Monday Lunch Bible Study – 31 August 2015
Gather for lunch, conversation and an informal exploration of the Gospel for this coming Sunday. Alicia (campus minister) will be in the HUB from 11:45 am – 1:15 pm, so bring or buy your lunch and stop by! Come when you can, leave when you must.
Check facebook after 11:30 am for an exact location!
Can’t make it to the HUB? Take a look at the passage below and consider the reflection questions provided. Share your thoughts here! We’ll do the same!
Mark 7:24-37
24 From there Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. 31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Reflection
What do you notice in this story?
What do we make of Jesus’ responses to the woman here?
What does Jesus’ encounter with the woman show us about God’s action in the world?
How are we changed by encounters with outsiders?
Who are the outsiders in our context?