Matthew 15:21-28 - by Don Neuendorf
"I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
Why would Jesus say this to a foreigner, a pagan woman, who is in need? It's worth noting that Jesus has at this point left the land of Israel. He and the disciples have hiked out of the Jordan River valley, climbing from 600 feet below sea level to 2,000 feet above the Mediterranean Sea. They are traveling through non-Jewish territory and have left behind the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, the crowds of people seeking miracles, and those who know what "Messiah" means. Presumably, though Matthew doesn't say so directly, Jesus is using this time to teach his disciples.
And now this woman comes, crying and pleading, and the disciples say, "Send her away..."
They said the same thing about the Jewish crowds, didn't they? They asked Jesus to send the people away to buy food. On that occasion Jesus met their needs, but this time he refuses, at first.
Why? That's the hard question here. Why would Jesus seem so cold? In answering that, it's good to do what we would do with anyone we might know today. If someone that you know to be loving and generous says something that appears indifferent, how do you interpret that? It doesn't make sense to conclude that the person's entire personality has suddenly changed. Instead, we assume that they must have a reason that we don't understand.
Why might Jesus refuse this woman? It could be to teach her something - or it could be to teach the disciples. But at least it is obvious, even with the children-and-the-dogs analogy, that Jesus is not rejecting her. All through Scripture God follows a plan. He does not just scatter his prophets to the winds in the hopes that they will reach people. He carefully chooses the one family of Abraham, moves them away from the pagan relatives, allows his people to be enslaved, and situates them in the best place for his plans. Now Jesus chooses where and when and to whom he will preach. He does not seek to reach everyone who is lost or to heal everyone who is sick. He has a plan for how his disciples will carry that ministry forward - and even that begins in Jerusalem and Judea, and moves from there to Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.
Not yet, Jesus is saying. But the woman points out that even when God's plan for us is for later, his mercy still encompasses us. We are in his plan.