Reflective Bible Study

In our last episode, I hinted at the next several episodes being focused in on a series of parables found in Matthew’s gospel. However, before we continue looking at the series of parables, Mark’s gospel includes similar but unique parable that sounds related to the parable we focused on in our last episode. In planning our year of podcasts, this seemed like a great point to briefly detour away from Matthew to look at it.

While Mark includes this similar sounding parable to Matthew’s Wheat and Weeds parable, the key idea in Mark’s parable focuses not on the harvest, even though a harvest is included, but the time between the planting and the harvest, and Mark doesn’t include any details about weeds.

Let’s read Jesus’ parable from Mark’s gospel and discover what it can teach us about our lives today and the current world we are living in. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 4, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 26, Mark tells us that:

²⁶ Jesus also said, “Here is what God’s kingdom is like. A farmer scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ Night and day the seed comes up and grows. It happens whether the farmer sleeps or gets up. He doesn’t know how it happens. ²⁸ All by itself the soil produces grain. First the stalk comes up. Then the head appears. Finally, the full grain appears in the head. ²⁹ Before long the grain ripens. So the farmer cuts it down, because the harvest is ready.”

When reading this parable, one of the first things that I thought of might make me sound a little skeptical, but it is simply that nowadays, we know how a seed germinates and becomes a plant. With our scientific advances, we know how this happens. We also know that soil left to its own won’t produce anything. If there is water and other soil with plants nearby, without some intervention, the soil in question might gain some of the plants from the nearby soil or it might get the pesky unwanted plants we call weeds.

However, soil with no water or moisture won’t produce anything lasting. We know more about how plants grow today than perhaps at any other point in history.

However, this was the logical, and perhaps a little skeptical, side of me. But what if Jesus isn’t really talking about farming?

Remember, this is a parable, and Jesus begins His parable by stating that His illustration will describe what God’s kingdom is like. With this introduction, we discover that this illustration about farming is not about farming at all. Instead, farming becomes a metaphor for spiritual growth.

With that as a frame of reference, do we know how spiritual growth works? I’ll be the first to say that we know a little bit about it, but similar to how Jesus describes the farmer not knowing how it happens, there are a lot of unknown details in the process.

When we talk about spiritual growth, we know some things that help and other things that do not. We know that prayer and Bible study help with spiritual growth, while many of the latest blockbuster movies, games, or other forms of entertainment don’t help us grow spiritually.

To sum up what we know and compare it to what we don’t know, what we do know is that there are some environments that help with spiritual growth, and other environments that don’t help with growth. This is similar to the parable from a couple episodes ago where seed falls on different types of soil with different results. Seed landing on soil is going to grow a lot better than seed landing on a solid slab of pavement. The environment matters when we talk about spiritual growth.

However, with the right environment, do we know what causes spiritual growth?

Again, we know something that can stop spiritual growth in the right environment, and that is a selfish, self-centered attitude. Also, a closed, hard heart towards God will stop spiritual growth. Judas Iscariot is the prime example of this. Everything spoke to Judas Iscariot having the same opportunity as the majority of the other disciples, but Judas chose to reject and betray Jesus because of His self-focused attitude, when the other disciples ultimately became ambassadors for God’s kingdom after they received the Holy Spirit.

So with the right environment, the right attitude, and the right focus, will we grow spiritually? I believe we will, but I also believe that we don’t truly understand how it happens. We can describe growing spiritually as receiving the Holy Spirit, learning new spiritual truths, having a new perspective and outlook on life, and being transformed by God, but how this happens is still a mystery.

Like the parable, we can see the outward stages of growth happening, all the way to being mature and ripe, but how spiritual growth happens within a person’s life is still a mystery. As the common metaphor goes, we can see the effects of the wind, but we cannot see the wind itself. We can feel the wind, but we cannot see it. We can feel and see spiritual changes in our lives and our perspectives, but that doesn’t mean we understand how we grow spiritually.

