.
They weren't healed before they went, they were healed as they went.

 

[B-A-C]

Another great passage (aren't they all?)

John 4:4; And He had to pass through Samaria.
John 4:5; So He *came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph;
John 4:6; and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
John 4:7; There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, "Give Me a drink."
John 4:8; For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
John 4:9; Therefore the Samaritan woman *said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
John 4:10; Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
John 4:11; She *said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?
John 4:12; "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?"
John 4:13; Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;
John 4:14; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
John 4:15; The woman *said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."
John 4:16; He *said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here."
John 4:17; The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus *said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband';
John 4:18; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."
John 4:19; The woman *said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
John 4:20; "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
John 4:21; Jesus *said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
John 4:22; "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
John 4:23; "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
John 4:24; "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
John 4:25; The woman *said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us."
John 4:26; Jesus *said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
John 4:27; At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?"
John 4:28; So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and *said to the men,
John 4:29; "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?"

I could type for hours about this passage, but here we see a Samaritan woman, in a Samaritan town called Sychar.... and Jesus speaks to her.
Jesus initiates the conversation. It's unusual for Jewish men to speak to women they do not know, especially Samaritans.
Yet even though Jesus knows she is not a Jew, He tells her "He would have given you living water", He goes on to say "whoever drinks of His water will never
thirst again" and it "will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life".
This appears to be the first passage in the Bible where Jesus specifically addresses a Gentile and tells them they can have living water and eternal life.
I will leave commentary about worshiping in Jerusalem and on the mountain out for now.
I will leave commentary about her five husbands and the one she is with now (who is not her husband) out for now.
I will leave commentary about worshiping in spirit and in truth out for now.
In verse 22, Jesus does say that salvation comes from the Jews, this has multiple meanings, but Jesus was of course a Jew (as a human on Earth at least).
Also in verse 26, this is the only passage in scripture I know of where Jesus actually states that He is the Messiah.

(at least 3 more passages coming)

 

[B-A-C]

The passage in the previous post actually continues... but it is no longer just the Samaritan woman now.

John 4:39; From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have done."
John 4:40; So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
John 4:41; Many more believed because of His word;
John 4:42; and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world."
John 4:43; After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee.

So even though Jesus was "sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel". He had compassion and made time for Gentiles, in fact He spent 2 days in Samaria
and many people there "believed because of His word".

(more to come)

 

[B-A-C]

This passage may be a parable, or a real story. We don't know for sure. But it is about a Samaritan.
In particular, about a Samaritan obeying the commandment to love his neighbor. This is of course the story of the good Samaritan.

Luke 10:25; And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
Luke 10:26; And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?"
Luke 10:27; And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
Luke 10:28; And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE."
Luke 10:29; But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Luke 10:30; Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.
Luke 10:31; "And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
Luke 10:32; "Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
Luke 10:33; "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,
Luke 10:34; and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
Luke 10:35; "On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.'
Luke 10:36; "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?"
Luke 10:37; And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."

In this story we see 4 people. A man traveling down the road between Jerusalem and Jericho (he is of unknown race, but it is usually assumed he is a Jew).
Then we see a priest (almost certainly a Jew), and then we see a Levite (a Jew) both of whom did not show love to the beaten man.
Finally we see a Samaritan, who did show love. There is of course much more that could be said about this parable/story, but the thing that stands out
to me, is that Jesus was using a Gentile as example of how to love your neighbor. It seems even Gentiles should love their neighbors.

(At least 2 more to come)

 

[B-A-C]

There is also the story of Herod (who was a Gentile) and John the Baptist, although in most of this Herod didn't deal with Jesus directly, it did affect Jesus.

Matt 14:2; and said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him."
Matt 14:3; For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.
Matt 14:4; For John had been saying to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."

One thing I notice here, is that the law of adultery is for Gentiles also.
This story has a little more detail in Mark.

