Not About the Money: John 12:1-11

Focus Passage: John 12:1-11 (NIV)

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

Read John 12:1-11 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Occasionally while reading an event, a phrase or detail will stand out and give me a clue into what the disciples thought, which reveals a little piece about their character.

The passage for this journal entry has such an insight, but it is most easily seen when looking at both Matthew’s and John’s versions together. In Matthew, we read the following verse: “When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. ‘Why this waste?’ they asked. ‘This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.’” (Matthew 26:8)

Contrasting that with John’s gospel, we read, “But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.” (John 12:4-6)

If we blend these two statements, we can see that at least some of the disciples were indignant, while Judas Iscariot perhaps was the one most irritated by this woman’s action. This irritation prompted Judas Iscariot to be the specific disciple who spoke as a representative for the group of those who were indignant.

John draws attention to Judas Iscariot’s motives – that he was a thief, and not really all that interested in the poor – but what is also interesting is that by being indignant – which Matthew attributes to all the disciples (or at least a majority of them), we can get a glimpse of what they all thought about money.

Currently circulating is a rumor/debate regarding whether the disciples were among the affluent, rich class of society, or whether they were the poor. The two occupations that I’ve heard given as examples of rich would be fishermen (at least four of the disciples) and tax collecting (one disciple). This gives us a group of about half of the disciples, and the group includes Matthew, who tells us that the bulk of the disciples were indignant at how much money had just been spent.

While it is possible that the other disciples were only interested in self-gain like Judas Iscariot was, what I see revealed here is something that revealed the money attitudes of other disciples. There are wealthy people who are stingy, but there are many wealthy people who would grasp spending a significant amount of money for something/someone special. Since Mary had the perfume, we can conclude that she had some level of wealth, but the way Matthew records how the disciples respond, they react like individuals who don’t have much money – and for whom a year’s wages was a lot of money.

If the disciples had lived a wealthier lifestyle, then they wouldn’t have been indignant over that amount of money being spent on Jesus.

Jesus responds by saying that it isn’t about money, but about the gift, the symbolism, and the focus – and in this case. In our relationship with Jesus, money should never be the focus. Instead, we should focus on what Jesus did, what He is currently doing, and how much He means to us.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Sharing His Kingdom: Luke 12:13-34

Focus Passage: Luke 12:13-34 (NASB)

While teaching the disciples and the crowd about where to place their trust and to not worry about the typical things that culture wants us to worry about, Jesus shares a phrase I never had noticed before. Luke includes this in his gospel and he records Jesus telling everyone present: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” (v. 32)

This statement is profound in my mind because it tells us that God the Father is happy to share His kingdom with each of us. While many people have gotten confused at what God wants us to do, say, act, and/or believe, all these things could be classified as worrying, and they are dealt with in this simple statement.

In these words, Jesus wants to draw our attention onto the truth that God is more interested in looking for ways we can be given His kingdom than reasons why we should be excluded. While Satan is happy to bring up reason after reason, sin after sin, and build an impossible to defend case against us being allowed into heaven, God decided to send Jesus to be our replacement. When faced with the impossible to defend charges against us, through what Jesus did on the cross, God simply gets to point Satan in the direction of Jesus, and Satan gets one more reminder of His failure.

While we have all sinned and don’t deserve heaven, Jesus came into the world because God is more interested in looking for ways we can be included in His kingdom than on finding reasons we should be excluded.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Flashback Episode — Accepting God’s Messengers: Luke 9:1-11


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As we continue our journey through Luke’s gospel, we reach a passage where Jesus begins to train the disciples for the time following His return to heaven. However, the disciples are unaware of this detail. All they realize is that Jesus sends them out to the surrounding towns to tell people about Him. In the instructions Jesus gives to His disciples, and the few verses following this mini-commission, we can discover some amazing things.

Our passage for this episode comes from Luke’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us that:

Jesus called together the 12 disciples. He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to heal sicknesses. Then he sent them out to announce God’s kingdom and to heal those who were sick. He told them, “Don’t take anything for the journey. Do not take a walking stick or a bag. Do not take any bread, money or extra clothes. When you are invited into a house, stay there until you leave town. Some people may not welcome you. If they don’t, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet. This will be a witness against the people living there.” So the 12 disciples left. They went from village to village. They announced the good news and healed people everywhere.

