Reflective Bible Study

Following Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, John shifts focus and draws our attention onto what was likely Jesus’ biggest proclamation in the temple during His entire ministry. In this declaration, John draws our attention onto a dilemma the crowd faced when hearing Jesus predicting what will happen and having that conflict with what they knew the scriptures said concerning the Messiah.

This event begins with an interesting detail that is not really resolved anywhere in the Bible. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 20, John tells us that:

²⁰ There were some Greeks among the people who went up to worship during the feast. ²¹ They came to ask Philip for a favor. Philip was from Bethsaida in Galilee. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

Pausing briefly here, nothing is said, implied, or suggested in the passage regarding whether Jesus left where He was standing to talk with these Greeks who wanted to see Him. I can suspect that Jesus went to speak with them, because it would have been the polite thing to do, but nothing in the Bible passage that I can see suggests this.

What follows next might be after Jesus has went out into the outer court where the Greeks would have been, or it may have happened immediately when Andrew and Philip told Jesus about the Greek individuals’ request but prior to Jesus heading to the outer courtyard to meet with these Greeks.

Either way this event happened, we continue in verse 23, which tells us:

²³ Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Son of Man to receive glory. ²⁴ What I’m about to tell you is true. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it. But anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it and have eternal life. ²⁶ Anyone who serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷ “My soul is troubled. What should I say? ‘Father, keep me from having to go through with this’? No. This is the very reason I have come to this point in my life. ²⁸ Father, bring glory to your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven. It said, “I have brought glory to my name. I will bring glory to it again.” ²⁹ The crowd there heard the voice. Some said it was thunder. Others said an angel had spoken to Jesus.

³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now it is time for the world to be judged. Now the prince of this world will be thrown out. ³² And I am going to be lifted up from the earth. When I am, I will bring all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show them how he was going to die.

³⁴ The crowd spoke up. “The Law tells us that the Messiah will remain forever,” they said. “So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

³⁵ Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light. Do this before darkness catches up with you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in it. Then you can become children of light.” When Jesus had finished speaking, he left and hid from them.

In this passage, we discover some powerful ideas, and we also discover God the Father’s third declaration about who Jesus is. It is interesting to pay attention to the moment God the Father spoke, because with the crowd’s reaction, we find an interesting conclusion. When God spoke from heaven, everyone heard it. I suspect that the disciples understood it. Others recognized that it was a voice but they did not understand it. Even others simply discounted it as thunder and not a true voice.

I wonder if this reflects our varied experience with God. When God speaks into our lives, it’s most likely not going to be with a thunderous voice, but I wonder if God speaking into our lives might be met with the same three varied responses. Some people might understand God when He speaks. Others may recognize that God is speaking, but they are unsure exactly what He is saying. Still others might simply discount God’s voice as insignificant and ignore it. Whichever case we might fall in, the issue is with us and not with God.

However, what Jesus tells us in verse 24 is also significant: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” In this verse, we have an opening for Jesus predicting His upcoming death, and Jesus understands that it is through His death that His life will produce the greatest harvest. In an interesting way, we also discover the powerful truth that without Jesus’ death, there would be no harvest, because without Jesus’ gift, the only ones able to pay for our sins are ourselves and the payment is death.

God loves us more than we could possibly imagine, and because of this, God made a way for us to be redeemed while also keeping His Law in effect. If God discounted His Law in order to amplify forgiveness, then Satan would win by claiming God is truly unjust, holding different people to a different standard. If God upheld His Law without any hope of forgiveness, Satan would also win because his claim is that God is unloving towards those who break His Law.

The path where Satan loses and God achieves victory is through God paying the punishment for our sins, because this path proves both justness and love, and this was demonstrated through Jesus’ death on the cross.

In this declaration, we also have the powerful promise that Jesus gives us in verse 26, when He tells us that: “My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

If we want to be honored by God, the best way for us to do so is by serving and obeying Jesus. We are able to serve Jesus by obeying what He commanded His followers to do, and by modeling Jesus’ life and His love to the world around us. Jesus’ life consisted of helping as many people as God brought into His life, challenging those who wanted to build themselves up at the expense of others, and opening the door to God when the religious elite had tried to close the door and lock it for those outside of their clique of legalism.

We serve Jesus the best by proclaiming God’s love and inviting all who are willing to come to Jesus and accept the free gift He offers to us. Through Jesus’ death, we can have a new life with God, and because Jesus gave His life for us, we are guaranteed an eternal life with God when we accept Jesus’ life and His sacrifice on our behalf.

