Matthew's adroit use of the summary passage at critical junctures in his Gospel to provide the reader with christological and ecclesiological insights has long been noted and the most important of these passages studied. However, for a number of reasons Matthew 15:29-31 has not been extensively probed. Ryan views this summary as the third in a triad of summary passages found between Matthew 11:2-16:20 concerned with the healing activity of an already rejected Jesus and the prophesied obduracy of the religious leadership which will culminate in the death of the Messiah-Son of God.