Reflective Bible Study

Immediately after Jesus sharing the illustration we looked at in our last episode, where Jesus tells us it is better for us to step down and let others honor us rather than seeking honor for ourselves, someone prompts Jesus with a statement that leads into another parable. One of the most interesting things I find when reading this event is how the statement that is made is contrasted by the behaviors that are demonstrated by characters in Jesus’ story. This discrepancy is going to be one of the main details we focus our attention on in this episode.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 14, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 15, Luke tells us that:

¹⁵ One of those eating with him heard this. So he said to Jesus, “The person who will be at the banquet in God’s kingdom is blessed.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to him, “A man gave a large banquet and invited many people. ¹⁷ When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come! Everything is ready now.’

¹⁸ “Everyone asked to be excused. The first said to him, ‘I bought a field, and I need to see it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I bought five pairs of oxen, and I’m on my way to see how well they plow. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ Still another said, ‘I recently got married, and that’s why I can’t come.’

²¹ “The servant went back to report this to his master. Then the master of the house became angry. He told his servant, ‘Run to every street and alley in the city! Bring back the poor, the handicapped, the blind, and the lame.’

²² “The servant said, ‘Sir, what you’ve ordered has been done. But there is still room for more people.’

²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go to the roads and paths! Urge the people to come to my house. I want it to be full. ²⁴ I can guarantee that none of those invited earlier will taste any food at my banquet.’”

When reading this parable, I am always a little amazed at the attitude of those who were first invited. This is even more evident when we pay attention to the detail that Jesus does not refute the statement that someone in the group makes that launches Him into this parable.

Leading into this parable is the statement, “The person who will be at the banquet in God’s kingdom is blessed” and nowhere in this entire discussion does Jesus refute this idea.

Instead, Jesus shares a parable that describes how those who have been invited, who should have been the honored guests, all decide that the banquet isn’t worth their time. In the minds of these original invitees, there are many more important things to do. These people give up on the blessing of being in God’s kingdom when they place other priorities ahead of spending time with God.

It is amazing to realize that we can fall into a very similar trap today. Life makes it very easy to become too busy to spend time with God. While devotionals, verses of the day, and things like this can help us feel connected and spiritual, if our relationship with God does not extend beyond this, our relationship likely could be described as shallow. Instead, like a good close friendship, we should focus on spending both quality and quantities of time with God. A relationship with God cannot and should not be rushed.

Instead of rushing your relationship, why not simply take God with you wherever you go. While this sounds an awful lot like a cliché, the truth is that God is with us wherever we go, and it is to our benefit to acknowledge that He is with us at all times. Acknowledging that God is with us 24 hours a day and seven days a week might be a little daunting, but it also might make us a little more aware of what we spend our time doing. Knowing that God is with us at every moment might give us comfort when we are facing trials, but it also might make us uneasy if we know what we are spending time on is not within God’s will for us.

However, while it might be easy to look down on those who were originally invited and say they got what they deserved when they rejected the invitation, we should actually thank them. When reading this story, the impression I get is that if those who were originally invited had accepted the invitation, then the rest of the people would not have been included. It is only because of the man’s anger at those he originally invited that opened the door for anyone and everyone else to be included.

Some people might look at this parable and say this is a subtle challenge to the Jews in the first century for their rejection of Jesus. This could be the case. However, have you ever thought that if those Jews had not rejected Jesus, it’s possible that you wouldn’t have received an invitation.

However, while we may be tempted to look down on the first-century Jews for rejecting their invitation, or be outright hostile towards them for how they treated Jesus while He was alive on earth, we are just as capable of rejecting God’s invitation as they were. When we let things crowd God out of our lives, and when we cease acknowledging His presence with us, we then risk growing apart from Him. When we grow apart from God, we are likely to minimize the significance of His invitation as well.

We should be happy and grateful that those who were first invited rejected the invitation. Because they chose to do this, the barrier for being invited dropped to zero. We see through this parable that anyone and everyone, regardless of their past, present, or future is invited. This also means that while everyone is invited and encouraged to accept the invitation, there are many more opportunities for people to reject the invitation.

