Jesus only came to save the lost sheep of Israel … what about me?
When Jesus began to minister in the world, his only intended audience was God’s people, the Jews. It is recorded in Matthew 15: 24 “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Remember, God chose the Israelite’s as his own and He was their God. If you were drawn to God, you didn’t remain a Gentile and worship God, you were circumcised as a male and became Jewish. Then you followed the Jewish customs, laws and worshiped God.
With His teachings being rejected by the Jewish priests, he turned his preaching to the masses and was amazed to find that the faith of so many non-Jewish believers was immense. They accepted him and his teachings whole heartedly. One such example is documented in Matthew 15: 21-28 a Canaanite woman begs for Jesus to save her daughter who is possessed by a demon and suffering. The woman knelt before him and said, “Lord, help me!” Jesus replied that it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs. The woman engages Jesus further by stating, “Yes it is, Lord,” “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table. Jesus declared that her faith was great and the daughter was healed. Metaphorically, the woman kneels before Jesus, as we do when receiving his Body, Soul and Divinity through the Eucharist. She asks for Jesus to come to her and heal her daughter and Jesus replies that the
bread of life that is intended for God’s children should not be wasted on the dogs of society. She calls upon his compassion to point out that the God feeds even the dogs crumbs from the table to prevent them from starving.
In today’s Gospel, MK 5:21-43, Jesus has become well known in the region and a large crowd has gathered where his boat landed. Immediately, Jairus a synagogue official meets Jesus and beckons for him to save his daughter who is next to death. On his way to Jairus’ home, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhagic disease touched his robe and was healed. Jesus could feel the healing power leaving his body but did not recognize who it was that had been healed. This can be looked at in two different lights one literal and one metaphorically. Literally, the crowd was so large that it was impossible to identify who the individual was that had touched him based on proximity. Metaphorically, this could also be describing the fact that the individual was not a Jew, one of God’s lambs, and therefore he was not able to recognize her. When Jesus called to the crowd to identify the individual, she identified herself by falling at Jesus’ feet and confessing her story to him and that she had touched him. Jesus replies to her that her faith had saved her and her affliction had been cured. Continuing on in the reading after interaction with the woman, a group from Jairus’ house arrived to tell them that the daughter had died and there was need for Jesus to proceed to the house. Jesus was unaffected by this and continued to proceed to the house. Unlike the woman Jesus encountered whom through blind faith reached out to Jesus and was healed … Jesus had to remind Jairus to not be afraid and to have faith in him as they made their way to his house. When they arrived he raised the child from death.
Today, as a Catholic, this seems unusual to believe that Jesus didn’t come to save everyone. We teach that God came to the entire world to heal and save humanity as a whole. As a point of reference, we need to remember that as Catholics, the only thing that separates us from our Jewish brethren is the fact that we did not reject Jesus as the Messiah and God’s Christ. So we are the lambs he came to save. As this relates to saving
everyone … that is our job to continue the mission that Jesus started by living and preaching the Gospel to the world. So, we as Jesus’ lambs offer up the opportunity for the world to convert and to follow Jesus through all of the Catholic sacraments and teachings left to us by Jesus. That is how he comes to save everyone! We become the lost sheep of Israel! We need to also understand that even though we are now the chosen lambs that Jesus came to save through our baptism and the sacraments of the church, rejecting any part of Jesus’ teachings for any reason, is no different than when the Jewish priests rejected him. Remember, the Truth is the Truth forever and the Truth is eternally unchanging.