Lesson 3182

 (Lesson 3182)(09-18-20) Matthew 15:21-28

    “Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”

   There is a very, very important lesson in today’s quote. Therein, Jesus made it vividly clear that He had come to preach explicitly to the Jews. He said virtually those same words when He said, “I am not sent BUT unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” That means that Jesus was sent to teach the new law of grace through faith to the Jews ONLY, just as were the twelve apostles and the 72 disciples that Jesus had sent out. “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go NOT into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

    After Jesus had satisfied the prophesy that the Jews would indeed reject the Messiah, the Gentiles received the message of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ through the teaching of Paul, Jesus’ divinely chosen apostle to the Gentiles. Paul was aided by many others who would take up the cause of Jesus Christ as Paul preached throughout the region.  

    All of this is important because there are, what appear to be, discrepancies between the message that was meant explicitly for the Jews as opposed to the message that would be given to the Gentiles. The Jews were instructed in a manner befitting the old Law, whereas, the Gentiles were NEVER bound by ancient Hebrew law. 

    Many of the laws that governed ONLY the Jews still erroneously appear in much of today’s “Christianity”, such as water baptisms etc.~