Reflective Bible Study

As we are at, or just over, the halfway point in our year podcasting through Luke’s gospel, we arrive at a passage where someone asks Jesus a question that many of us would like a clear answer for, and while Jesus answers the question truthfully, in many ways, Jesus’ response might not feel like a very satisfying answer. Also, in this passage, is a unique foreshadowing of Jesus’ upcoming crucifixion framed in a response Jesus gives to some Pharisees warning Him to leave the area.

Let’s dive into our passage and discover what we can learn from what Luke tells us Jesus taught those present. Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 22, Luke tells us that:

²² Jesus was teaching in every town and village as he traveled toward Jerusalem. ²³ Someone said to Jesus, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”

Jesus said, ²⁴ “Try hard to enter through the narrow door, because many people will try to enter there, but they will not be able. ²⁵ When the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you can stand outside and knock on the door and say, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ ²⁶ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in the streets of our town.’ ²⁷ But he will say to you, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Go away from me, all you who do evil!’ ²⁸ You will cry and grind your teeth with pain when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s kingdom, but you yourselves thrown outside. ²⁹ People will come from the east, west, north, and south and will sit down at the table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ There are those who are last now who will be first in the future. And there are those who are first now who will be last in the future.”

Pausing our reading here, I want to point out that I am always a little challenged by Jesus’ response. The question Jesus is asked seems simple enough for a yes or a no answer while Jesus gives a much more broad and challenging response. From Jesus’ response, I suspect that the question is a little vague, and that Jesus was likely answering the question behind this person’s question. If I were to be asked the question, “Will only a few people be saved?” I would first want to know what is meant by the word “few”.

However, from Jesus’ response, we see a powerful challenge and an amazing promise. In Jesus’ response, I get the impression that salvation is more difficult than many people would like to admit. Salvation is described as a narrow door and a door that will ultimately be closed.

The description of those left on the outside of the door is simply “those who do evil”. The owner of the home tells those outside of the door in verse 27, “I don’t know you or where you come from. Go away from me, all you who do evil!”

The powerful challenge in this verse is that doing evil separates us from God, and that means our present choices outweigh our past decisions for God. Nothing in this passage suggests God will force someone into heaven because they made a decision or prayed a prayer early in their life that they have since turned away from. Our present choices matter when we are discussing salvation because being saved is a decision that is always made in the present!

In other words, saying that we were saved in the past is just as valuable as saying we will choose to accept Jesus in the future. While there is a little value in these “non-present” decisions, the only decision that truly matters is a present decision to accept Jesus, repent and move away from doing evil, and accept the gift of salvation.

However, there is a promise that comes immediately following this. Jesus then describes how those who are outside the door look in and see people who have come from all points of the compass sitting and eating in the kingdom of God. Jesus may be talking about you and me in this verse. Unless you are Jewish and currently living in Israel, the description of a foreigner traveling to eat in God’s kingdom could very easily describe all of God’s people living in every other part of the world.

This response to a question, while being challenging, gives us an amazing promise that God will have people of every type, every nationality, every race, and every group you could possibly think of sitting with Him at His table. The only ones excluded are those described as doers of evil. The only people who are excluded chose evil over entering through the narrow door.

However, I wonder if this response prompts what we read next in this passage. Continuing in verse 31, Luke tells us:

³¹ At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away from here! Herod wants to kill you!”

Briefly pausing again, I may be cynical, but whenever I read people described as Pharisees, I always suspect whatever they are about to say. In this seemingly noble act, these Pharisees appear to warn Jesus about Herod plotting against Him.

I have doubts about this plot, because later in Luke, we discover Jesus ultimately meeting Herod, Herod having the chance to kill Jesus, and Herod simply giving this opportunity back to Pilate. Instead, I see these Pharisees giving this threat to try to intimidate Jesus into leaving when they don’t want Him there. I suspect Herod had little to nothing to do with this.

But Jesus does give an interesting response to this threat, and I wonder if Jesus’ response does ultimately make it to Herod.

Continuing in verse 32:

³² Jesus said to them, “Go tell that fox Herod, ‘Today and tomorrow I am forcing demons out and healing people. Then, on the third day, I will reach my goal.’ ³³ Yet I must be on my way today and tomorrow and the next day. Surely it cannot be right for a prophet to be killed anywhere except in Jerusalem.

In Jesus’ response, we see an interesting foreshadowing for Jesus’ upcoming death. Jesus fully knows that Jerusalem is where He would ultimately be crucified, and He even directly suggests this saying that it isn’t right for any prophet to be killed anywhere except Jerusalem. I wonder if this statement reveals one big idea that hurt God. Jerusalem, the city of God, the place where the temple stood, and the capital city of God’s people, is known in history as the city that kills God’s prophets. This single statement is powerful. This statement also shows us just how much God loves us.

God is a God who redeems. God takes the least likely things and He turns them into His greatest triumphs. Before Jesus, the cross represented shame, torture, and death; after Jesus, the cross represents the way humanity can experience salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice. Before Jesus’ resurrection, ascension, and return, Jerusalem is known as the city who killed God’s prophets, Jesus included, but when Jesus ultimately returns, God’s people will get to experience the New Jerusalem, which is the city God built that will ultimately protect His people forever!

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, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to turn away from sin and towards God, accepting what Jesus has done for us to cover the sins in our past. Remember that salvation is an always-present decision, and even when we make mistakes and slip up, God is willing to forgive us when we genuinely come back to Him asking for forgiveness.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God and to open your heart to the Holy Spirit. When we let the Holy Spirit into our hearts, minds, and lives, He will lead and guide us towards God and away from sin.

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 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!