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 Jesus’ gift of His life on your behalf. Reject Satan’s lies about God being unloving and unjust, because looking at what Jesus accomplished for us proved once and for all how big a liar Satan really is, and how much God was willing to go through to demonstrate His love for all of us.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, paying special attention to Jesus’ life and His mission to this world. The whole Bible draws our attention onto the theme of God’s love and His justice, and even with the challenging parts of the gospel message, when we look at them in light of the cosmic conflict over God’s character and Satan’s accusations, we discover a bigger picture of God than we realized before.

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!

In the verses we skipped over during our last episode, we discover a powerful event that likely ticked the religious leaders off even more than they already were and an event that prompted them to be even more intentional about looking for an opportunity to arrest and kill Jesus. However, also included in this event is an amazing picture Jesus gives us for His temple, and by extension, we could also include other places that are built for us to worship Him that don’t happen to be the temple in Jerusalem.

Let’s read what happened and discover some things we can learn from this event. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 15, Mark tells us that:

¹⁵ When they came to Jerusalem, Jesus went into the temple courtyard and began to throw out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons. ¹⁶ He would not let anyone carry anything across the temple courtyard.

¹⁷ Then he taught them by saying, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves.”

¹⁸ When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings heard him, they looked for a way to kill him. They were afraid of him because he amazed all the crowds with his teaching.

¹⁹ (Every evening Jesus and his disciples would leave the city.)

In this short passage, we see three distinct parts. The first part includes Jesus stopping the commerce from happening in the temple. The second part includes Jesus teaching those present, which also happens to be an explanation for why He stopped commerce in the temple. The third part is the response and reaction the chief priests and religious experts have to what Jesus did.

Prior to this reading, I had not ever noticed one word in this passage related to the chief priests’ response. Mark tells us in verse 18 that “When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings heard him, they looked for a way to kill him.”

The key word I had not noticed before was the word “heard”. Prior to this, I had always pictured these religious leaders being the most upset with Jesus chasing out the moneychangers and the commerce, but with the way we see Mark frame this event, I get the picture these religious leaders were less upset about Jesus chasing the commerce out of the temple than they were about what Jesus said.

Immediately before this verse, we read in verse 17 that Jesus taught those present saying, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves.”

Regardless of the words Jesus used to challenge what He saw taking place in the temple, I suspect that Jesus’ challenge to the religious leaders appeared to be larger than one single idea at one single time. Instead, I get the impression that the chief priests and experts in Moses’ teachings saw Jesus’ challenge as a challenge directly aimed at their authority and their role. While Jesus doesn’t call any specific person out by name, He challenges these leaders that they are letting the temple descend away from God’s ideal and into a gathering place for exactly the wrong type of person.

While anyone and everyone are welcome to come to worship, when we come to worship God, we should bring our hearts along with a repentant attitude. It is unlikely God accepts worship from unrepentant sinners.

So does God dislike money or commerce? I don’t think He does.

Instead, God created society and everything that has been used as money over the years. I think God created commerce as a way of helping humanity understand a little bit more about His nature. Without commerce, we would have a hard time measuring value in a society larger than a couple hundred people.

However, commerce mixed with sin reveals some of the more evil aspects of humanity. When sin enters a transaction, the focus ceases to be how this transaction benefits everyone who is involved and it instead becomes how this transaction can benefit me the most. With sin involved, commerce becomes a me-first activity, and we stop thinking about others.

According to Jesus, this is how the commerce in the temple was described. At the end of Jesus’ statement in verse 17, He used the phrase, “A gathering place for thieves.”

A thief is someone who is thinking only of himself and not of the well-being of the person he is stealing from. A thief rationalizes that he needs whatever is being stolen more than the person who currently owned it. In some extreme cases, a thief simply steals because He wants to or is hired to. Thievery is a self-focused attitude and action, regardless of the rationalization or corruption involved in whatever the scenario is.

By describing the commerce in the temple as thievery, we can see that what was happening in the temple was not benefitting those who came to the temple. This also means that what was happening in the temple was not honoring God. Ultimately, what was happening in the temple stopped people from coming to God rather than aiding them to come into His presence.

In this event, we see Jesus push back against a me-focused worship experience. Worship is not about our preferences, our likes or dislikes, or about anything to do with ourselves. Instead, worship is all about God and what He wants.

Jesus’ big contrast statement here is a quote from the Old Testament that described God’s ideal for His house on earth. God wants His house on earth described as a house of prayer for all nations.

This means that prayer should be a central part of our worship, a key piece of our time focused on God, and anything and everything that pulls us away from prayer and focusing on God must be removed from our worship.

Our worship is not for our own benefit. Instead, when we worship God, we are to focus on bringing Him what He wants, and God is interested in gifts that contain our hearts. Nothing in what was happening at the temple allowed someone to give their heart to God, and because of this, everything that was happening in the temple was a distraction away from what God intended the temple, specifically His house on earth, to be!