Don’t be someone who rejects the invitation to God’s banquet. Like the unknown person commented to Jesus, “The person who will be at the banquet in God’s kingdom is blessed”. Choose to accept God’s banquet invitation, and let His Holy Spirit bless you both in our present world and life as we look forward to this banquet, and when we are called home to heaven to experience this banquet first hand!

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

As I always begin by challenging you, continue to seek God first in your life. Value the invitation He has given to you and choose to keep your connection with Him strong.

Also, in order to keep your connection and relationship with God strong, be sure to pray and study your Bible for yourself regularly and take God with you throughout your days with whatever you face. Don’t let busyness or worry distract you or pull you away from God. Instead, let your time with Him empower you to be more of the person He created you to be.

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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we approach the half way mark in our year moving through John’s gospel, we come to one of the longest events in John’s gospel, and, if I’m not mistaken, the miracle Jesus did that takes up the most dedicated space in any gospel record. This miracle is raising Jesus’ friend Lazarus from the dead.

However, because of its length, we will split this event into two episodes, focusing on the first part of the event in this episode, specifically when Jesus hears the news that Lazarus is sick.

Let’s read the opening to this event, and discover some amazing things in how Jesus responds to the news of His friend’s sickness. Our passage for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read it from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

^1-2 A man by the name of Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on the Lord’s head and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick.

⁴ When Jesus heard this, he said, “His sickness won’t end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.”

⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. ⁶ But he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “Now we will go back to Judea.”

⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “the people there want to stone you to death! Why do you want to go back?”

⁹ Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in each day? If you walk during the day, you will have light from the sun, and you won’t stumble. ¹⁰ But if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because you don’t have any light.” ¹¹ Then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up.”

¹² They replied, “Lord, if he is asleep, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was talking only about sleep.

¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead! ¹⁵ I am glad that I wasn’t there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me. Let’s go to him.”

¹⁶ Thomas, whose nickname was “Twin,” said to the other disciples, “Come on. Let’s go, so we can die with him.”

Let’s stop reading here, and save the rest of this event for our next episode.

While it is very tempting to race forward to focus in on the miracle portion of this passage, a detail in the first portion of our event is worth paying attention to, because it may explain why God doesn’t race in and act immediately when we ask.

In the first portion of our event, specifically in verse 4, after hearing the news of Lazarus’ sickness, Jesus responds that: “His sickness won’t end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.” All too often, when we think of the bad that happens to us or the bad that happens around us living in this sinful world, we are quick to judge God for letting it happen, or rationalize that since it happened, He must not exist.

However, in Jesus’ words, we discover two huge promises. First, the sickness will not end in death. We could expand this truth to say that sin will not conquer or defeat God’s people. Another way of saying this is that God’s people will outlive and outlast both sin and death.

The second huge promise is that this sickness will result in glory being given to God and His Son. While this sounds completely backward, what if all the bad that is happening in the world today was an opportunity to bring glory to God and His Son? While I don’t believe for an instant that God wished sin, pain, disease, or death to be present in His perfect creation, what if all the evil present gives God and His people the opportunity to help others?

If everything was perfect in our world, there would be no need for anyone to help another, there would be no reason for us to need a Savior, and we as a race would become unbelievably prideful and arrogant – significantly more extreme than we are right now. If humanity never sinned, Jesus would not have needed to come and face the cross, and Jesus alludes or suggests that the cross was where He would receive glory.

In contrast, in order for Jesus’ response when hearing the news about Lazarus’ sickness to be true, we must understand that Jesus has something bigger in mind. Jesus promised that this sickness wouldn’t end in death, and that it would give glory to God and His Son.

Without both parts of Jesus’ reply, we are left wondering about what happened next. If Jesus had only promised that Lazarus’ sickness wouldn’t end in death, there would be little reason for Jesus to go help Him. It would be similar to other miracles where Jesus promised people from a distance that their loved one would get well.

However, if we only had the second part of this reply, we might also be surprised at what happened next. If this sickness would ultimately result in God and His Son receiving glory, then it makes little sense for Jesus to stay where He was for two more days.

