An impassable gulf yawned between Jews and Gentiles in the days of the early church. A Jew could not drink milk drawn by Gentiles or eat their food. Jewish physicians could not attend to non-Jewish patients. No Jew would have anything to do with a Gentile. Unless that Jew, of course, was Jesus.
Suspicions of a new order began to surface because of his curious conversation with the Canaanite woman. Her daughter was dying, her prayer was urgent, yet her ancestry was Gentile. Jesus told her, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel,” but she replied, “even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:24, 27 NLT).
Jesus healed the woman’s daughter, and he made his position clear. He was more concerned about bringing everyone in than shutting certain people out.
