Reflective Bible Study

When I read Luke’s opening to his gospel, I am amazed at how this opening message sounds. While the other three gospels open with something related to Jesus, Luke opens his gospel addressing another believer – and it is in this opening that we get a picture of what Luke’s purpose was for writing his letter, and what was happening in the decades that followed Jesus’ ascension back to heaven.

Luke opens his gospel by saying, “Many have attempted to write about what had taken place among us. They received their information from those who had been eyewitnesses and servants of God’s word from the beginning, and they passed it on to us. I, too, have followed everything closely from the beginning. So I thought it would be a good idea to write an orderly account for Your Excellency, Theophilus. In this way you will know that what you’ve been told is true.” (v. 1-4)

We can see from this introduction that there was a lot of talk and speculation surrounding Jesus in the years that followed His ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. Many people had pieced together gospel narratives from what they could find, and it is even possible that Mark’s gospel and Matthew’s gospel had already been written when Luke decided to write his.

However, also in this introduction, we are introduced to an otherwise unknown person: Theophilus. While Luke addresses him as a dignitary, official, king, or governor, I wonder how they knew each other prior to this letter being written. Since Luke was a doctor, perhaps Luke had seen Theophilus as a patient, and perhaps they had a conversation about Jesus where Theophilus had shared some of his doubts about the rumors and how they were too good to be true.

In this way, Theophilus becomes a representative for everyone in history who has ever had doubts about Jesus. Luke writes his gospel to help answer the doubts and the skepticism that some may have over whether Jesus is really who people claim Him to be.

Luke opens his gospel like one would open a letter to a friend or a research article before sharing what he has discovered through his personal interviews and research. If the story of Jesus was a scam that Jesus’ earliest followers pieced together, then Luke would have researched his way into this conclusion through all the people he interviewed and through all his research.

Instead, Luke becomes the gospel to help answer the skeptics, and Luke writes for those who have reservations about Jesus. If you have ever had doubts about Jesus, perhaps reading from Luke’s gospel is the place for you to start. Luke may have written his gospel for someone like you!

In our journal entry for today, let’s uncover an idea that is central to effective Bible study by looking at the details in the passage we are focusing in on. Near the end of our passage are some verses that many read and use to form the belief of a “secret” rapture (or a secret return of Jesus to take His followers to heaven). However, when we looking at the broad context of this passage, and the surrounding verses, this understanding is not likely, because everything leading up to this climax refers to something that is far from “secret” and far from being contained in a specific location.

While we’ll save looking at these details until another journal entry, the principle I want to point out in this journal entry is this: In order to have a strong, effective Bible study that leads us to Biblical “truth”, we must start by reading all passages within their context (both scriptural context and cultural context).

If we do what many people do, and pull out the last several verses of this passage, we can easily see a description of something that is not accurate when looked at in the broad context.

Multiple times, this passage refers to when Jesus returns, and how it will look from our perspective, as well as giving historical examples of those who Jesus was talking to would be able to understand. We get the picture that this will be a global event, will be very earth-shattering, and not everyone will be ready.

It is very easy for someone to pick and choose passages out of their original contexts, and have the Bible say something it was not meant to say. For example, perhaps we place the following verses together in sequence:

• “Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:5 NLT)
• “Then Jesus said, ‘Yes, now go and do the same.’” (Luke 10:37b NLT)
•  “What you are going to do, do quickly.” (John 13:27b ESV)

So is Jesus advocating us to throw money into our churches before hanging ourselves quickly? Absolutely not! This is a bad case of Biblical misinterpretation, and while this is a horrible message to pull out of the Bible, it is pretty obviously that the Bible does not advocate this message.

However, too often I see people pull a collection of scattered verses (out of their contexts) and use them to create a belief about God. This is bad Bible study, and it has lead to millions being confused about what the Bible really teaches.

This brings us back to our main point for today’s journal entry: In order to have a strong, effective Bible study that leads us to Biblical “truth”, we must start by reading all passages within their context (both scriptural context and cultural context).

Before closing out this entry, I want add that this post is not meant to make a stand about some Christian’s belief, or lack thereof, in the rapture. Instead, it is aimed at pushing each of us, myself included, towards studying passages within their broader contexts, and the broader context of this passage gives us the context of Jesus’ second coming – in a very global and unmistakably public way.

Periodically, a word or a phrase helps draw us into some of Jesus’ habits or lifestyle choices. When choosing to write about someone, in order to keep things interesting, most of the space gets dedicated to the abnormal activities in that person’s life.

We don’t read about most of Jesus’ meals, or about any of the times He uses the bathroom. Those would be pointless things to include, because they are wholly uninteresting. Instead, the gospels are made up of events that help draw us into how Jesus was special, and onto events that were outside of the norm. Little space is dedicated to the day to day activities, that is, unless something unusual happens during one of those events.

This is the case in this passage. It started out as a routine visit to the local synagogue, but then it ends with Jesus being run out of town and almost killed. However, it is worth noting the key phrase that points us to His routine. It is in the first verse of this passage: “Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as he usually did.” (v. 16)

This passage teaches us that it was normal for Jesus to attend the synagogue on most weekends. This could be translated into our time period by simply saying that Jesus attended church on most Sabbath days of the year.

Why is this important for us?

This is very important because it tells us that we won’t see it written about in other events – unless something significant happens, but just because we don’t see it written doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening.

Jesus’ 30+ years of life are condensed into four letters that together are 89 chapters of the Bible. This means that if we were to give equal weight to all years of Jesus’ life and not repeat anything, each year Jesus lived on earth should receive between two and a half to three chapters dedicated to it. We could also narrow this down even more to say one chapter, which should be no more than one thousand words for every four months of Jesus’ life.

There is no way that one thousand words could cover everything that happens in a four-month period of time, so the gospel writers edit and condense Jesus’ life. They focus in on Jesus’ three years of ministry, and they focus in on Jesus’ ultimate path towards the cross.

But just because they leave Jesus’ routines and lifestyle activities as only briefly mentioned doesn’t mean we cannot discover them if we look closely. It is only by looking closely at Jesus’ life that we will truly be able to be like Him and to become His representatives who are sent into today’s world!