Most of the public ministry of Jesus was conducted in Jewish territory. Under the circumstances, the number of personal contacts with Gentiles recorded in the Gospels is surprising. He healed a Gadarene (Gentile) demoniac (Matt8:28-34). Among 10 lepers healed, one was a Samaritan- and Jesus remarked that only the foreigner returned to thank Him (Luke17:12-19). A Samaritan woman was the sole audience for one of Jesus’ greatest dialogues. She received assurance that the time was near when God would be worshipped, not just in Jerusalem or Mt. Gerizim- but all over the world “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:5-42). A Canaanite woman’s faith was rewarded when her daughter was healed. Much has been made of Jesus’ challenging remark at the beginning of the encounter: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” He declined to heal her because His mission was first to the Jews. The woman understood and humbly submitted herself to Jesus, asking for His mercy. The point is that Jesus did minister to this woman and praised her faith in the presence of His disciples and Jewish onlookers (Matt15:28). This echoed forward to Romans that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. Another example of Jesus reaching the Gentiles involved a Roman centurion whose servant was healed. Commander of a band of 100 foreign soldiers quartered at Capernaum to keep the peace, this Roman leader was despised by the Jews who resented this “army of occupation.” Conscious of his own authority as a military man, he humbly assured Jesus that it would not be necessary for Him to go to his house to heal his servant (and thus render Himself unclean — because He was a Jewish man — by entering a Gentile home). “But only say the word, and my servant will be healed,” he declared with genuine faith; Jesus announced to the crowd following Him: “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith” He continued with this solemn prediction: “I tell you, many such foreigners shall come from the east and the west to join Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But many others who thought they were ‘sons of the kingdom’ (the chosen people of Israel) shall be shut out.”
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