After an uncharacteristically long pause, Jesus finally answers the Canaanite women who has been crying out after Him and His disciples. Yet, to any who have been following His story, His answer doesn’t seem to line up. It is out of character and contradictory to His revealed character. Matthew writes, “He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.””
One must avoid the temptation to take this comment out of context with the rest of Matthew’s Gospel. But the context is just as relevant as the text. And what is the context?
To this point in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has already had compassion on a Roman centurion. Not only was he a Gentile, but being of the occupying force, a Roman centurion represented the most hated of all of Israel’ s enemies at the time. Yet Jesus immediately responded to his request for help with a servant with, “I will go and heal him.”
Then, when Jesus left that place and deliberately went to the far side of the lake (to Gentile territory) and healed the demon-possessed men that were a public menace – for whom no one was asking. Clearly Jesus had already established a trajectory of caring for the non-Jew. Moreover, all of Israel knew that Messiah was more than just their promised king. Scripture is replete with the promise for all nations. The context of the rest of Scripture backs up Matthew’s implied point. Isaiah 49 says, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” And Psalm 2 (a known Messianic Psalm) says, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.”
Moreover, Genesis 12:3 says that through Abraham, all nations would be blessed – a promise reiterated in Genesis 22 and 28. Psalm 22 says, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.” Psalm 72 says, “He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth…All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him.” There are hundreds of more prophesies about Messiah, and many of them allude to this same principle.
While Messiah would be FIRST sent to Israel, He would be for all, not only the Jew. The coming King was not only King of Israel, but King of Kings and Lord of all the earth. One must therefore ask “If Jesus was Messiah for all, why did He say was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel?” The answer must be that either He was confused, or that He was deliberately saying it for another reason. Yet Jesus was never confused about who He was or what He was doing or saying. The context of the rest of Scripture clearly points to the latter, and the context is just as important as the text.
We must know that Jesus was deliberately silent, and is now very purposefully voicing this comment with another intention in mind. After all, he is (as Don Richardson noted) a master teacher. And master teachers are free to employ wit and sarcasm in teaching their disciples.
The specialty of pure Hebraism and the narrowness of Pharisaic Judaism are utterly opposed to each other. Jehovah’s care for all nations is ever and anon gleaming out in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Joseph S. Exell
APPLICATION: Thankfulness
Had God only thought of the Jewish people, the rest of us would be lost forever. But God made all of us in His image, and He purposes to walk with us forever.