Looking at how Jesus responded to the messenger, and then what He did following this, I wonder if the disciples believed Jesus’ words to the messenger to be similar to Jesus’ words to the centurion, to the father of the dying child, and to other miracles where the one asking for a miracle was willing to accept Jesus’ promise of healing from a distance. On the surface, Jesus’ response sounds like a similar promise.

However, one of the biggest challenges I see being laid in this opening to this event is within Jesus’ reply. Jesus told the messenger that Lazarus’ sickness would not end in death, and then two days later, Jesus admits to His disciples that Lazarus was in fact dead.

This challenge is similar to what many people face today. We read about all the miracles and promises God gives us in the Bible, then we pray for God’s help and for a miracle in our own situation, and after praying this, often it can feel as though God ignores our request.

It is like the messenger racing back to Bethany after finding Jesus with the promise that Lazarus’ sickness wouldn’t end in death, but then less than 48 hours later, Lazarus dies. On the surface, this looks like a huge fail for Jesus and His promises. This looks like Jesus broke a promise. I suspect that Mary, Martha, and those present in Bethany had similar feelings of loss, of disappointment, and of doubt towards God when Lazarus stopped breathing.

However, Jesus’ promise still stands. Jesus saw this event in a larger way than this immediate sickness finishing Lazarus off for good. Instead, Jesus never promised that Lazarus’ sickness wouldn’t temporarily take Him through death. Instead, Jesus actually refers to the death Lazarus experienced as sleep, which makes this contrast even more evident. It is only when the disciples don’t understand Jesus’ metaphor that He spoke plainly to them about Lazarus’ death.

In a similar way, when we experience pain, loss, or even death, we might feel as though God’s promises have failed us. However, Jesus sees one or more steps past the immediate pain, because Jesus sees the step past our sleep-death and He sees the resurrection He will bring to all of His people when He returns.

While the disciples show virtually no faith in Jesus during this opening of the event, the opening of this event sets the stage for what would be seen as one of Jesus’ greatest miracles in His entire ministry, and a miracle that foreshadows the resurrection that all of God’s people can look forward to when Jesus returns!

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, seek God first in your life, and choose to place your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief in Jesus even when our immediate circumstances don’t seem like God’s promises are coming true. God sees history with a much bigger perspective than we ever could, and the situation we are facing might be like the opening of our event in this episode. However, remember that Jesus sees one or more steps past our immediate situation, and He has promised to give God the glory for what ultimately happens.

Also, even though it is hard to do when facing trials, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself with the goal of purposefully growing closer to God and Jesus while facing trials. Often God walks with us through the trials instead of taking the trial away, and while it is not pleasant to think about, sometimes trials are God’s way of reminding us that we need Him in our lives.

However, trials have an end, and because of this, 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!

As we near the halfway point in our year looking at Jesus’ parables, we come to one of Jesus’ illustrations that doesn’t read like a typical parable, but just because it is not like many of Jesus’ other parables doesn’t make it any less important. The way Jesus teaches this illustration actually may be more powerful than if He had chosen to use a parable, because there is less confusion or chance of misunderstanding with how Jesus shares this important truth.

Let’s read what Jesus shares with this group of people, and discover what we can learn for our own lives. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 14, and we will be reading from the God’s Word Translation. Starting in verse 7, Luke tells us:

⁷ Then Jesus noticed how the guests always chose the places of honor. So he used this illustration when he spoke to them: ⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding, don’t take the place of honor. Maybe someone more important than you was invited. ⁹ Then your host would say to you, ‘Give this person your place.’ Embarrassed, you would have to take the place of least honor. ¹⁰ So when you’re invited, take the place of least honor. Then, when your host comes, he will tell you, ‘Friend, move to a more honorable place.’ Then all the other guests will see how you are honored. ¹¹ Those who honor themselves will be humbled, but people who humble themselves will be honored.”

Let’s pause reading here briefly, because what Jesus has just illustrated is important for us to pay attention to. In Jesus’ illustration, we discover two options for being honored: We can try to honor ourselves, or we can intentionally step down and let others honor us. The first path is a path that leads to being humbled by other people, which isn’t all that pleasant. The second path is a path where we humble ourselves and step down, and when others lift us up, it is much better.

However, what if we humble ourselves but don’t ever receive honor? What if we step down but noone comes to lift us up?