However, just because it is a mystery to us does not mean that this is a mystery to God. God knows and He understands. In this parable, Jesus subtly leaves one responsibility to us, and then we are to leave the rest to Him. This parable subtly challenges us to plant spiritual seeds. When we share God with others, when we live a life that gives God glory, and when we don’t back down when we are challenged spiritually, our lives are planting seeds in the lives of those we meet. This is what God has called us to do.

While we don’t understand how spiritual growth works, we can trust that God knows. God sends the spiritual sunshine, the spiritual water, and God prompts the spiritual germination that starts the spiritual growth in someone’s heart and life. Spiritual growth is something that is entirely based on the Holy Spirit. Once a seed has been planted, it is up to the environment to help facilitate the growth. We cannot control someone else’s spiritual environment, so we let God handle the growth.

With God focusing on the growth and the environment, every one of the seeds planted in His people will grow into spiritual maturity and become ripe for His harvest. God has left us with the responsibility of planting seeds, so let’s plant spiritual seeds and let Him worry about how to help them grow!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, seek God first and intentionally open your heart to Him. Ask Him to send the Holy Spirit into your life to help you grow, to help you live for Him, and to help you plant seeds through how you live your life. Trust that God is more than willing to answer this heartfelt prayer in your own life!

Also, don’t neglect the environments you place yourself in. Continue to set time aside to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally towards God. While the environment you are placed in is different from the one I am in, God knows how to grow someone spiritually when we stay connected to Him!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or wither away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Immediately following Jesus feeding the crowd of over 5,000 people that we looked at in our last episode, our passage for this episode takes place that evening. At the end of our last event, Jesus sends the disciples away, telling them to cross the lake and that He will find them later. Jesus did this because the people present who experienced the miracle of food multiplication wanted to make Jesus their king at that moment. I suspect the disciples would have supported this declaration, and Jesus wanted to stop this from happening.

This leads us into our passage for this episode. Our passage opens with Jesus praying on the mountain by Himself, and the disciples beginning their journey across the lake. Let’s read what happened.

Our passage for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 16, John tells us that:

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went to the sea. ¹⁷ They got into a boat and started to cross the sea to the city of Capernaum. By this time it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ A strong wind started to blow and stir up the sea.

¹⁹ After they had rowed three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they became terrified.

²⁰ Jesus told them, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid!”

²¹ So they were willing to help Jesus into the boat. Immediately, the boat reached the shore where they were going.

²² On the next day the people were still on the other side of the sea. They noticed that only one boat was there and that Jesus had not stepped into that boat with his disciples. The disciples had gone away without him. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord gave thanks. ²⁴ When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to the city of Capernaum to look for Jesus.

In this event, two details stand out to me.

The first detail is that immediately after Jesus stepped into the boat, the boat reached the shore where they were going. It is possible this was another miracle beyond Jesus simply walking on water, or that John abbreviated the last portion of the trip. The big truth I can learn from the first portion of this passage is that life without Jesus is significantly more difficult than life with Jesus.

Taking this idea a step further, we could also conclude that it is impossible to reach God’s goal for us without Jesus. However, when we are with Jesus, we have already arrived at God’s destination for us.

The second detail that stood out to me is found in verse 22, when we read that “On the next day the people were still on the other side of the sea. They noticed that only one boat was there and that Jesus had not stepped into that boat with his disciples.”

This detail is fascinating to me. The people who had been fed knew that the disciples had taken the only boat when they left, and that Jesus wasn’t with them in the boat when they pushed off from the shore. These people, as well as some others who made the trip across the lake to the place where the bread had been served were all looking for Jesus, expecting to find Him without His disciples.

However, they all were disappointed and too late. This detail tells me that sometimes Jesus is away from His followers, but the best place to look for Jesus is with those who are serving and following Him.

