Matthew 15:24

24. He answered To the disciples. The fact that our Lord gives this reason to the disciples shows that he is assigning the true cause of his actions. It is not, as some think, to draw out the woman’s faith, that he declines to hear her prayer; but because his immediate mission is not to Gentile, but to Jew. Sent All his actions are under the control of Him from whom he has received his commission; and the tenor of that commission limits him to Israel. Lost sheep Such is the character of which the whole house of Israel consists. They are all lost sheep, and to them is he sent.