This is the unspoken fear that many people have with Jesus’ challenge in this parable, and Jesus continues by addressing this fear in the next few verses.

Picking back up in verse 12,

¹² Then [Jesus] told the man who had invited him, “When you invite people for lunch or dinner, don’t invite only your friends, family, other relatives, or rich neighbors. Otherwise, they will return the favor. ¹³ Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the handicapped, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴ Then you will be blessed because they don’t have any way to pay you back. You will be paid back when those who have God’s approval come back to life.”

In these verses, it at first doesn’t appear as though Jesus really answered this fear. It seems as though Jesus may have made it worse, because in this second portion of our passage, Jesus tells us to seek out situations where we help others who have no way of paying us back. If those we help have no way of paying us back, then how will we ever be honored?

As I think about this, there are two ways. Jesus shares one of these two ways in these verses, and the other way is by simply being thanked. Saying thank you is a way of showing appreciation when someone has done something nice for you. Saying thank you is not the same as returning a favor or paying someone back, but it acknowledges the kindness and generosity that was given.

The other way, specifically the way that Jesus shared, is that if we are not paid back in this life, we will be paid back when Jesus returns and “when those who have God’s approval come back to life”. In other words, we are challenged to do nice things for other people. If the people we choose to be a blessing to can pay us back, then they will pay us back. We will have our reward from those we helped.

However, if the people we choose to be a blessing to cannot pay us back, then God will store up the blessing, letting it collect interest, and He will pay us back when He returns. We have the choice whether we will help to receive honor and recognition from those in this life, or from God in the next life.

While seeking honor from God does not sound humble, we need to look no further than Jesus to discover what this looks like. Jesus took the path of stepping down and He lets others, God the Father included, lift Him up. In everything Jesus did, we discover that He stepped down and He let others lift Him up.

Jesus first stepped down out of heaven to come to earth as a baby. Jesus let Himself be raised by human parents in a politically difficult world. Jesus let Himself be baptized by His cousin John, when John knew that their roles should be reversed. Jesus healed, taught, challenged, and helped everyone who would accept His help while He traveled throughout the region. Then Jesus ultimately stepped down and let Himself be arrested, beaten, abused, condemned as guilty, and hung on a cross to die.

Jesus let humanity lift Him up on a cross for their, specifically our, sins. Jesus let God lift Him up and out of the grave. Jesus let God give Him the honor and glory for His selfless service for humanity.

Jesus challenges us to help others who cannot return the favor because that is what God called Him to do, and when we love, bless, and help others knowing our reward is being stored up in heaven, we are freed to be a true blessing to the world around us!

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

As always, be sure to continue seeking God first in your life and choose to be a blessing to others because you know and trust God’s reward is worth it. Choose to be a blessing because Jesus has done more for us than we could ever imagine, and because we see Jesus as our example of what it means to live a life that is a blessing to others in the world today.

Also, keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each day. The closer we grow to God, the better we will be able to reflect His love to those around us, and the more we will be able to be a blessing to others who cannot repay us. As always, never let me or anyone else get between you and your relationship with God. Focus on making your relationship with God personal!

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

As we continue working our way through John’s gospel, we arrive at a place where Jesus is clearly asked whether He is the Messiah or not. While this seems like a great place for Jesus to openly declare that He was in fact the Messiah these Jews had been waiting for, I am fascinated that Jesus takes a different angle when answering this question. In the angle Jesus takes, He subtly challenges the very idea these Jews had about who the Messiah would actually be.

Let’s read about what happened, and how Jesus’ reframe of His ministry should have prompted these Jews to understand the Messiah differently, instead of simply prompting them to reject Him.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 10, and we will read it using the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 22, John tells us that:

²² It was winter, and the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple was being celebrated in Jerusalem. ²³ Jesus was walking in Solomon’s Porch in the Temple, ²⁴ when the people gathered around him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us the plain truth: are you the Messiah?”

²⁵ Jesus answered, “I have already told you, but you would not believe me. The deeds I do by my Father’s authority speak on my behalf; ²⁶ but you will not believe, for you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me.²⁹ What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father’s care. ³⁰ The Father and I are one.”

