"... In the Matthean narrative context, this can only mean that the centurion exemplifies “many” non-Israelites who will be ultimately included in salvation and the great final eschatological feast—in contrast to at least some Jewish “sons of the kingdom” who will be excluded. The language used to articulate this message enacts a particularly surprising reversal, because it echoes a number of scriptural passages that envision the final gathering of Israel out of exile and their restoration to the land ... [Baruch] makes explicit what is implicit in the others: it is the children of Jerusalem, the Jewish people in exile, who will be gathered from east and west. This is also suggested by Isaiah’s reference to “everyone who is called by my name.” Thus, when Matthew’s Jesus speaks of many Gentiles coming from east and west to sit at the eschatological table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, he has dramatically transformed a standard Jewish apocalyptic topos. Now it is the Gentile outsiders being gathered to the feast ..."