To the Gentiles

When the Savior talked to the Nephites about how they were the “other sheep” that He spoke of to His followers in Palestine, He said that His disciples there “understood me not that I said they shall hear my voice; and they understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice—that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 15:23).  The Savior’s mortal ministry was to be to the children of Israel, and the Gentiles were to hear the gospel later through the preaching of the apostles.  At one point during His ministry He declared, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24).  When Jesus sent His apostles forth to do missionary work during His life, He told them, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:5-6).  It wasn’t until after His death and Resurrection that He told the apostles, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).  For reasons that we don’t fully understand, Christ was not to take His earthly ministry outside of Israel.  In the Father’s timing the Gentiles were not to receive the gospel until after Christ ascended into heaven. 

              And yet, despite this focus of His mission to the children of Israel, we do see Him serve those who were not Israelites and we get a glimpse into His feelings towards the Gentiles during His ministry.  One of these times was when the centurion sought out Jesus to heal his servant.  Presumably this was a Roman centurion and so therefore not an Israelite.  He beseeched Jesus, believing that He could heal the servant, and yet He didn’t want to bother the Savior by making Him come all the way to His home.  He said, “Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.”  Jesus “marveled at him” and did heal the servant, saying to the Jews around Him, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Luke 7:6-9).  He had a similar experience with another non-Israelite who sought His help.  A “woman of Canaan” came to him from Tyre and Sidon and pleaded with Him, “O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”  The Savior at first declined saying, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.”  The response seems rude to us, but I believe Jesus was essentially telling her that His mission was supposed to be to Israel and not the Gentiles.  Elder Talmage explained it this way: “The words, harsh as they may sound to us, were understood by her in the spirit of the Lord’s intent. The original term here translated ‘dogs’ connoted, as the narrative shows, … the ‘little dogs’ or domestic pets, such as were allowed in the house and under the table.  Certainly the woman took no offense at the comparison, and found therein no objectionable epithet.”  And, as proof that the Lord really wasn’t disparaging her, He did indeed provide the miracle she sought: “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour” (Matt. 15:21-28).  The experience of these two Gentiles—and perhaps others that weren’t recorded—showed the Lord’s compassion on them and gave a foreshadowing of the miracles that would come later as the apostles took the gospel to them.  I have to think that at some point as Paul was traveling through Tyre and preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, he found this woman and she received all of the blessings of the gospel (see Acts 21:3).