Children v dogs

"It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
Matthew 15:26

I wondered a lot what this meant this morning. Why would Jesus say that He came just for the children of Israel? How did He get from that message to the message at the end of Matthew in the Great Commission? What changed that all the sudden, Gentiles could get a piece of the action? What about the Roman centurion? Why did he get help but this woman is getting a test? I find it highly perplexing.

But I know still that my God loves me, a gentile, and even though He said He was sent only to the lost sheep in Israel, he help this woman because of her faith. He doesn't turn His back on any of us because we are all His children. I'm not sure why this story happened the way it did, nor am I sure why sometimes Jesus heals with a word versus sometimes He touches a man's tongue. What I do know it that by the time Matthew 28 rolls around, Jesus is no longer all about Israel. The mission changes. He is ascending, and so the mission changes. He may have come to preach to Israel, but that is not the only work God is doing. He doesn't want Israel to just think about their own. Not any more than He wants the Church to just think about her own. God wants us devoted to making disciples. No matter who they are.

God is in the business of changing lives. I think this story is actually a pretty good example of that...