Reflective Bible Study

As we continue looking at the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested in our year looking at prophecies Jesus’ life fulfilled and connections between the Old Testament and Jesus’ ministry, let’s take a small step back from where we looked at in our last episode and focus our attention onto the betrayer. One of the more challenging ideas we find present in the narrative structure of the Bible is that someone who spent years with Jesus, and who had purposefully stood by Jesus when there were many opportunities to leave, ultimately chose to betray Him.

The Old Testament predicted the Messiah’s betrayal, and on several occasions prior to that weekend, Jesus had foreshadowed and forewarned His followers that He would be betrayed. It is fascinating to think that Jesus knew Judas Iscariot would be the betrayer before Judas Iscariot even took any steps in that direction, and even with this as the case, Jesus still invited Judas Iscariot and gave Him every opportunity to change the trajectory of his life.

However, even with all this forewarning and prophecy, the events of that weekend and the appearance of a betrayer surprises everyone present that weekend, except for Jesus. While I would not be surprised to learn that Jesus had divinely-provided knowledge regarding His betrayal, when we look in the Old Testament and into two of the psalms that have been preserved for us, we discover strong foreshadowing regarding the Messiah being betrayed.

The first psalm we will read is psalm number 41, and we read it, as well as all our other passages for this episode, using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 4, the psalmist writes:

⁴ As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
⁵ My enemies speak evil against me,
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
⁶ And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood;
His heart gathers wickedness to itself;
When he goes outside, he tells it.
⁷ All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they devise my hurt, saying,
⁸ “A wicked thing is poured out upon him,
That when he lies down, he will not rise up again.”
⁹ Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.

While the foreshadowing isn’t obvious from a surface reading, the part we should pay close attention to is in verse 9, which we finished off by reading, which described a close friend who was trusted, someone who ate bread with the one betrayed, ultimately being the betrayer. The key detail we are prompted to take from this description is that the betrayer would be a close friend, and the betrayer and the one betrayed would have eaten together.

Moving to our second psalm, we come to psalm number 55, and we’ll begin reading this psalm in verse 12:

¹² For it is not an enemy who reproaches me,
Then I could bear it;
Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me,
Then I could hide myself from him.
¹³ But it is you, a man my equal,
My companion and my familiar friend;
¹⁴ We who had sweet fellowship together
Walked in the house of God in the throng.
¹⁵ Let death come deceitfully upon them;
Let them go down alive to Sheol,
For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.

If the first psalm we looked at was unclear in any way regarding how close the betrayer would be to the one betrayed, this second psalm emphasizes this closeness. The betrayer in this second psalm is described as a companion, a familiar friend, and someone who had spent a significant amount of time with the one who would be betrayed. Oddly enough, this psalm describes the betrayer and the betrayed walking together in the house of God. In today’s culture, we could say that these two people went to church together.

Both of these psalms draw attention onto the closeness of the betrayer and the betrayed, and we don’t need to look hard in the gospels to discover that Judas Iscariot, who was one of Jesus’ twelve closest followers, ultimately turned out to be the betrayer.

While we can learn this information from any one of the four gospels, John’s gospel frames the night of the betrayal in a powerful way, while also illustrating the closeness of Jesus and Judas Iscariot.

Reading from John, chapter 13, starting in verse 12, John tells us:

¹² So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³ You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. ¹⁸ I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ ¹⁹ From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

²¹ When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” ²² The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. ²³ There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. ²⁴ So Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” ²⁵ He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶ Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷ After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

While many people frame the special meal Jesus eats with His followers as happening after Judas Iscariot left, with the way John’s gospel frames the sequence of events, while Judas Iscariot may have left prior to Jesus sharing the famous meal portion of this supper with His disciples, there is significant evidence that Jesus would have washed Judas Iscariot’s feet. While John famously includes Peter’s pushback to having his feet washed by Jesus, I wonder what nuances would have been present between Jesus and Judas Iscariot when his turn came for his feet to be washed.

From the way our passage ends, Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus was no surprise to Jesus. However, I wonder if Judas Iscariot was intent on keeping the betrayal a secret, however futile of a thought that would be. Jesus had repeatedly displayed evidence of knowing the future, and Jesus had also forewarned the disciples that He would ultimately be betrayed to death. That Judas Iscariot would think that His actions could be hidden from Jesus is surprising at best.

