Devotional:Hope for a Foreigner: Matthew 15:21-28

“Then Jesus said to her, “‘O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed at once” (Matthew 15:28, NASB).

The neighborhood that I live in has changed a lot since my family and I moved into the house that we live in. When we first moved in the majority of the people that lived on our street were American born Caucasians. Through the years there has been a great increase in the number of people that either they or their parents were born in another country. As I meet these new neighbors I can see that all of us are very much alike in spite of our ethnicity, nation of origin, skin color and religion. The neighbors that I have met aspire to the same things. We have jobs or we are retired. We want to live in a safe neighborhood. We do not want to be ashamed of who we are. We want to be friends with our neighbors.

Jesus “withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. When Jesus arrived in the district He was approached by a woman. She was not a Jewish woman. She was a Canaanite woman. The woman asked Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus tested her faith. Did she really believe that He would heal a foreigner? Jesus informed her that He was interested in the Jews. Besides, it would not be appropriate for a man that was a Jew to have any dealings with a woman that was not a Jew.

The woman protested. She agreed that she was a foreigner. She had no rights to that which belonged to the Jews. However, she was a woman who needed just one thing from Jesus that He gave freely to His own people. She wanted Jesus to heal her daughter. The woman had faith that Jesus would heal her daughter. Her boldness in her approach showed that she had faith in Jesus; that Jesus was willing and able to have compassion and mercy upon any one who had a need for His power.

God responds to faith regardless of who we are, and regardless to what we ask of Him. Whether people were Jew or Gentile Jesus responded to people on the basis of their faith. If we truly believe in Jesus we can approach Him. I can depend on Jesus simply because I have faith in Him. In Him I have hope that Jesus will meet all of my needs.

Prayer: We thank Jesus for His care for all people. Amen.