A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Mark 7:24-37 with the title “Includes,” for Sunday, October 1, 2023.

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  ??? Can you share a time when you traveled outside our country — how did you feel/what did you experience??? While there, did you ever feel like an “outsider”?

Then you could say something like: in today’s lesson Jesus goes outside the boundaries of Judea and Galilee and ministers to a couple of people of other ethnic backgrounds. Scripture shows us that the Lord has always accepted those of any race or background who seek Him. We should accept them too — and not only that, we should be seek to purposefully reach people of all races through evangelism/missions as well. 

CONTEXT

We are continuing our study of Jesus’ ministry in the Book of Mark. In the last several chapters He has healed people, and then in the first part of Mark 7 He wrangled some more with the Pharisees, who were all concerned about “unclean food.” In :19 it says “Thus He declared all foods clean” — so there is now no unclean food. It is no accident that Mark moves from that to our story for today about Jesus going to some “foreign” places, because He is now showing us that there are not only no unclean food, but there are also no unclean PEOPLE whom we are not to minister to either! In our focus passage for today in Mark 7 we see Jesus taking a “mission trip” outside the boundaries of Judea and Galilee, and minister to some people there. 

(A Map would be of great help this week: show where Judea & Galilee were, also Tyre & Sidon, and the Decapolis.) 

OUTLINE

I. The International Ministry of Jesus  (:24,31)

II. The Syrophoenician woman (:24-30)

III. The Greek man (:31-37)

I. The International Ministry of Jesus (:24, :31)

Point out that in today’s text we see Jesus leaving Judea & Galilee, and ministering to people of other nations:

— :24 says “Jesus got up and went away from there (Gennesaret/Sea of Galilee: you might show where this is on the map — in Galilee) “to the region of Tyre” (often called “Tyre & Sidon” as they are “twin cities” like Minneapolis/St. Paul, etc.)

SHOW WHERE TYRE/SIDON ARE: outside of Judea/Galilee.

(??** This was some of the farthest Jesus traveled away from Palestine in His ministry travels (not counting Egypt as a child) — not that far, relatively speaking — about 36 miles — but still “outside their country”, a good distance for their day; probably at least a couple of days’ walk.) Here the Syrophoenician woman came to Him — that was the race of the people there; not Jews, but “Gentiles”. 

— Then after her story (which we’ll look at in a moment, :31 says, “Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. (Show on map)  “Decapolis” in Greek literally means “10 Cities” (“Deca” = 10, “polis” = city). These were 10 Gentile cities east of the Jordan River — again “Gentile territory.”

So you might say Jesus went on a couple of “mission trips” in this passage. (Of course His whole life was a “mission trip” to earth!) But He went “outside” what you might think of as His “homeland” of Galilee, or even Judea, to these “Gentile” areas. 

Many Jews were not fond of Gentiles, calling them “Gentile dogs.” But Jesus “came to seek and to save that which was lost” and here we see Him reaching people of other nationalities, racial backgrounds. 

There are a couple of applications for us here:

1) This is a good reminder that God cares for people of every nation and race. 

It was hard for the Jews to see this at first. They thought of the Gentiles as “dogs.” It took a lot to convince Peter to go see Cornelius in Acts 10, but after his vision and visit to Cornelius, Peter said in :34-35, “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him” — and then he shared the gospel with the Cornelius and the Gentiles. 

— John 3:16 reminds us of this: “For God so loved THE WORLD”

— Revelation 5:9 says of Jesus that He “purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” EVERY people. EVERY nation. There is no place for racism in the church of Jesus Christ. Some from every nation will be in glory! He loves them all!

2) So second: this is good reminder that WE need to follow in His footsteps and be a part of reaching them today! Jesus went on mission to reach these Gentiles, and we need to do the same thing.

??? Which nations does Jesus say in the Great Commission that we should reach???

+x Matthew 28:18: “Go therefore and make disciples of ALL the nations …”

+x Acts 1:8 “You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 

So we definitely have the command from Jesus to reach all kinds of people groups in our world. 

??? You might ask your group who all had been on a mission trip/been involved in mission work somewhere, and share just a bit about their experience???

??? What “nations” could we be part of reaching in our area???

(You/your group can answer for your area. 

— For ours in South Texas there are certainly Hispanic peoples to be reached out to, our Association supports a new mission just south of us, and FBCA just donated a van to that ministry.

— Texas Port Ministry: get up in your own bed, reach people from the Philippines, Norway, Africa — and then go back to sleep in your own bed that night! 