Mark 6:14; And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, "John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him."
Mark 6:15; But others were saying, "He is Elijah." And others were saying, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old."
Mark 6:16; But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen!"
Mark 6:17; For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her.
Mark 6:18; For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."
Mark 6:19; Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so;

Herod's wife tells her daughter to tell Herod to have John the Baptist beheaded.

Mark 6:24; And she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist."
Mark 6:25; Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."
Mark 6:26; And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.
Mark 6:27; Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison,
Mark 6:28; and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.

Later on Jesus refers to Herod as a fox.

Luke 13:31; Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, "Go away, leave here, for Herod wants to kill You."
Luke 13:32; And He said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.'

In Acts 12:23; it says Herod was eaten by worms because he did not give God Glory.

 

[B-A-C]

After Jesus had given up His Spirit but was still on the cross, it seems some Roman soldiers had a revelation.

Matt 27:54; The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, "This man truly was the Son of God!"
Mark 15:39; When the Roman officer who stood facing Him [heard His cry and] saw how He had died, he exclaimed, "This man truly was the Son of God!"

Jesus knew it prophesied that the Gentiles would kill Him. (Some Bibles use the word "Romans" in verse 32 below, other say "Gentiles" ).

(NLT)
Luke 18:31; Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, "Listen, we're going up to Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true.
Luke 18:32; He will be handed over to the Romans, and He will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon.
Luke 18:33; They will flog Him with a whip and kill Him, but on the third day He will rise again."

Pontius Pilate was of course a Roman governor. ( Matt 27:2; Matt 27:11; Acts 4:27; 1 Tim 6:13; )

Matt 27:22; Pilate *said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all *said, "Crucify Him!"
Matt 27:23; And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Crucify Him!"
Matt 27:24; When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to that yourselves."
Matt 27:25; And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"
Matt 27:26; Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

John 19:19; Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS."
John 19:20; Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek.
John 19:21; So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews'; but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'"
John 19:22; Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."


(at least one more coming)

 

[B-A-C]

The last passage I have here is perhaps controversial.
Some people believe that Jesus fed the multitude once, but I believe it happened on 2 separate events.
Both Matthew and Mark record two separate events.

One was 5000 and one was 4000 to make things more difficult, that's only men not women and children
One group had been with Him 1 day, the other group had been with Him 3 days.
One group started with 5 loaves and 2 fish, the other started with 7 loaves and a few fish.
One group had 12 baskets of food leftover, the other group had 7 baskets of food leftover.
The feeding of the 5000 is found in 4 gospels, the feeding of the 4000 is only found in Matt and Mark.
One instance is told in Matt 14:15-22; the other is told in Matt 15:30-39;. In Matt 16:9-10; both are mentioned.
One instance is in Mark 6:34-45;. The other is in Mark 8:1-9;. Between these two stories Mark Jesus Jesus went to the Decapolis region. (Mark 7:31; )
One of these miracles happened at Bethsaida, the other happened at Decapolis.
Bethsaida was of course a town in Israel, however Decapolis was not, it was a Gentile town (noted for paganism).

I personally feel that the majority of people in the crowd of the 4000 (Decapolis) would have mostly been Gentiles.
All the preaching done in the passages above (about the 4000) was mostly to Gentiles.
Some will not agree, and the only real proof I have is the location of where it happened.

The purpose of all this is to show that Jesus did indeed have quite a bit of interaction with Gentiles.
He may have been sent "for the lost sheep of the house of Israel". But there appear to be at least 10 passages of scripture where Jesus specifically addressed Gentiles.

 

[Travis]

I guess the same could be said for the Old Testament. Although the main focus of the Old Testament is on the Nation of Israel, we see a number of places where non-Israelites are brought into the story as well. Jesus's bloodline has a few people in it who were definitely not Jews/Israelites. Jonah was sent to a gentile nation and they repented. While the nation of Israel was in captivity there are many stories that include God doing things with and through gentiles.

I think all of this foretells God's ultimate plan for:

Genesis 22:18 "and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."​

Travis