Overview
Text: Mark 7:24 –8:9
Title: The Family of God: Who’s Included?
Outline
I. An Enemy’s Faith (7:24-30)
II. A Prophetic Fulfillment (7:31-37)
III. The Eucharistic Compassion (8:1-9)
Small Group Questions
- Why can blended families be difficult? Is it the cause of them, the structure of them, something else or all of the above?
- Jesus’ mission was “first” to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. What did He mean by this?
- How does the reaction and interaction of the Syrophoenician woman contrast with the Pharisees in the story right before in 7:1-23? What can we learn from the contrast?
- Read Isaiah 35 (note: the “Lebanon” here is the same region as Trye & Sidon in Mark 7). How does Isaiah’s prophetic words in chapter 35 enhance our understanding of what’s happening in Mark 7:31-37?
- Read 8:1-9. What is the significance of this feeding taking place in Gentile territory (indicated by “In those days,” logically linking the event to the location of 7:31-37)? How is Jesus’ compassion and concern for the physical needs of the Gentile crowd indicative of His concern for our spiritual state?
- These three stories of Gentile inclusion in God’s family are radical and shocking from a Jewish perspective and would no doubt have comforted the Gentile readers of Mark’s Gospel. What comparisons might we be able to make to our context today?
- Spend some time praying for the lost, and that we would be as welcoming and open as Jesus is.