As I wonder about what may have been running through Judas Iscariot’s mind, I wonder if he understood Jesus would know of the plot, but that he was more interested in pushing Jesus towards being glorified than on trying to ultimately keep his intentions hidden? Regardless of what Judas Iscariot believed, it is obvious from his actions that he did not understand what glorifying Jesus would mean in this context.

Before wrapping up this episode, I want to point our attention onto one additional detail: Judas Iscariot’s betrayal, while prompted by Jesus, was firmly within Judas Iscariot’s freedom to choose. Jesus did not force Judas Iscariot to take the morsel of bread, and from how John frames this event, Satan only entered Judas Iscariot after he had accepted this bread that came with the clear connection that it meant betrayal.

However, looking back at our psalms and how they connect to Jesus’ betrayal, we discover clearly that Jesus knew the future. Jesus knew the Old Testament prophecies enough to specifically use a morsel of bread to prompt Judas Iscariot’s path towards betrayal, and Jesus knows our future enough to know what we need to ultimately be saved.

While Judas Iscariot chose to betray Jesus, Jesus walking the path to and through death ultimately opens the way for us to experience a new life with God. Nothing in our present or future with Jesus predetermines that we will fail like Judas Iscariot. Instead, when we ally our lives with Jesus, we ultimately gain eternity that will outlast sin.

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

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life and ally your heart, mind, and will to Jesus. Choose today to move forward with God and know that while challenges will come, nothing says we are required to fail like Judas Iscariot did. Instead, because of this betrayal and what Jesus went through, when we ally our lives with Jesus, we will be saved for eternity.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God and to learn what He is like. Through the pages of the Bible, discover a God who loves you more than preserving His own life, and how far Jesus was willing to go to redeem you and me.

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 through Luke’s gospel, we come to a set of events that don’t seem to be related on the surface, but two events that share a similar theme with each other. The first event has to do with Jesus sharing a parable in response to a question He is asked about the deaths some people faced. The second event is a healing Jesus does on the Sabbath.

Let’s read these two events, discover what we can learn from each, and uncover the big, shared theme that both of these events include.

Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us:

¹ Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

⁶ Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. ⁷ So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

⁸ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹ If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

Let’s pause reading here. This marks the end of the first event and the end of Jesus’ illustration. This event and illustration were given in response to Jesus being asked about the deaths of a group of Galileans. Jesus’ reply answers the question behind the question they were really asking. While those present were telling Jesus about what had happened, Jesus counters their thoughts that God had allowed this type of death because He was punishing them.

The big challenging truth in Jesus’ response is that everyone is equally worthy of death because of their sin. Sin in our lives makes us worthy of death because we have broken God’s law. However, death in this life is different from eternal death.

To contrast the death that is in this life, Jesus challenges those present with the truth that repenting is the way to avoid perishing, which is Jesus’ preferred term that He uses for eternal death. John, chapter 3, verse 16, which is one of the most famous verses in the entire Bible contrasts perishing with eternal life: Repenting leads away from perishing and towards eternal life.

The parable Jesus shares is amazing as well. This parable focuses our attention onto what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In this parable, the expected activity of the fig tree is bearing fruit. On one hand, bearing fruit is part of what the fig tree was designed to do, but beyond this, the goal of the fruit of any fruit tree itself is to create more fruit trees. In the fruit of a fig tree, or any fruit tree for that matter, are seeds that will ultimately grow into more trees if given the chance.

This parable does not have an ending, and in my mind, this is because we are living in the year of the parable where the tree is being cared for and God is eagerly awaiting us to bear fruit.

Not bearing fruit is the way to ultimately be cut down and removed from the vineyard.

However, while it is easy to stop reading here and disconnect what comes next as being a completely separate event, the event we just finished reading shares a big theme with the event Luke includes next. Continuing in verse 10, Luke tells us:

¹⁰ On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, ¹¹ and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” ¹³ Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

¹⁴ Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

¹⁵ The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? ¹⁶ Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

¹⁷ When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Before touching on the big shared theme of these two events, a detail I don’t believe I’ve ever noticed before stood out to me while reading it this time. When the religious leaders react against Jesus’ healing this woman, they assume this woman came to the synagogue that day to be healed by Jesus. However, nothing like this is even implied.

