Oluwole Josiah
I realise that a number of persons have attempted to do justice to this topic as I tried to examine the contentions surrounding the subject. Some religion, trying to gain relevance by the account of the gospels, declare that Jesus Christ was a prophet sent only to the Jews. This notion denies the universality of the mission of Jesus Christ and limits His messianic mission.
These skeptics rely on the statements by Jesus Christ to a woman of Samaria, whose daughter was demon possessed, seeking healing. At the time Jesus was in the area of Tyre and Sidon, a coastal region in extreme northwestern Galilee (Matthew 15:21-28). Jesus initially did not respond to the woman’s entreaties,yet she followed Him and continued her supplications. Even His disciples sought to silence her, but she would not give in. They wanted her sent away, yet she pushed forward. Suddenly Jesus turned to her and said, “I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” verse 24. She then came worshipping and pleading further. Jesus instead added more barriers to her request. “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” verse 26. Instead of being offended, she agreed with the Master and replied: “Truth Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the children’s table.” verse 27. Her response to this statement by Christ was inspiring. Jesus acknowledged it and healed the woman’s daughter instantly, commending her great faith.
By this we understand that Jesus was not rejecting her because she was a gentile, rather Jesus set forth the order in which his mission would be executed. His priority at the time was to bring salvation first to the People of God (Israel) who at the time were lost sheep(See Jeremiah 50:6, Ezekiel 34:23-24, Micah 5:4-5). These scriptures revealed that the Messiah would come to save the lost sheep. And when Jesus presented Himself as a shepherd to Israel, He was claiming to be the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy (Mark 6:34, 14:27; John 10:11-16; see also Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 5:4; and Revelation 7:17).
Second, There is no difficulty in seeing that Jesus was testing the faith of the woman, in that her faith rose and anchored so well in holding her belief that Jesus had the power to heal her vexed daughter. She got the reward of faith, to prove that “whosever believeth in Him” whether Jews or Gentiles, will be saved. Her daughter was healed and she went into this record of how we should learn to trust God even when our request is delayed.
Again, this shows that Jesus Ministry was in order of priority…”to the Jew first and also to the Greeks.”
It was through the Jews that God first revealed His laws and person. It was through them He preserved His Word, and sent His Son.
This point of fulfilling His messianic mission was also reflected in His instruction to His disciples when he sent them to preach, to “go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” Mathew 10:5-6. Jesus did not forbid their preaching to all Gentiles; He did, however, narrow their focus to the areas which should be most receptive—those who knew the Law and were expecting the Messiah. Paul, in his missionary journeys, followed the same priority of preaching to the Jews first (Romans 1:16).
In John 4;22 Jesus told another Samaritan woman that “Salvation is of the Jews.” in order words the word of God which brings salvation started from the Jews, without them we do not have the records, from them the chart on the path of salvation issued. This being true, God had planned through them that salvation should reach the entire world. This is the promise He made to Abraham(Genesis 12:3; Gen 18:18, Gal 3:8).
Please notice that despite the initial acknowledgement of the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles in the discuss at Jacob’s well, Jesus preached the salvation message to the Samaritan woman and later went ahead to preach to a multiple of Samaritans which the said woman helped to gather. This is enough to dispel the argument that Jesus was not sent, but only to the Jews. All we need is to understand the progression of God’s divine order and grace in the salvation of mankind.
But Jesus said in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that whosever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemned the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” This declaration by Jesus Himself underscores the Universal mandate of His mission.
Having accomplished His ultimate sacrifice on the cross for mankind, He commanded His disciples, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” Mark 16:19.
Also in Acts 1:8, He said, “But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” Notice the order in which the gospel is to travel, begining from Judea and then to the entire world. This gradual and progressive order had been God’s plan and it was the workable pattern for the message to make the right impact across the globe.
May I end with this quote from an article: “This act of compassion and healing of a Gentile is a beautiful picture of Christ’s ministry to the whole world—the Jewish Messiah is also the Savior of all who will believe (Matthew 28:19; John 10:16; Acts 10:34-36; Revelation 5:9).”