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The room was tiny, maybe 6×6. Cushions on the floor lined the back wall. I was offered to sit, but felt uncomfortable knowing this was a woman’s bed. This was her space and we were intruders. This was her home.
There was no kitchen, just a make-shift cook stove made with a burner connected to a small tank of propane.
She sat in the corner, two sat on a structure piled with items, and the rest of our team stood. One woman sat between us to translate for her. She was a Syrian refugee who had come to Jordan for help. Her home had been bombed and all of her family had been killed.
Our guide pointed to bags that lined the left wall. They were full of bread. This woman spent her whole day collecting old and discarded bread. She would fill these bags and then sell them to farmers to feed their animals. She would get about $2 a day.
Two dollars a day for discarded crumbs of bread.
To us, it seems like nothing. But to her, it meant everything. It was her livelihood, her survival.
“And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.” (Mark 7:24-30)
A desperate woman sought out Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus’ words may seem harsh to us, but to this woman, they were hope.
Jesus had come to be a witness to the Jews first. That was God’s plan. These were His chosen people. This woman was a gentile, a Syrian Phoenician, and in their culture, she, like all gentiles, was referred to as a dog.
Jesus plainly told her that He had to feed His children first – the Jews. When she heard this, hope filled her. Even dogs were allowed to have the crumbs or the scraps of bread. She was satisfied with even the crumbs of what Jesus offered.
What faith.
What beautiful, heart-breaking, pure faith she showed in that moment.
And for that, her daughter was healed.
The good news of Jesus Christ and His offer of salvation was first offered to the Jew, and now the gentile.
What tremendous news that is for you and me! Salvation is offered to all who will believe! To all of those that have faith in Jesus Christ, and who would be satisfied with just the crumbs.
Jesus offers to us more than we can ever fathom! More than we could ever dream of! We are not worthy of any of it! And yet, He loves us so much that He would die for us so that we might receive all of it!
Do you know Jesus? Do you walk with Him daily? I pray that you take the time today to begin a relationship with Jesus. If you’ve drifted away, stop making excuses, and come back to the One who loves you unconditionally!
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