This woman had spent the last 18 years being disabled. While it is possible she traveled to see Jesus and was visiting the synagogue that day, nothing in this passage suggests this or anything other than that this woman simply had come to worship God in spite of her disability. The implication of the synagogue leader is that anyone who was sick should intentionally avoid Jesus at all costs on the Sabbath day.

However impractical this implication is, especially since Jesus traveled around and actively sought out people who He could heal, what the synagogue leader shared suggests that those who are sick or disabled shouldn’t accept Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath. Another subtle implication is that those who are sick or disabled should avoid going to the synagogue on the Sabbath, or perhaps they should actively avoid going to any synagogue where Jesus might be.

The reaction the synagogue leader gives in response to Jesus healing is against the people who were in the synagogue. If the synagogue leader was mad at Jesus, I find it a little humorous that this frustration is directed towards those who simply came to worship God together.

However, this isn’t humorous at all, because this is often what happens. Instead of taking our frustrations out on those who frustrate us, we usually take our frustrations out on those closest to us who simply get to be around us when we are frustrated. This synagogue leader was frustrated with Jesus, and those who came to his synagogue that day were targeted because of this frustration.

In these two events, there is a huge shared theme. This theme says that God loves sinners and He wants to free them. In the first event, Jesus calls sinners to repent because it will free them from the sin that is holding their lives back. In the second event, Jesus frees someone who Satan had physically trapped in a disability. God loves sinners and He wants to free us.

Another big, bonus, shared theme is that the state of someone’s life or death does not reflect their relationship with God. Someone could be far away from God and be appearing to succeed, while someone else could die a tragic death and ultimately be saved because of the final state of their heart. While God can directly punish people for sin in their lives, I don’t believe this happens as often as some might think. Instead, I believe that sin naturally brings consequences and destruction, and that the longer a person sins, the more consequences they bring upon themselves because of their own choices.

God isn’t interested in seeing us perish because of sin. God wants us to repent, which means to turn away from sin in our lives and back to Him, and ultimately outlast the presence of sin in the universe. God wants each of us to experience a new, eternal 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 in your life and choose to repent and turn to Him if you have felt like your life is turning away. Choose to rededicate your life to God and let Him lead and guide you forward. Trust in and lean on Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins and accept the gift Jesus offers of a new life with God!

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Choose to pray and study the Bible personally to grow a personal relationship with God and one that isn’t based on the opinions of others. While other people have opinions and ideas, filter what you read, hear, and see through the themes of the Bible to discover what God’s truth truly is!

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

As we continue forward in our year looking at events where Jesus’ life is connected with passages in the Old Testament and places where Jesus’ ministry fulfills prophecy, we come to the start of a set of passages that describe Jesus being confronted in the garden on the night He was betrayed.

However, we’ll save the prophecies specifically about betrayal for our next couple of episodes.

For this episode, let’s turn our attention onto a Psalm that includes a couple of verses that could be applied to Jesus’ experience in the garden. The Psalm we will be looking at is Psalm, number 40, and let’s read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, the psalmist writes:

¹ I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
² He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
³ He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the Lord.

⁴ How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
⁵ Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.

⁶ Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart.”

⁹ I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You know.
¹⁰ I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.

¹¹ You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
¹² For evils beyond number have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my heart has failed me.

¹³ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
Make haste, O Lord, to help me.
¹⁴ Let those be ashamed and humiliated together
Who seek my life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight in my hurt.
¹⁵ Let those be appalled because of their shame
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
¹⁶ Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
¹⁷ Since I am afflicted and needy,
Let the Lord be mindful of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.

While there are many different angles we can understand this psalm, and several pieces of it that we could focus our attention on, the specific verse that caught my eye prompting me to include it for our time together is verse 14, where the psalmist writes:

“Let those be ashamed and humiliated together
Who seek my life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight in my hurt.”

On the surface, this verse could apply to just about anyone who feels as though others are interested in doing them harm. This was true for King David in the Old Testament as it was true for Jesus, and as it is true for many people living today.

