Read: Matthew 15:21-29
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (v. 24 NIV)
Do you know anyone who insists their country is the only one God cares for? If so, they may also think that people of the same color, gender, or region of the country are God’s favorites. The racist US organization the Ku Klux Klan is an obvious illustration, but there are plenty of other people with similar attitudes. Often they even claim to be Christian.
You could be forgiven for thinking Jesus was just like this in Matthew 15. He treats a Gentile woman rudely, has to be badgered into healing her daughter, and expresses a very “Israel First!” attitude in verse 24. By the end of Matthew’s gospel, however, we learn that this perspective is temporary as he commands his followers to make disciples in all the world’s ethnic groups (Matt. 28:18-20).
Most likely, Jesus is trying to teach his followers a lesson here, with the help of the woman from the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon (modern Lebanon). They’re the ones who want him to send her away (v. 23). He recognizes the woman’s great faith, which he’s about to praise (v. 28). But even as he understands that the gospel “brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew,” his disciples need to learn that it’s also “then to the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16 NIV). Do we treat all fellow believers and would-be believers in Jesus as God’s highest priority?
As you pray, ask God to change your heart if you put “your kind of people” above others in any way.
Craig L. Blomberg is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Denver Seminary. He has written or edited more than 30 books, including a recently revised and expanded commentary on Matthew. He teaches regularly in churches, including his home church of Centennial Covenant in Littleton, CO. He and his wife Fran have two daughters and three grandchildren.