Part of me wonders what would have happened if Jesus had stayed on that shore, and if the disciples had reached Capernaum without Him. What would the crowd have done if they had found Jesus apart from His disciples? Would the crowd have wanted to pressure Jesus into being a king? Would they have demanded more food like the previous day’s miracle?

We might never know, but what we can be certain of is that Jesus walked across the lake to the disciples not just because they were having a difficult time without Him in the boat, but because Jesus loves His followers. Another thing we can learn in this event is that when we are unable to reach our goal, Jesus is happy to come find us to help us get to our destination. The disciples made it part way across the lake without Jesus, but when Jesus came to be with them, He solves the part of the trip they are unable to solve.

In our own lives, when we are dealing with turning away from sin and leaving it in our past, some aspects of this are possible for us to do on our own. However, there will be a point when we have reached as far as we can without Jesus, and when we have come to this place and want to go further, don’t be surprised if Jesus comes and offers His help.

Jesus is more than willing to help us conquer sin in our lives and when we fill our hearts with Him and God’s Holy Spirit, we actively are pushing sin out. The best way to get rid of sin is by crowding our lives with Jesus and serving Him. When we are wholly serving Jesus, we won’t have time for sin, and our focus will be on God’s will for our lives!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always continue to seek God first in your life and choose to depend on Him for help turning away from sin in your own life. Resolve to focus on what God wants you to focus on and push the sin out of your life by filling it so full of God’s goals for your life that sin cannot break in. Choose to be too busy doing God’s will for you to have time to sin.

Always keep your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and His sacrifice because we cannot earn our salvation through what we do. Jesus earned salvation for us, and the best way for us to say thank You to Him is by walking forward through life with Him and without sin.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God each and every day. God wants a personal relationship with you, and we grow a personal relationship with God when we pray, study our Bibles with an open mind listening for what He wants to share with us, and when we actively step out into His will and His plan for our lives. Life with God can begin today, and life with God extends into eternity!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

In our last episode, we focused in on the parable of the seeds being sowed on different types of soil. That parable is one of a select few that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include in their gospels, and it might be the only parable that these three gospels include that also includes Jesus’ explanation of what the parable meant. Matthew’s gospel follows that parable up with a series of parables that will be the focus of our next several episodes.

Of these parables in Matthew’s gospel, another parable takes up a decent bit of space, and it also includes Jesus sharing an explanation of it. This particular parable is worth us paying attention to because it frames the state of the world as we live in it today, and it points us towards the end of time.

Let’s read this parable and discover some things we can learn from what Jesus taught the crowd. Our passage and parable are found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 24, Matthew tells us that:

²⁴ Jesus told the crowd another story. “Here is what the kingdom of heaven is like,” he said. “A man planted good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came. The enemy planted weeds among the wheat and then went away. ²⁶ The wheat began to grow and form grain. At the same time, weeds appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s slaves came to him. They said, ‘Sir, didn’t you plant good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The slaves asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’

²⁹ “ ‘No,’ the owner answered. ‘While you are pulling up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the workers what to do. Here is what I will say to them. First collect the weeds. Tie them in bundles to be burned. Then gather the wheat. Bring it into my storeroom.’”

In this parable, we discover a truth that we don’t often like focusing on, and this truth is that God has an enemy. From our perspective, this enemy is more of a spiritual enemy than a physical one, but that doesn’t mean for a moment that this enemy is stronger or smarter than God.

From simply looking at the details of this parable, we can tell that the enemy is not stronger than God because the enemy has to hide and sneak around in order to plant the weeds. If God’s enemy was stronger than God, there would be no reason to plant the weeds in secret or at night.

However, what does this mean? While we could speculate, it is best to let Matthew tell us Jesus’ explanation of this parable so we have a stronger foundation for our discussion and what we can learn from this illustration.

Jumping down to verse 36, Matthew tells us:

³⁶ Then Jesus left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him. They said, “Explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who planted the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world. The good seed stands for the people who belong to the kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. ³⁹ The enemy who plants them is the devil. The harvest is judgment day. And the workers are angels.

