I chatted with a Pastor friend on the blog entry about Jesus being sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. Among other things, my Pastor friend believes such a claim implies a few discordant things:
- Gentiles are “an afterthought.”
- Jesus is the Savior of only the Jews, and many Jews did not even accept him.
- Gentiles today should be practicing Judaism, not Christianity.
I am sympathetic to him and others who would feel that way. I had similar thoughts and discomfort when I was first confronted with these issues some years ago. However, I do not think the picture is as bleak or fuzzy as my friend may appear to imply. Let’s unpack the points one after the other.
First, I must reiterate that I did not claim that Jesus was only sent to the Jews in the first century. The Matthean Jesus did. In his own words, Jesus understood his mission as primarily to first-century Jews. So, even if a reader dislikes my explanation, the text remains and confronts us:
Matthew 15:24 ESV
[Jesus] answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”