— We help support a mission to an unreached people group in the mountains of Bulgaria; and another to unreached peoples in India …

— Pregnancy Help Center 

I’d spend some time sharing the opportunities that YOUR church has. You might even consider having a pastor or missions leader share for a few minutes with your class at this point, some opportunities for mission service/specific ways your members can be involved in reaching the nations in your church’s context. 

I like to say, we can’t ALL be involved in every mission work — but I think it’s good for a church to have multiple opportunities available so we can each plug in where we personally feel led to. I’d encourage everyone to be involved in SOME way — whichever one they are personally led to — in missions. It’s why Jesus came — and part of the Commission He gave us!

(You might even discuss doing some kind of mission project together as a class: adopt an unreached people group to pray for; go to a mission project/on a mission trip together; etc. That would be a great way to apply this passage. Remember: we aren’t just learning history here; we should apply this in our lives today!)

So we see the overall example Jesus gave us of reaching the nations. Now let’s look two specific “ethnic” people that Jesus Himself reached: 

II. The Syrophoenician Woman (:24-30)

Verse 25 starts talking about this woman who came to Jesus:

NOTICE what all it tells us about her: (??? You might ask your group to share what they see/or you just point out):

— A woman!  (:26) “A Gentile”;  Syrophoenician race (from the coast north of Palestine) and her daughter had a demon.

 HOW MANY strikes did this woman have against her: 

— “a woman” (That’s a big strike there; especially in that day! Women didn’t have rights; were considered property; werent’ allowed to testify in court, etc.)

— A Gentile (NOT one of God’s chosen people)/Syrophoenician. Jews would consider her “unclean” and have kept their distance.

— and her daughter had a demon! 

— and besides that, she KEPT pestering Jesus; “Kept asking Him to cast the demon out”

This was NOT a desirable person. Not the person many would ask over for dinner! 

Then I might read (or have someone read) these verses and ask your group to point out (or you just teach)

??? What traits did this woman show in this passage???

(—Humility: she fell at Jesus’ feet (:25), then in :27 she didn’t take offense, she wasn’t “outraged” at His response; she was very humble. (Necessity makes you humble!) 

— faith, she believed He could do something for her. 

— perseverance: (:26) “she kept asking Him” (This is a Greek “imperfect” tense verb, which means it is a continual past action; NIV, ESV = “begged”; Holman/NAS/NKJV “kept asking;” (Any others?) These words show continual action. She was persistent in her request of the Lord.

She reminds me of another woman, in the parable Jesus told in Luke 18:2-5, “that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart”:

“In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. 3 There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4 For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’”

??? Anyone have a long-time prayer request that has not yet been answered??? 

(You might share/or not. But the point is, many of us do. DO NOT GIVE UP on that request. “Keep asking” like this woman did.

Maybe there is a specific request you have, that you have been thinking: “I just need to take this off my list.” DON’T DO IT! Keep praying, and do not give up! 

??? Can anyone share a long-time prayer request that God finally answered — as an encouragement to others.

— When I left the church I served in North Carolina, there were two men I was praying for, to be saved. I decided to keep them on my prayer list after I left. A year or so ago (4 or 5 years later) I was scrolling through Facebook, and saw a picture showing where one of them was baptized in the church! I about came out of my shoes! God answered that request, several years later.

You can share that if you’d like, and you/your group can share other examples, as an encouragement to each other.

The point is: do not give up! “Keep asking” like this woman did!

BUT THERE IS ANOTHER THING in this passage, and it bothers a lot of people. Many ask: “Why would Jesus talk to this woman like that?” It sounds kind of rude/demeaning: “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Now, we see the point: Jesus came first for the Jews, to bring them back to God, they are “the children” chosen by God. And we know the Jews called the Gentiles, “Gentile dogs.” 

But this word for “dogs” is different (kunarioi): it means “a little puppy; a household puppy.” So it was not referring to “wild dogs” but a cute household pet — which is a little better!

But still, why would He say that?

I believe it was a test. He was testing her faith. (He also did that with His disciples upon occasion, didn’t He?

??? Did you ever have a teacher/supervisor/leader test you in a certain situation???

(Mark Twain’s pilot , who was mentoring him, once tested him, asking him if he thought the river was deep enough at one point for the boat to pass over safely. He knew the answer — he was testing Twain to see how confident HE was in the answer.

In John Bunyan’s famous book, Pilgrim’s Progress, Pilgrim and Hopeful are on the road to the Celestial City. They encounter many trials along the way, including “Mr. Worldly Wiseman,” The Giant Despair, and so on. One character they meet is named “Atheist.” He asked them whither they were going;

Christian. “We are going to the Mount Zion.”

Then Atheist fell into a very great laughter. … “There is no such place as you dream of all this world.” 

Christian: ”But there is in the world to come.” 