⁴⁰ “The weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire. That is how it will be on judgment day. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels. They will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin. They will also get rid of all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace. There people will weep and grind their teeth. ⁴³ Then God’s people will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Whoever has ears should listen.”

This parable, explanation, and passage have several parts that we could focus in on. However, I doubt we would have enough time in the few minutes we have left to really expand on all the areas of this parable, so let’s instead focus in on a few points that stand out more in my mind as being worth paying attention to.

In Jesus’ explanation, most of the key elements of the parable make sense. The Son of Man, also known as Jesus, plants good seed, while the devil, who is God’s enemy, plants the weeds. The field is the world and the wheat and weeds represent good and bad people respectively.

However, it is worth pointing out that the harvest is described as judgment day. The judgment day is a singular point in time when Jesus will send out the angels and they will purify God’s kingdom of everything that causes sin. It is on the judgment day that God’s people will be harvested and saved, while the wicked people will be gathered up to be cast into the fire.

I emphasize this because many people today believe that judgment happens at the moment one dies, and then they receive their reward, however Jesus’ explanation does not match this idea. While the details of life and death within the human race is a little less structured than a field of growing plants, the explanation in this parable reserves the fire for the weeds and the gathering of the wheat for the day of the harvest.

In the parable, Jesus makes it clear that God isn’t going to separate the wheat and weeds early because He does not want any of His wheat to be harmed. This doesn’t make life easy for the wheat, but it does ensure that as much wheat as possible grows into maturity.

However, the way Jesus finishes this parable’s explanation is amazing in my mind. In verse 43, Jesus tells His followers that after the judgment day, “God’s people will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom.”

This is powerful.

If you missed the key idea, let me pull you into the truth Jesus emphasized. Jesus describes God’s people as being within God’s family. They will shine like the sun in “their Father’s kingdom”. This is one more promise of adoption and of God the Father loving and desiring to bring His people into His family!

In this parable, while it might be easy to get caught up on the devil sowing weeds, or on the nuances of the judgment, the final thing Jesus tells us about this parable is that God’s people will view God as their Father!

Let’s not wait until eternity to claim this promise and this truth in our lives. Instead, let’s claim it today!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Continue to seek God first and begin to see Him as a Father in your life. Whether you had a great relationship with your dad, or whether your dad was nothing at all like Christ, begin to see God as the perfect Father. In case you wonder what God the Father is like, simply look at Jesus. If it helps, you could view Jesus as your Father simply because they share the same perfect character. While Jesus is our older brother in this adoption process, He is a great representation of what our true Father is like!

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. When our time on earth comes to an end, the only thing that will matter is where we have placed our hope, trust, faith, and belief, and the only place worthy of all these things is Jesus Christ. Don’t let Satan, or anyone for that matter, trick you into placing your hope, faith, trust, or belief in anyone or anything else!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue our journey in John’s gospel, we arrive at one of the very few times John’s gospel includes an event that all three other gospels also include. However, John’s gospel is still significant in this case, because John gives us several additional details that help us understand what happened a little better.

With that said, let’s read what happened, and the miracle Jesus ultimately does to help this tricky situation. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). ² A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. ⁵ Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” ⁶ This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. ⁷ Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” ⁸ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ⁹ “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”

Let’s pause reading here for a moment. If you are even remotely familiar with the miracles of Jesus, you already know what happens next, but before we go there together, let’s briefly focus on the doubt that is present leading up to the miracle, and let’s also draw our attention onto who actually initiates this miracle.

When we look at how this event opens, Jesus sees the opportunity to teach the disciples about God’s ability to provide. If Jesus hadn’t asked Philip the question about buying bread, then everything that happened next likely wouldn’t have happened. John tells us that Jesus asked this question to test Philip, because He already knew what He was planning to do.