However, let’s move to the New Testament and look at a fascinating detail that John includes in his gospel within the time that Jesus was being betrayed leading up to His arrest. This detail is found in John’s gospel, chapter 18, and let’s begin reading in verse 1:

¹ When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples. ² Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. ³ Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. ⁴ So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” ⁵ They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. ⁶ So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. ⁷ Therefore He again asked them, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” ⁸ Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” ⁹ to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.” ¹⁰ Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. ¹¹ So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

In this passage John shares during Jesus’ betrayal, John includes an interesting detail that describes Jesus meeting His accusers directly, even though by doing this, Jesus would be risking direct harm.

The way John describes this event is fascinating in my mind. When the solders came with lanterns, torches, and weapons, Jesus steps forward to great them. Jesus asks them who they are looking for and they say Jesus, the Nazarene. Perhaps these accusers had not seen Jesus at night, so they were a little uncertain exactly who was greeting them, but I would have imagined that at least some of them should have recognized Jesus by His voice.

However, the way Jesus answers is powerful. Instead of misdirecting focus, or sending those present in a different direction, Jesus fully accepts the challenge that was coming towards Him. While Jesus could have done something similar to Elisha, who prayed for his adversaries to become blind before leading them to a place where they would not have intended to go, Jesus could have easily done something to have avoided being arrested. In case you are wondering where the event with Elisha is, this event can be found in 2 Kings, chapter 6.

John describes Jesus facing His accusers head on, and whether those coming to arrest Him were surprised by Jesus’ straight answer, or whether something supernatural happened when Jesus spoke the words “I am He”, all those coming to arrest Him fell back to the ground.

In a strangely predictive way, when the crowd drew back and fell to the ground, as John’s gospel describes, they appear to also fulfill the potentially prophetic words of the psalmist we looked at from the Old Testament, which describe people seeking to destroy life being turned back and dishonored.

We can learn and know from this fulfilled prophecy that Jesus met the challenge of the cross willingly, without hesitation, and fully knowing what would happen. Avoiding the cross was not something Jesus even hinted at doing.

Before closing this episode, I want to draw attention to one additional fulfilled prophecy in Jesus’ arrest. Jesus fulfills His own prophecy that is found a chapter earlier in John. While Jesus was praying to the Father, He prayed that He would not lose any of those who the Father had given to Him, except for the one who had to be lost. The one Jesus refers to in that prayer is Judas Iscariot the betrayer. To fulfill this prayer, John writes Jesus’ words asking those who have come to arrest Him that they let all the others go.

This small detail is powerful, because when Jesus faces what some might believe to be the greatest challenge of His earthly ministry, He has His followers still in focus. If any of Jesus’ followers had died during that arrest, it would not have brought glory to God. Instead, the path that brought God glory was Jesus fulfilling His promises, His Word, and Jesus protecting His disciples through the chaos that weekend held.

With everything chaotic that is happening in the world around us, let’s remember that Jesus is not surprised by the world’s chaos. Instead, we can trust that Jesus knows what will happen and that He is actively working to bring about the end of sin and the salvation of His people.

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

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life and place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him. When life gets crazy, lean on Jesus for strength and guidance to navigate life’s challenges.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. Through prayer and Bible study, discover who God is, what He is like, and what He wants to invite you into when Jesus returns to bring His people home!

And until that day 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 abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we near the half way mark in our year focusing in on Luke’s gospel, we come to another part of Luke’s gospel where he shares some of Jesus’ messages that are more challenging. However, because Luke is writing this to someone who never met Jesus personally, we can know that these teachings are applicable to more than just those who Jesus spoke to directly. While the message Jesus shares is challenging, I suspect Luke knows that this message is applicable for all of Jesus’ followers throughout history.

Because of this, let’s read this message Jesus shared and discover what we can learn from it. Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will read it from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 35, Luke tells us Jesus taught those present saying:

³⁵ “Be dressed, ready for service, and have your lamps shining. ³⁶ Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him. ³⁷ They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them. ³⁸ Those servants will be blessed when he comes in and finds them still waiting, even if it is midnight or later.

³⁹ “Remember this: If the owner of the house knew what time a thief was coming, he would not allow the thief to enter his house. ⁴⁰ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at a time when you don’t expect him!”