³¹ Then the people again picked up stones to throw at him. ³² Jesus said to them, “I have done many good deeds in your presence which the Father gave me to do; for which one of these do you want to stone me?”

³³ They answered, “We do not want to stone you because of any good deeds, but because of your blasphemy! You are only a man, but you are trying to make yourself God!”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written in your own Law that God said, ‘You are gods.’ ³⁵ We know that what the scripture says is true forever; and God called those people gods, the people to whom his message was given. ³⁶ As for me, the Father chose me and sent me into the world. How, then, can you say that I blaspheme because I said that I am the Son of God? ³⁷ Do not believe me, then, if I am not doing the things my Father wants me to do. ³⁸ But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, you should at least believe my deeds, in order that you may know once and for all that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father.”

³⁹ Once more they tried to seize Jesus, but he slipped out of their hands.

⁴⁰ Jesus then went back again across the Jordan River to the place where John had been baptizing, and he stayed there. ⁴¹ Many people came to him. “John performed no miracles,” they said, “but everything he said about this man was true.” ⁴² And many people there believed in him.

In this passage, I am amazed at how Jesus frames the crowd’s hostility towards Him. While the crowd rightfully determines that Jesus’ words would fall within one definition of blasphemy, either they did not understand, or they were unwilling to accept, the difficult truth that the Messiah that the Old Testament prophesied about would actually be God’s Son.

Much later in Jesus’ ministry, during the week leading up to Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, and crucifixion, Jesus uses an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah as evidence that the Messiah existed before David while also being David’s descendant. For those who are interested in what happened, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include this event, and you can find it at the end of Matthew, chapter 22, near the end of Mark, chapter 12, and at the end of Luke, chapter 20.

However, tucked within Jesus’ counter-challenge to these Jews is another amazing truth. While Jesus doesn’t ask those in this crowd to accept what they feel are blasphemous claims about being one with God, Jesus does challenge them regarding what they see Him doing. Everything Jesus did was to bring glory to God and to uplift God’s name. Even the crowd acknowledged when they picked up stones to stone Jesus that it wasn’t for anything He had done, but for one single claim He had made.

While Jesus clarifies how His claim about being God’s Son is completely compatible with the Old Testament scriptures, He shifts the focus onto His actions. Actions always speak louder than words, and in Jesus’ case, the only way Jesus could have done 90% of what He did was if God was with Him supporting Him through the Holy Spirit. While Jesus could have leaned on His divinity throughout His entire life, Jesus instead submitted Himself to God the Father’s will, and leaned on the Holy Spirit for power.

This means that if God the Father did not like the message Jesus was sharing, there would be no way Jesus could have helped people during the time He was teaching, and preaching. We don’t have to look very far into Jesus’ miracles to come to one that would be impossible for Jesus to do if God was not with Him.

Because Jesus worked so many miracles, and because Jesus always attributed these miracles as the Father’s will, and as reasons to give God the glory, we can use Jesus’ actions as a foundation for our faith. Regardless of the message Jesus shared, what Jesus did while He was alive on earth could only have happened if God was with Him. If Jesus had stepped too far, or over the line of what God felt was acceptable or not, we could expect that Jesus’ ability to perform miracles would stop.

However, when we fast forward to the end of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus was resurrected from the dead exactly as He predicted, Jesus returned to heaven, and the Holy Spirit was given to His followers exactly as Jesus promised. These details surrounding the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth give the greatest evidence to the powerful truth that Jesus was who He claimed to be. Jesus was God’s Son and the Messiah God had promised since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.

Because Jesus’ word has never failed, we can trust His promises, and even if we are uncertain of some of the more extreme claims Jesus made, we can look to Jesus’ actions as a foundation for our faith in 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 in your life and choose to place your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief in Jesus and what He accomplished while He was alive on earth. Trust that Jesus is in heaven working for our benefit as history speeds towards the end of sin and the salvation of God’s people!

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. God wants a personal relationship with you, and a personal relationship is best built on the foundation of personal prayer and personal Bible study. While other people can have good things to say, or interesting ideas to think about, always take what you hear, read, or see and filter it through the truth in God’s Word.