Reflective Bible Study

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.

Leading up to one of Jesus’ more well-known teachings is a relatively unknown parable. While I imagine that if you have read the gospels or have been in church for a moderate length of time, you probably will recognize the teaching that follows this parable, but you might have missed or not heard this parable itself.

However, after this episode, you can confidently say that you have heard the parable that we’re focusing in on, and that you understand how it relates to having effective prayer. This parable and our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 5, Luke tells us that:

⁵ [And] Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend’s house at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. ⁶ A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don’t have any food for him!’ ⁷ And suppose your friend should answer from inside, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. ⁹ And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. ¹¹ Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? ¹² Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? ¹³ As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

This whole first section of Luke chapter 11 relates with effective prayer. Luke 11 begins with Jesus sharing the model prayer with His disciples in the first four verses, which we didn’t have time to cover in this episode, before then moving into the parable and follow up teaching.

All too often though, I feel that people stop reading too soon because the last verse we focused on is likely the biggest key in this entire passage and discussion on prayer. Jesus finishes off by telling His followers at the end of verse 13, “How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

This whole discussion centers around asking, seeking, and knocking within the context of prayer, and the specific context is asking for the Holy Spirit. We can know that when we ask for the Holy Spirit, God will not give us a counterfeit, and He will not give us something harmful instead.

However, part of me sees a disconnect between the big theme of Jesus’ parable and with the key idea Jesus shares in the follow-up teaching. In the parable, the key idea is persisting in prayer until we get the response we are asking for, but being challenged to persist in prayer makes God seem like He is not as good of a Father as we might think He should be. After all, good, attentive fathers here on earth wouldn’t delay giving their children what they ask for and need. It would be a mistake to think God is worse, or less attentive, than our example of a good earthly father.

So why then are we challenged to persist in prayer when it would seem like our prayers should be answered immediately?

In my own mind, the disconnect in this understanding is really a misunderstanding of the nature of prayer. If prayer is simply asking God to give us something, then God appears to be a real jerk for not granting our requests. However, if prayer is us opening our hearts to God, then requests are less significant and the focus is more on building a relationship with God and growing closer to Him.

When I see prayer as the best way for me to share my life with God, prayer becomes the way I can grow my faith, my trust, and my belief in God more fully. This is before even bringing any request to God at all. Prayer helps me recognize, remember, and acknowledge who God is and His role in my life.

Above everything else, when we pray, we should focus on connecting with God and sharing our joys, fears, triumphs, and trials with Him.

However, the context and focus of this parable is still fascinating. The context of this parable centers around bringing requests to God. While we cannot catch God at a point when He’d rather be sleeping or vacationing, the strong implication in this parable is that persistence in prayer appears to get results, similar to persistence in our lives would get results. Oddly enough, the just woken up friend isn’t much of a friend if he or she wouldn’t part with a few loaves of bread, but persisting in our request after receiving a no response is likely to break any friendship that might have been there.

The great thing about prayer is that this is not the way it works with God. We cannot pester God out of loving us or being interested in helping us. I think that sometimes God is more interested in building a relationship with us through prayer than simply filling the role of a genie who grants wishes and requests.

God knows what we need and He is more than willing to help us get what we truly need, but with our requests, God also knows we need a relationship with Him. Perhaps when He delays a clear response, it is because God wants us to slow down and focus on growing closer to Him.

God is well aware of the best timing and the best way to move forward in history, and because of this, we can trust that when we pray and don’t get a clear response to our prayer, that God knows what He is doing. Perhaps, when we face unanswered prayer, we can use the uncertainty as a reminder that we should focus on growing closer to God through prayer, and focus on opening up our lives to God within prayer, because life tends to get so busy that it pushes Him to the side.

Jesus concludes by reminding us the one thing we should focus on asking for above everything else. Jesus challenges us to continually ask for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no way we can truly become the people God created us to be. Because of this, let’s as a group focus on asking for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and hearts and transform us into the people God created us to be!

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

As always, be sure to seek God first and choose to see the goal of prayer as opening our lives and hearts to God. Use your prayer time to remind yourself of who God is and thank Him for what He has done and is doing for you. Open your heart to God, ask for the Holy Spirit to enter, and let God transform your life and your focus.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, pray and study the Bible for yourself. While other people can give you things to think about, always go back to the Bible in prayer to validate what you have learned. God has given us everything we need for salvation within the pages of the Bible, and if we trust that God is able to keep us safe for eternity, we should trust that He can keep His message safe for a few thousand years. Our current history is just a speck of time when compared with the eternity God has planned for His people!

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!