The take-home message from today’s readings is that God loves all mankind and Jesus came to save everyone, not just the Israelites. God, speaking through Isaiah, says that “the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord…them I will bring to My holy mountain and make joyful in My house of prayer” and that “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” St. Paul in his letter to the Romans says that he’s hoping the Jewish people will see his (Paul’s) ministry to the gentiles and be jealous enough to get on board. Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, heals the daughter of a gentile woman because of her great faith. This is all good news for us!

I must confess that over the years I’ve found this Gospel reading to be disturbing. At first blush, it   appears that Jesus is being downright disrespectful of the Canaanite woman and her request…that He’s only come for the Israelites. He says as much to the woman. However, scripture is open to interpretation as the Spirit moves us, and to me it makes no sense that Jesus would deliberately move into Gentile territory to simply say “don’t bother me, I’m just passing through.” Rather, Jesus uses this incident to demonstrate that He did NOT just come for the Jewish people, but for everyone who has faith in Him and is persistent. The woman’s persistence shows that she has faith; she knows that Jesus can help her daughter if He chooses. In response to her display of faith, Jesus commends it and grants her request.
It doesn’t matter where any of us started our faith journey or what our backgrounds are. Jesus came for all of us. We need to both rejoice because of that fact and treat others as equally beloved by God and pray for others.