Atheist. “When I was at home in mine own country, I heard as you now affirm, and from that hearing went out to see, and have been seeking this city this twenty Years, But find no more of it than I did the first day I set out.’

Christian. Then said Christian to Hopeful, his fellow, ‘is it true which this man hath said?” 

Hopeful: … “what, no Mt. Zion? … I say, my brother, cease to hear him, and let us believe to the saving of the soul.” [Hebrews 10:39] 

Christian. “My brother, I did not put the question to thee for that I doubted of the truth of our belief myself, but to prove thee, and to fetch from thee a fruit of the honesty of thy heart.’

I believe this is what Jesus was doing with the Syrophoenician Woman. To put it in Christian’s words, He wanted “to fetch from her a fruit of the honesty of her heart” — and He DID — He got a great answer of faith from her!  She passed the test — and importantly, we see that Jesus did care, despite what may have seemed at first to be His harsh answer, and He approved her request, healed her daughter — and her faith has gone down in history to this day as an example for us!  

And remember the big picture: this was a “foreigner” that Jesus was ministering to, whom many Jews would not have wanted anything to do with — but Jesus did. And she proved to have such persevering faith!  And it reminds us that WE should be open to ministering to people like her as well. 

III. The Deaf Greek Man (:31-37)

Then the Bible says in :31, “Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis (you might review this on the map — it was a good distance! But again, a land of “foreigners.”) 

Verse 32 says “They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him.” 

So they are bringing to Jesus another man — again, most likely a non-Jew, living in the 10 Cities (Decapolis) area.  So what was Jesus response going to be? 

:33 says “Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; (:34) and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ That is, ‘Be opened.’”

And :35 says “And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.” 

So a couple of questions you could ask here if you want some discussion to get your group thinking about the text and interacting with it:

— ??? WHY do you think Jesus “took him aside from the crowd”? He specifically did this. WHY?

(— One answer might be, because some people are just “spectators,” looking for “thrills,” or something to criticize. Jesus was not out to please this kind of person.

— It also gave the man some privacy, dignity; away from the crowd. 

Several times in the Gospels Jesus did this: when He raised the girl from the dead in Matthew 9, He had the crowd put out first. I think for the same reasons. Most of the crowd didn’t believe; and it was touching, family moment; they didn’t all need to be there.

It does not specify here a reason why; but you & your group can talk about it; it might provide you with some good discussion/insight.)

— Another question could be: ??? WHY do you think He “looked up to heaven with a deep sigh”???

(Maybe just mourning this sin-sick world and all the illnesses and evil that sin has brought upon it. The same sense when He would “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I put up with you,” etc. 

But note also the 2-faceted miracle of :35: 

— “his ears were opened”

— “AND the impediment of his tongue was removed”

This is important. A deaf person was not only unable to hear, they are also unable to speak well, because of it. 

One of our Sunday school teachers told me that he had a boss who lost his hearing about 15 years ago and has a cochlear implant. He said immediately after the surgery, everyone sounded like Minnie Mouse to him. After a month or so, his brain clued into how to interpret the input it was receiving, and people started sounding normal. And, because he was not born deaf, he could speak normally.  But this same man said he once met a family who had a child who had been born either deaf or nearly deaf.  They told him about how they had purposely delayed the child’s cochlear surgery for some reason. He didn’t tell them, but it was the worst thing they could have done — because sometime around maybe 11, 12, or so, the brain loses the ability it had to learn sounds and speak them. This child, even after receiving the implant, would never speak normally because he had not heard speech in the crucial time that the brain was developing the ability to speak.

So this teacher said, it IS indeed miraculous that this man could speak normally, after possibly never hearing normal speech! 

The Bible specifically says that BOTH of these were miraculously cured by Jesus here: not only were “his ears opened” — but (literally) “his tongue was loosed” and he could speak well — that’s just as great a miracle!

Then in :36 Jesus tells them again, NOT to tell anyone — but they did — and you can understand why (we talked about this a couple of weeks ago in Mark 1:44).

And :37 says “They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

This is actually a fulfilled prophecy: Isaiah 35:4-6 says:
“Behold your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come — but He will save you. (:5) Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. (:6) Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy” (some of you may recognize these words from Handel’s “Messiah”! 

So as Jesus does these very things here in Mark 7, it points to Him as the Messiah that Isaiah prophesied would come. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise of the Messiah. So many things in His life showed that — including what He did here in this chapter.  

And again: He did all of this “on mission” in a primarily “non-Jewish” area; reaching out to Gentiles and outsiders — and He challenges US to do the same thing too! Hopefully all of our class members will come away with a challenge to be involved in missions/ministry in some specific way — be sure to present some specific opportunities for your members so they can make some personal application of this week’s lesson! 

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