Slices
Prepare
Read 1 Kings 8:27 and use this as a basis for praise and worship as you come into his presence.
Bible passage
Jesus honours a Syro-Phoenician woman’s faith
24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27 ‘First let the children eat all they want,’ he told her, ‘for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’
28 ‘Lord,’ she replied, ‘even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’
29 Then he told her, ‘For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.’
30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Jesus heals a deaf and mute man
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spat and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ (which means ‘Be opened!’). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosed and he began to speak plainly.
36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. ‘He has done everything well,’ they said. ‘He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’
Explore
These two stories are about Jesus’ ministry crossing boundaries. Mark underlines the woman’s Gentile identity (v 26). Galileans resented Tyre. It was a wealthy city that ate their much-needed grain. If Jesus was Israel’s expected Messiah, why waste time there?
The surprise in the first story is not how Jesus speaks to the woman, but how she responds (v 28). She shows more understanding than the disciples (Mark 6:52) and more humility than Jesus’ Jewish listeners. She is prepared to be the ‘little dog’ snatching crumbs of food falling from ‘the children’s table’. Jesus recognises her determination to cross religious boundaries out of concern for her daughter, and he responds with generous kindness.
The deaf-mute man is also from a Gentile area (vs 31,32). Jesus saw his mission as being ‘first to the Jews’, as did Paul (Romans 1:16; 2:9). He went to Tyre to be alone, not to perform miracles. But the good news, once announced, starts an unstoppable process of reaching wider and wider.
As Peter found when he invited Jesus to his home (Mark 1:29–34), where Jesus is present, people will come ‘so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God’ (2 Corinthians 4:15).
Respond
Do we sometimes try to contain the good news about Jesus? Are we afraid of what may happen if ‘the wrong sort of people’ gain access to him?
Deeper Bible study
Silently now I wait for thee, / ready, my God, thy will to see. / Open my ears, illumine me, / Spirit divine!’1
Jesus’ initial mission was to the Jews, the remnant of God’s ancient people. Only after Easter was it clear that his mission embraced the whole world. The wideness of God’s ultimate plan could not be contained. Mark emphasises Jesus’ visits to foreign places. In Tyre, in today’s Lebanon, Jesus’ reputation preceded him. A local woman, not a Jew, desperately crossed the ethnic boundary to seek her daughter’s healing. Jesus’ response seems harsher in English than Greek. Jews belittled foreigners as ‘wild dogs’, but Jesus uses the word for pets, prompting the woman’s response that pet dogs ate table scraps. I have come to the view that Jesus’ apparent harshness arises from the condensation of a longer conversation, making Jesus seem dismissive and brusque, whereas he was, by nature, accepting and expansive rather than terse. Jesus’ two sentences here are Mark’s summary of Jesus’ conversation. Jesus accepts the woman’s faith. In the coming kingdom of God, ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile’ for all are one in Christ.2
Jesus and his followers then journey from Tyre to the Greek colonies in Decapolis. Here, it is possibly not a foreigner who comes to Jesus but an indigenous Jew. Jesus gives the deaf man his undivided attention. My deaf colleagues in the Auslan (Australian Sign Language) Bible Translation enlightened me. Jesus takes the man aside to avoid visual distraction, communicating his intentions in gestures. Then Jesus speaks one word, ephphatha. This always puzzled me. Why speak at all? My deaf friends understood. Deaf people can lip-read only their mother’s language. Jesus spoke to him in Aramaic. The man read the lips and simultaneously heard the word. Hearing and speech returned. The messianic prophecies were being fulfilled.3 For those whose eyes and ears were open to the truth, God was present in Jesus.
Jesus, Lord of our human lives, give us ears to hear you, eyes to see you, minds to understand you and hearts to follow you.
1 Clara H Scott, 1841–97, ‘Open my eyes’ 2 Gal 3:28 3 Eg Isa 35:5; Matt 11:5
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Ezekiel 2,3; Psalm 119:97–120
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Local Mission Partner Reach, as they focus on Christmas Unwrapped for Year 6s throughout Reading; pray that the children will rejoice in the birth of Jesus. Pray that the CU Student Leaders’ night will encourage young people running groups in their schools.
Plunge into a brand new holiday club resource!
Grab your snorkel and jump in! Deep Sea Divers is an underwater-themed holiday club resource that invites children to deep dive into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus using the book of Matthew.
Suitable for children and young people both familiar and unfamiliar with church this great new addition to our holiday club resources offers all the usual brilliant content and additional online downloads, alongside brilliant workbooks for children to complete and take home.
Help children discover the depths of Jesus' love for them with Deep Sea Divers.