However, there is an interesting shift between Jesus’ question and Philip’s answer. Jesus doesn’t ask Philip how much it would cost for enough bread, and Philip doesn’t answer Jesus where they could go to get enough bread. Jesus was interested in a place, while Philip was focused on the cost. In this subtle shift, we can learn that cost is not a significant issue in God’s eyes. The amount of money needed for something is irrelevant to God. Instead, God’s focus is elsewhere.

After this, Andrew steps in with an answer, but even Andrew doesn’t have much faith that this answer will amount to anything. When stepping into Jesus’ and Philip’s conversation, Andrew says in verse 9: “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”

Andrew’s answer gives a place Jesus can get some bread, but five loaves of bread and two fish were the meal of a small boy, and splitting this up among the huge crowd wouldn’t scratch the surface of anyone’s appetite.

However, what happens next is powerful. On being informed of the boy’s food, let’s continue reading in verse 10:

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. ¹⁴ Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵ So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

Let’s stop reading at this point in order to focus on this miracle, and on what we can learn from what Jesus did.

In events like this, I always keep my eye open for examples of faith, and whenever we see a miracle, one thing I look for is where faith is present. In this event, I sense a little faith, but a lot more doubt. It’s interesting that John points out that Jesus already knew what He was going to do, which places the faith necessary for this miracle squarely on Jesus’ shoulders because prior to Jesus even asking the question, no one was thinking of bread or of feeding this crowd.

When we look at the disciples for faith in this event, we can see a few small examples, but overall there is much more doubt. The slivers of faith we see in this event from the disciples are when Andrew brings the child with his food to Jesus, and when the disciples obey Jesus’ instruction to have everyone sit down on the grass.

It is interesting that when we look at the disciples’ words and compare their words with their actions, everything the disciples say displays doubt, while everything they do displays faith. Bringing a boy to Jesus and having the crowd sit down demonstrates faith, since these disciples suspect something big is going to happen. However, saying that they don’t have anywhere close to the money needed to buy bread for the people, and that this small boy’s lunch is horribly insignificant shows doubt. The disciples’ words are filled with doubt, while their actions suggest at least a sliver of faith.

Another interesting detail that we don’t often focus on is that before Jesus begins sharing this gift of food, He gives thanks. Jesus demonstrates gratitude, and this is powerful, because it leads us into a huge truth we can learn from this miracle: God is thankful when we bring our gifts, and He is more than willing to multiply a genuine gift that is small into being more than enough for a huge challenge!

Our huge problems are no match for God. When we bring our huge problems to God, He is fully capable of using things that might appear insignificant to solve our problems. Any problem we face is nothing compared to what God can do, and if we doubt God can help us with what we are facing, then our picture of God is much smaller than who God really is.

Jesus took a lunch that looked insignificant, and He turned it into a meal that satisfied the hunger of over five thousand people, with plenty left over. God is fully capable of multiplying our small, seemingly insignificant gifts, into exactly what is needed to solve huge problems.

Taking this truth one step further: Jesus came to this earth as God’s gift to solve the problem of sin, and while many people believed Jesus to be insignificant or unable to do this, through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, Satan’s character was exposed, and a way was made for us to be redeemed out of sin.

God gives us a way to be redeemed from this sin-filled world, and it is up to us to accept this gift that He offers to us and begin a new life with Him.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first and choose to bring God what you can to help when challenges appear. When we offer up gifts that look insignificant, and when our gifts also contain our heart and a sliver of faith, expect to see God work in amazing ways with the gift we believed to be insignificant. Sometimes God will combine a bunch of insignificant gifts into something greater, while other times He will take the insignificant gift and miraculously allow it to extend further than we believed possible. When we have the tiniest amount of faith that is visible, nothing is impossible with God.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself, in order to grow your personal relationship with God. While other people can give you things to think about, be sure to never let your relationship with God be dependent on anyone else. God wants a personal relationship with you, and the relationship He wants with you will not be filtered through anyone else.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or doubt yourself away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!