JesusX30 Challenge—Scene 16: THE REFINING FIRE
1. Key Texts
Mark 7:1–30—Purity Laws, Syrophoenician Woman
Matthew 15:1–28—What Defiles, Gentile Woman’s Faith
Mark 8:1–33—Feeding of the 4,000, Peter’s Confession, Jesus’ Rebuke
Matthew 16:13–26—Peter’s Confession, Call to the Cross
Isaiah 29:13—“This people honors me with their lips”
Deuteronomy 8:3—“Man does not live by bread alone”
2. Outline / Notes
Date & Place
• Late summer 28 AD, northern Galilee and borderlands.
• Jesus expands his campaign beyond Jewish territory—crossing into Gentile regions.
Main Accounts
A. Purity–Redefining Holiness
• Pharisees confront Jesus about ritual handwashing.
• Ritual purity had become a badge of faithfulness under foreign rule—a way to preserve Jewish identity.
• Jesus quotes Isaiah 29.
• He turns the purity system inside out.
• “Thus Jesus declared all foods clean.”
• Jesus dismantles the system that decides who has access to God based on external rules.
B. The Gentile Woman – Faith Beyond Boundaries
• Jesus travels north into Tyre and Sidon—Gentile territory.
• A Syrophoenician woman begs for her daughter’s healing.
• Jesus tests her with a hard saying: “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
• She replies, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table.”
• Her humility and persistence reveal profound faith.
• Jesus honors her: “For this saying, your daughter is healed.”
C. The Feeding of the 4,000
• In the Decapolis, Jesus repeats the feeding miracle.
• The symbolism: twelve (first feeding) = Israel; seven = fullness of the nations.
• Even the word for “basket” (spuris) shifts from the Jewish term (kophinos) used earlier—hinting at Gentile context.
• God’s table has no borders.
D. The Blind Man of Bethsaida – Partial Vision, Gradual Clarity
• In Jewish territory, Jesus heals a blind man in two stages.
• First, partial sight: “I see people, but they look like trees walking.”
• Then full sight: “He saw everything clearly.”
• Disciples are like this man—seeing, still blurry in understanding.
• Spiritual vision often comes in stages, not instantly.
E. Peter’s Confession and the Rebuke
• In Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?”
• Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”
• Jesus affirms—but redefines it: “The Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, and be killed.”
• Peter rebukes Jesus—he can’t accept a suffering Messiah.
• Jesus responds sharply: “Get behind me, Satan.”
• The temptation is the same one from the wilderness.
• Jesus calls all followers to the same path: “If anyone would come after me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”
3. Exegetical Insight
• Greek katharizō (“to make clean”) in Mark 7:19—Jesus redefines ritual purity.
• “Children’s bread” (Mk 7:27) = covenant blessing; “dogs” (kynaria) = diminutive, suggesting “house dogs,” not total rejection.
• “Seven baskets” (Mk 8:8) echoes Gentile inclusion—seven nations of Canaan (Deut. 7:1).
• “Get behind me, Satan” (hupage opisō mou) = “fall in line again as follower.”
4. Reflection Questions
• What “purity systems” or boundaries still shape how you think about holiness?
• Where might Jesus be asking you to cross a line—geographically, socially, or spiritually?
• How do you respond when God’s call challenges your assumptions?
• When have you, like Peter, said the right thing but misunderstood what it meant?
• What would it mean for you to take up your cross—not symbolically, but in practice?
5. Action Step / Challenge
• Read Mark 7–8 slowly, paying attention to the shift to the Gentiles.
• Identify one “boundary” you’ve drawn—someone or something you’ve considered “unclean.”
• This week, cross it.
• Pray for vision to see clearly, not just correctly.
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Jesus: The Strategic Life and Mission of the Messiah and His Movement.
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