Now Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about everything that was going on. He was bewildered, because some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. Others were saying that Elijah had appeared. Still others were saying that a prophet of long ago had come back to life. But Herod said, “I had John’s head cut off. So who is it that I hear such things about?” And he tried to see Jesus.

10 The disciples returned. They told Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him. They went off by themselves to a town called Bethsaida. 11 But the crowds learned about it and followed Jesus. He welcomed them and spoke to them about God’s kingdom. He also healed those who needed to be healed.

In this short passage, we see Jesus sending out the disciples to announce God’s kingdom and to heal those who were sick. We see Jesus share a similar focus when He began His ministry. When Jesus started preaching shortly after His baptism and trip into the wilderness to be tempted, He began by sharing about God’s Kingdom, which in some places is also called the Kingdom of Heaven. This small detail tells me that if God challenges you and leads you into a ministry sharing about Him, the best place to begin is by sharing about God’s kingdom. This is what John the Baptist did, what Jesus did, and what Jesus tells the disciples to do.

However, it is also significant to point out that Jesus’ disciples also were given the authority to heal people and to cast out demons. The clear point in this short-term missionary trip was to know that God was with them. Specifically we could say that these disciples had the Holy Spirit with them when they went out on their trip to the surrounding countryside.

While Luke’s gospel doesn’t give any summary statement describing if the disciples were successful, Mark’s gospel does fill in the details that the disciples healed people and cast out demons while they were out ministering. Luke’s gospel hints at the disciples’ success because when they return to Jesus and then try to go to off by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, the crowds discovered this and came to see Jesus. I suspect that if the disciples weren’t successful, Jesus could have traveled more freely without being recognized as clearly.

While the disciples were out sharing the news about God with the surrounding region, Luke inserts a brief summary about John the Baptist. Part of me wonders if Jesus’ popularity and fame reached Herod during the disciples’ missionary trip, and that this was not long after John was beheaded. Matthew and Mark take some verses to describe what happened, and that Herod would rather have kept John locked up, but that his wife and her daughter plotted together to push Herod to execute John. Luke simply tells us the summary, while also including a brief note that Herod “tried to see Jesus” (in verse 9).

However, with all this said, what could we call the big theme in these verses in Luke?

What is one big thing this passage teaches us that we can apply into our lives today?

As I ask myself these questions, it becomes clear that the big emphasis in this passage is on trusting God and letting Him lead. When Jesus instructs the disciples about this trip, He tells them not to take anything for their journey. Instead, Jesus challenges His disciples to simply go and trust that God will provide.

I don’t know how long Jesus anticipated them to be gone for, but I suspect that it was several weeks at least. From Luke’s description, they disciples had time to travel to multiple villages, be rejected by some, and be welcomed by others.

Also, Jesus challenges the disciples to not force themselves into situations. If they are invited to stay in a town, then stay in one place where they are welcomed. However, if they are rejected by a town, they are challenged to simply leave and shake the dust off of their feet as they go.

One amazing thing to realize in this short missionary trip to the towns and villages in the region is that the disciple’s visit may have been the only invitation or visit these towns received while Jesus was present on earth. There were too many towns for Jesus to visit them all personally, and by sending the disciples out, Jesus was able to multiply what God wanted to do to help Israel. If a town rejected the disciples, as some likely did or else Jesus’ instruction about this would have been unnecessary, we could say this town rejected the messengers God sent to help them.

In our own lives, not only are we called and challenged to trust God and let Him lead in our lives, we should also be willing and grateful for the messengers God sends into our lives. The towns Jesus sent the disciples to had the opportunity to accept or reject the messengers God sent to them. In a similar way, God sends people into our lives to challenge and encourage us. While we might not always recognize those God sends our way, we should be grateful and willing to accept those God brings into our lives.

