The Test Of Silence

The Test of Silence

Read: Matthew 15:21-28

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

Matthew 15:24

“Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God will never.”

—William Cowper

IN WORD From the very beginning of His relationship with Abraham, the father of Israel, God promised to bless all peoples through His chosen nation (Genesis 12:3). When Messiah Jesus came, an old man in the Temple affirmed His global mission—He would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). Jesus speaks of His “other sheep” and tells parables that shatter the concept of a Jewish-only Savior. The theme of God’s mission to all peoples is so frequent and constant in Scripture that we are shocked when we hear His words: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

So why does He say this to a Canaanite woman in this text? Does it contradict His will for all peoples to honor Him? No, it is a test. Not only does it test the faith of the Gentile woman, it tests the learning of His disciples. Only a few verses earlier, Jesus taught them of vain worship and false purity. Worship and purity are of the heart, He says, not of ritual or of genetics. Whether one is a Jew or not isn’t the point. The heart is what matters.

The disciples were asking that this woman be sent away. Had their ethnic focus blinded them to the Messiah’s mission? Jesus spoke harshly to show them the natural outcome of their faulty theology. If the disciples seriously thought the Messiah was a Jewish monopoly, this is what He would look like—callous and compassionless.

IN DEED What about us? Are we blind to the needs of others? Are our prayer requests so focused on ourselves that no compassion is evident? Do our churches harbor an us-and-them mentality? Are we enamored about what God is doing with “us” and passionless about what God is doing with “them”? If so, imagine the Messiah responding according to our theology and see how badly it fits. Let Jesus expand your vision—as He expanded the disciples’ vision—to extend grace to the unlikely and the unlovable.