Binding Broken Hearts

Introducing Jesus to Those Who Need Him Most

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The Value of One - Part 8

It started in the region of Gennesaret. Jesus had just gone back to this region a second time and had received a hero’s welcome. Why? Because the formerly demon possessed man had done the work Jesus had assigned him. The man had gone to the entire Decapolis region telling everyone who would listen that Jesus had set him free.

Jesus went from being welcomed and blessed to being confronted. A delegation of scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem tracked Jesus down and had started a theological debate about eating without performing ceremonial washing first. Even the disciples had a hard time understanding the true lesson – what is in your heart is the heart of the matter.

After the confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus made the decision to go on a mission trip. Jesus and his disciples leave the Gennesaret area and head northwest.

Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Matthew 15:21

Tyre and Sidon were cities in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon). This region was outside of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee where Jesus spent the largest chunk of His time. Jesus left the borders of His regular territory and traveled about 40 miles to reach His destination. I’m sure the disciples were wondering where they were going and why they were going there.

And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” Matthew 15:22

”Oh dear,” the disciples may have thought. “Another woman and Jesus! What next?” Not just a woman, a Gentile. A Syro-Phoenician (Canaanite) woman. And they thought the Samaritan woman at the well was bad enough! You mean that Jesus went purposefully on a mission into territory outside the Jewish national borders where unclean Gentiles lived just to be available for a Syro-Phoenician woman? Yes.

Remember, Jesus lived His life one day at a time getting His instructions for the day from His Father (John 5:30). Jesus didn’t just happen to travel to Tyre and Sidon and, oops!, there was a woman who needed His help. Jesus went on this mission trip to a foreign land on purpose. He had a divine appointment with this woman.

After a back and forth discussion like a tennis match that was meant to teach His disciples an important lesson – what’s in the heart is the heart of the matter – Jesus grants this woman’s petition.

Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Matthew 15:28

Matthew records that after this, Jesus went back into Galilee and continued His mission. We never hear the rest of the story. We know that the Syro-Phoenician woman had great faith and that her daughter was healed. But we are not given any further glimpse into what their lives were like from that day on. We have no idea if they became followers of Jesus. We don’t know if they shared what they knew of Jesus with their family and friends. We don’t have a clue how many people will be in the Kingdom as a result of Jesus’ intervention in their lives. That’s a story to be continued in the New Jerusalem.

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!” I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:4-7

What if Jesus had not left the borders of the Jewish nation to go on the mission trip? What if Jesus had thought that it wouldn’t be proper for Him to speak to a Gentile woman not of the Jewish faith? What if Jesus had dismissed her like a pesky dog because her kind weren’t worth saving? What if Jesus hadn’t healed this woman’s daughter because there was no guarantee that anything good would come of it?

Remember, God values the “one.” God may ask us to go on a mission miles outside the borders of our territory to a place we don’t want to go. We need to do it anyway. God may ask us to share His love with someone that we just don’t see any value in. We need to do it anyway.  God may ask us to give of ourselves to benefit another person with no guarantee that the work we put into sharing the gospel will ever amount to anything. We need to do it anyway. God knows the hearts of the people He sends us to. He knows the hearts that are reaching out to Him regardless of what the outside looks like. And God needs us to reach those reaching hearts. 

Do you want to join in heaven's mission to reach one inmate with the gospel that could change his/her life for eternity? If so, please consider becoming a financial partner with us. Click here to see how you can help. You may be the one God is looking for.

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