The Call of Levi – Q’s
1.
Why was Jesus criticised when he ate with Levi? (2
marks)
Tax-collectors considered sinners - eating with such
people made you “unclean” / setting a bad example
to others by implying that keeping the Law and being
dishonest did not matter / tax-collectors worked for
Romans and regarded as collaborators.
2. Explain why the call of Levi is important in
understanding Jesus’ attitude to others. (3 marks)
Levi was a tax collector / would be hated by other Jews /
Jesus included him in the 12 / demonstrates that
Jesus was inclusive / saw value in people even when
others did not / sets an example that should help
other excluded people / it follows Jesus teaching on
the Good Samaritan/ it taught the first Christians
what their attitude should be.
Outcasts:
The Greek Woman’s Possessed Daughter
To describe an examples of
Jesus healing Gentiles
To explain why Gentiles were
outcast
To evaluate the importance of
faith in Jesus’ healings
Jews considered GENTILES (non-Jews) as
unclean – because they did follow the Jewish
law. They did not obey food laws, keep the
Sabbath, wash hands or vessels before meals.
Jews would not mix with non-Jews, to avoid
becoming unclean. But sometimes, Jesus did
go into Gentile territory.
Read the story about the Greek woman. What
sort of attitude did Jesus have towards her?
“First, let the children eat all they want. For it is not
right to take the children’s food and toss it to the
dogs”.
a. She agrees that she is not a Jew and therefore
1. Who do “the children”
represent?
2. Who do “dogs” represent?
3. What does Jesus mean by the
“children’s food must not be
tossed to the dogs”?
4. What does the woman mean by
saying “even dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their masters
table”?
5. What happens in the end?
**Was Jesus insulting the woman?
Was he testing her?
has no claim on God, but she is humble and says
she can also benefit from whatever he can spare
her.
b. This represents God’s teaching that Jesus is giving
– the gospel. It is first of all for the Jews. Non
Jews would not appreciate God’s word – they are
like dogs.
c.
Jesus praises her for her faith and belief in him.
He tells her that her daughter is cured. She
returns home and finds this is true.
d. It is the non-Jews (= the gentiles), who do not
know about God. Jesus is being challenging her
on purpose – does she have real faith that will
stand up to his brushing off?
e. It is the Jewish people, the chosen people of God.
The Story of the Greek woman’s daughter shows that Jesus
was not prejudiced because…
Which answer best answers this question? Write it out.
• We are all equal because we are all made in
the image of God so we should treat others
with dignity.
• Even though it was normal for Jews to look
down on non-Jews & ignore them, Jesus gave
her the help she needed
• Jesus didn’t mean it when he called the woman
a dog because that was just how Jews talked
about non-Jews.
‘Jesus insulted the Greek (Syro-Phoenician) woman when he talked
about not throwing bread to the dogs.’ What do you think? Explain
your opinion. 3mks
The woman may have thought that he was calling her ‘a dog’ / it was
an unpleasant thing to refer to the Gentiles as dogs / Jesus seemed
to be saying that the Jews were more important that Gentiles / she
and her daughter were not worth helping / Jesus may have shared
anti-Gentile prejudices until this woman made him think, etc.
This was just banter / Jesus wasn’t calling anyone a dog / it was an
image / he cured the woman’s daughter in the end / Jesus was
quoting what some Jewish people might have said about Gentiles
at the time, not what he personally believed / it may have been a
well-known proverb / he was testing her faith / did she really
believe he could heal her daughter or was she just testing him? /
Jesus healed other women and Gentiles so to suggest that he was
unwilling to help her contradicts the rest of Mark’s Gospel, etc.
[3 marks]
“Mark’s gospel shows that Jesus was
not prejudiced”. Do you agree?
• Yes – Jesus was not
prejudiced.
What is your evidence?
• Eating with tax collectors
• Healing outcasts like lepers
• Healing the Greek woman’s
daughter, even though she
was not Jewish
• Parable of Good Samaritan
• No – Jesus was
prejudiced.
What is your evidence?
• Jesus felt that his mission was
first for the Jews – no stories of
him going into Roman towns.
• Jesus did not want to heal the
Greek woman’s daughter at
first, and said she did not have
the same priority as Jews
• Jesus did not have any women
at the Last Supper or as part of
his 12 apostles