At the time That Jesus lived (0-33AD) the Romans had invaded and were in control of palestine. Roman governors were in charge of various areas such as Judea and Samaria and part of their job was to make sure the Jewish people paid Roman taxes and obeyed the Roman laws that were in place.

(e.g: Paying taxes, offering sacrifices to God for the emperor etc...) Many of the Jewish people resented Roman rule...

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.

Where is the conflict in this story?

What could be learnt from this story?

The Gospel story of the Phoenician woman is significant because she is a____________. Jesus travels to a gentile area with a large mixed population. Jesus uses a ___________here: the dogs represent the gentiles and the bread represent Jesus. Jesus could be seen as being rude or unkind. However ________________________believe that this story can show the importance of keeping __________, even if you face opposition. Jesus ________________journey into a non Jewish area is important, it is a message that God is for everyone and not for one group only.

This story shows that Jesus recognised that the most important thing is faith, and anyone who shows it can be part of God's saving___________