Pausing our reading briefly, it is easy to wonder if Jesus is talking to just His immediate followers, or if Jesus’ message extends beyond. It seems as though Peter also has this question, because he speaks up in the next verse.

Continuing in verse 41:

⁴¹ Peter said, “Lord, did you tell this story to us or to all people?”

⁴² The Lord said, “Who is the wise and trusted servant that the master trusts to give the other servants their food at the right time? ⁴³ When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed. ⁴⁴ I tell you the truth, the master will choose that servant to take care of everything he owns. ⁴⁵ But suppose the servant thinks to himself, ‘My master will not come back soon,’ and he begins to beat the other servants, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. ⁴⁶ The master will come when that servant is not ready and is not expecting him. Then the master will cut him in pieces and send him away to be with the others who don’t obey.

⁴⁷ “The servant who knows what his master wants but is not ready, or who does not do what the master wants, will be beaten with many blows! ⁴⁸ But the servant who does not know what his master wants and does things that should be punished will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. And from the one trusted with much, much more will be expected.

⁴⁹ “I came to set fire to the world, and I wish it were already burning! ⁵⁰ I have a baptism to suffer through, and I feel very troubled until it is over. ⁵¹ Do you think I came to give peace to the earth? No, I tell you, I came to divide it. ⁵² From now on, a family with five people will be divided, three against two, and two against three. ⁵³ They will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Let’s stop reading here because what Jesus has shared in this passage is powerful and I don’t want us to miss it.

Jesus has just finished sharing one of His most challenging messages. Many people living in the first century believed the Messiah would come and usher in an age of peace for all people. These people believed that after a brief but decisive victory over the Romans who had control of their country, the Messiah would set up a new kingdom that would never be destroyed and a kingdom that would bring peace.

This was the belief of those present, but Jesus directly challenges this mindset by saying that He did not come to bring peace but to divide the earth. A surface reading might imply that Jesus came to divide families against each other, but when framed like this, it doesn’t sound very Godly or Christ-like to divide families.

However, Jesus did not come to divide families. Instead, Jesus shifts from what He came to do, which was to divide the earth, and onto the result, which is that families would be divided. Jesus came to redeem humanity and the earth from sin, and when humanity is blinded by sin, and actively living in and preferring sin, there is a clear tension present. The division Jesus came to make was giving people the choice of whether to continue living in sin or to choose a life that places sin in the past.

Jesus did not come with the goal to divide families, but He knew that families would be divided when some preferred their lives of sin while others were interested in leaving sin behind.

While the reality of every situation is way more complicated than the oversimplified description I just shared, this oversimplification is more like a theme that runs through almost every spiritual division within families. Jesus came to redeem people from sin, to call people to live new lives with Him, and to reward those who have repented and turned to God with eternal life when He returns.

This is one reason why the opening part of our passage always stands out to me. As our passage opened, Jesus tells His followers in verses 36 and 37 “Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him. They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them.”

While we might want to read this passage as the servants get to serve the master when the master arrives home, the reverse is what is described. While the servants fully expect to serve the master on his arrival, the master reverses the roles. Jesus describes the master stepping down and serving the servants when he finds them ready and watching for his arrival.

When we understand that Jesus is describing His return in this illustration, we begin to see that when Jesus returns, He will reward those who have been patiently waiting for Him by serving them when they fully expect to serve Him instead. Those who have been serving God all their lives will be able to rest and let God serve them. The servants who God finds at their posts serving Him will be rewarded when He returns.

As servants of God, let’s continue to model Jesus to the world. This means that even though Jesus said that His arrival would divide the world, we are not to intentionally cause division. Instead, Jesus came reflecting God’s love for those who were hurting, and with the challenge to return to God towards all who were sinning. This should be our attitude and our message. Let’s show our love for God by loving others, and let’s call people to live to a higher standard and out of lives that are focused on sin.

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 let God lead you out of sin. Let God help you leave sin in your past and when given the choice on whether to serve sin, self, or God, choose to serve God. Serving God leads to receiving God’s reward of eternal life and a life that outlasts sin.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, discover how to open your heart to the Holy Spirit and let Him into your heart, your mind, and your life!

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!