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 accept those He brings into our lives to challenge or encourage us. While we don’t always know, recognize, or understand who God sends, it is important for us to be willing and open to accepting messengers God sends our way. Otherwise, we might realize too late when we rejected the only messengers (also known as disciples) God sent our way like some of the towns in our passage did.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. Through prayer and Bible study, we are able to grow closer to God, and the closer we are to God, the better able we will be to both recognize and accept the people God sends into our lives!

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

Flashback Episode: Year in Luke – Episode 17: When Jesus sends the disciples out to teach, preach, and heal among the villages in the region, discover some powerful truths in what Luke tells us about this event!

Other Sheep: John 10:1-21

Focus Passage: John 10:1-21 (CEV)

    1 Jesus said:

   I tell you for certain that only thieves and robbers climb over the fence instead of going in through the gate to the sheep pen. 2-3 But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out.

    4 When he has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice. 5 The sheep will not follow strangers. They don’t recognize a stranger’s voice, and they run away.

    6 Jesus told the people this story. But they did not understand what he was talking about.

    7 Jesus said:

   I tell you for certain that I am the gate for the sheep. 8 Everyone who came before me was a thief or a robber, and the sheep did not listen to any of them. 9 I am the gate. All who come in through me will be saved. Through me they will come and go and find pasture.

    10 A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest. 11 I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep. 12 Hired workers are not like the shepherd. They don’t own the sheep, and when they see a wolf coming, they run off and leave the sheep. Then the wolf attacks and scatters the flock. 13 Hired workers run away because they don’t care about the sheep.

    14 I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me. 15 Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I give up my life for my sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them together too, when they hear my voice. Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd.

    17 The Father loves me, because I give up my life, so that I may receive it back again. 18 No one takes my life from me. I give it up willingly! I have the power to give it up and the power to receive it back again, just as my Father commanded me to do.

    19 The people took sides because of what Jesus had told them. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon in him! He is crazy! Why listen to him?”

    21 But others said, “How could anyone with a demon in him say these things? No one like that could give sight to a blind person!”

Read John 10:1-21 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

While Jesus was teaching the crowd with the illustration of the good shepherd, He touches on an idea that has challenged people throughout history. In this illustration, Jesus tells those present that “I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them together too, when they hear my voice. Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd.” (v. 16)

When we look at this verse, we get the picture that Jesus has people who are in God’s family that are not with the group at that point in time. Technically, this includes you and me because we were not alive while Jesus walked the earth, and this literally means that we would have not been a part of God’s family at that point in history.

But since God exists out of time, regardless of when Jesus said these words, I believe God was thinking of everyone who ever lived at any point in the big timeline called history.

A second angle I have heard on this verse is that God has people who are outside of the Christian church that are His. We can see many examples that support Jesus’ words in this verse because anyone living today who has joined a church and accepted Jesus into their hearts supports what Jesus described.

A third angle on this verse focuses on God’s people being united as one group with one Shepherd. This angle says that we must put aside all of our differences and unite as one people. While currently there are more Christian denominations than can be counted well, this third angle suggests we put all the differences aside and simply be one in Christ.

However, part of me wonders if while there is truth to each of these angles, but that Jesus has something else in mind with what He described in this verse. As I read Jesus’ words, the challenge I see for the third angle is that Jesus Himself does the uniting. The only unity that should happen is through hearing Jesus’ voice and coming together. While putting aside our differences and focusing on Jesus are good things to do, our movements must be prompted by Jesus and not by peer or social pressure to conform.

As I read Jesus’ words, I wonder along the lines of the second angle is whether Jesus is describing someone moving between Christian denominations, or if it only means someone placing their trust and belief in Jesus for the first time. Regardless of which way it is, the challenge to this second angle is letting Jesus lead in the person’s life who He is calling. We should not try to rush God. God’s timing and His calling are both much better than we could ever do, and when Jesus has called a person to Him, we should be supportive of this regardless of whether this person comes into 100% of our belief system.

When Jesus says He has sheep in other pastures who He will call together, I believe we should be intentional about being open and willing to accept people who are different, and love them when Jesus brings them our way. While part of love is challenging people regarding sins in their own lives, the much greater part of love includes accepting others without condition and being willing to walk through life together. Jesus left heaven so that He could walk with humanity, and He calls us to walk with those He has called as we prepare for His return.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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