09/06/2026
There’s a story from Jesus’ life that is very hard for Gentile followers of Jesus (like me) to understand. It’s the story of Jesus and a non-Jewish mother from north of Israel who came seeking help from the “Son of David.” Jesus tells her that he was “sent only to the lost sheep of Israel,” and then says it’s not right to “take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Ouch. What could he possibly mean by that? Did Jesus hold prejudiced views of non-Jewish peoples and intentionally exclude them?
I’m very confident that he did not. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus displays the best of Jewish moral values in line with the Torah, including the admonition to be welcoming to “sojourners”—non-Jewish people who came looking for refuge in the land of Israel.1
But it’s hard to see those values in this story unless we read it more closely and give it some important context from the Jewish Bible.
If we do that, this story from Jesus’ life can actually show us what it means for Jewish people to be both “chosen” and inclusive as they follow the Messiah. And for Gentile Christians like myself, it shows us a deeper level of God’s love for all peoples in the Messiah.
This story can sound harsh at first – but in its Jewish context, it reveals something deeply compassionate and profound.
Continue reading via the link below:
Did Jesus tell a Gentile woman that he was only sent to Israel? Was she not offended? A bit of context reveals the important truth behind this story.