Section 23
Act 2 began with Jesus being rejected by the religious and political leaders but calling His apostles. And now, Act 3 begins with Jesus being rejected in His own hometown but sending His apostles out with power to preach and heal. In this act, we see Jesus growing His kingdom family.
In the Old Testament book of Exodus, God led His people out of Egypt, brought them through the Red Sea on dry land, fed them with bread in the wilderness, and gave them His law. In Act 3, we see Jesus miraculously feeding five thousand Jewish families, who had come to hear Him preach and see Him heal. He walks on water as if it were dry land, and He teaches God’s law. It’s like Jesus is an even better Moses!
In this act, we will also see Jesus breaking down the barrier between the Jews and non-Jews (known as Gentiles) by showing we’re all sinners before God, letting a Gentile woman join the family and share the bread, healing a deaf man in a Gentile region, and feeding four thousand families in a Gentile area. Jesus is opening God’s kingdom up not only to Jews, but to Gentiles as well! But His disciples still don’t understand. Finally, Jesus heals a blind man in two stages—not because He’s incompetent, but so that this healing can be a picture of the gradual opening up of His disciples’ eyes.