Woof – Part 4

March 20, 2025

Broadcast

                             Woof - Part 4
                           Matthew 15:24-25
                              03/20/2025


        24   He answered, ``I was sent only to the lost sheep
             of the house of Israel.''
        25   But she came and knelt before him, saying, ``Lord,
             help me.''  (ESV)

        While teaching in the area around Tyre and Sidon, a
   Canaanite woman asked Jesus to cast a demon from her daughter.
   Jesus seemed to ignore her and the disciples who desired that
   Jesus send her away.

        He answered, ``I was sent only to the lost sheep of the
        house of Israel.''  But she came and knelt before him,
        saying, ``Lord, help me.''


        Early in John's Gospel, Jesus told a Samaritan woman,
   ``Salvation is from the Jews.''[1] Jesus was descended from
   Abraham, from the tribe of Judah, from King David.  He worshiped
   in the Temple in Jerusalem and fulfilled the Law given to the
   Jews by God.  His primary audience was Jewish, as were His
   disciples.  Only after He was rejected by the rulers of the
   Temple, only after Pentecost, did the apostles truly reach out to
   the surrounding nations.  Yes, Jesus was correct that He was sent
   to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

        Yet the woman, though not Jewish, knew that even from the
   days of the Old Testament, God showed mercy on those not of
   Jewish descent.  Salvation is not exclusive to the Chosen People,
   it begins with the message passed through them to the whole
   world.  Thus she insisted, ``Lord, help me.''

        We don't know when or how the Canaanite woman came to faith
   in Jesus Christ.  She calls Him ``Lord,'' confessing Him to be
   God.  She calls Him the ``Son of David,'' confessing Him to be
   the Messiah.  She does not take silence as answer, so she
   continually prays even when she seemingly is rebuked.  After all,
   there is no other help but Jesus alone.  May our Lord grant us
   faith to continue to call upon Him in every trouble Amen.
   ____________________

   1. John 4:22