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, be sure to intentionally seek God first in your life. When you come to worship God, be sure that you give Him the glory, the honor, the focus, the respect, and the praise He deserves, and with the gifts you bring, include the gift of your heart!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. In the pages of the Bible, discover a God who gives up everything to save and redeem you from sin and discover how we can fall in love with a God who has already fallen in love with us!

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 outright reject where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

At the beginning of the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, one of the most famous events is Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Tradition suggests that this happened on Palm Sunday, which was one week before Jesus would step victoriously out of the tomb.

However, as I read this event, I am amazed by something that isn’t said, that isn’t even hinted at, but something that only God and the Holy Spirit could be behind.

Let’s read this event and draw out what we can learn from what happened. Our passage is found in John, chapter 12, and we will read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 12, John tells us that:

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
    see, your king is coming,
    seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

When we read this event from John’s gospel, I am amazed at the order of events. According to John, the people start shouting and proclaiming their praise for Jesus before Jesus has even sat down on the donkey. Part of me wonders if this celebrating began while two of Jesus’ disciples were away borrowing the donkey Jesus asked them to go and get. After the celebrating had begun, Jesus’ two disciples arrive with the young donkey and Jesus sits on it in order to fulfill the prophecy.

However, in this event, I am amazed because nowhere do I find Jesus requesting or asking anyone for praise or celebration. If it were not for Jesus’ words in a different gospel record when challenged to silence His followers and their praise, we might conclude that this was something that the crowd had prompted. Instead, when challenged to silence the crowd cheering for Jesus, Jesus told the religious leaders that if they were to be quiet, the rocks themselves would cry out. This celebration was entirely God inspired and God prompted.

However, while the celebrating was going on, John inserts an interesting detail into this event that seems out of place. In verse 16, John tells us that “At first his disciples did not understand all this [referring to the prophecy]. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.”

While on the surface, we might be tempted to think that this celebrating was the point in time when Jesus was glorified. However, looking at the details of this verse, I suspect that John really means after Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. In our next few episodes, we will discover how John paints Jesus being glorified as a future event, and not as this single celebration.

Because of this detail, I wonder if the crowd understood or remembered this prophecy about Israel’s King riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. This prophecy, and its fulfillment, is incredibly counter-cultural. The typical grand entrance for a king during that era, would be riding into the home city victoriously riding a mighty warhorse, riding in a chariot, or entering in an equally strong fashion. I don’t know of the Bible talking about any animal that would be considered lower than a donkey that could be ridden.

Not only were donkey’s considered among the least symbolically strong animals, John points us to the detail that this was a young donkey, and I wonder if this donkey was barely old enough to support Jesus’ weight. These details draw us to the conclusion that Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the weakest animal that could be ridden.

If the crowd remembered this prophecy, while the disciples didn’t, I wouldn’t be too surprised to then hear them proclaiming Jesus to be a King, especially after seeing Him riding on the donkey. However, John frames this event as the people proclaiming Jesus to be a King before the donkey shows up. This is powerful. The people proclaim their praise and belief in Jesus as someone sent to them from God before they witness the fulfilled prophecy!

By riding into Jerusalem on the weakest available animal, we are reminded that Jesus is not interested in proving His strength, His power, or His influence to us. That is something sinful people do. Instead, we are called to recognize that Jesus’ kingdom is one that challenges us to continue stepping down in order to help. We are called to help the lowest and least in society, regardless of what others think, regardless of whether we will be thanked or repaid, and regardless of what being associated with these other people means for our reputation.

Jesus didn’t focus on what other people thought of Him. Instead, Jesus focused on who He could help at each moment in time, Jesus focused on how He could step down in each situation, and Jesus focused on pointing all glory and praise upwards to God while He stepped down.

Interestingly enough, other people hoisted Jesus up onto the cross. Other people lifted Jesus up in order to glorify Him. In the same way, we are called to intentionally step down, pointing all glory and praise upwards, and let God, perhaps through other people, lift us up.

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, continue seeking God first in your life and choose to intentionally step down when given the opportunity to. Choose to point all the praise and glory you might receive upwards to God and intentionally seek out places where you can step down and help those who need help. Choose to help those people who cannot pay you back for your kindness.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to Jesus each and every day. A personal relationship with Jesus is best formed and built on the foundation of prayer and study, and the closer we are to Jesus, the more we will recognize the opportunities He sends into our lives to help those in need.

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!

Continuing our journey through Mark’s gospel, we come to an event that Mark breaks into two parts. In the first portion of this event, we have one of two places where the gospel writers record Jesus as hungry. It is interesting that in both of the times Jesus is recorded as being hungry, He faces a similar situation.

The first time Jesus is identified as hungry was while he was fasting in the wilderness for 40 days leading up to being tempted by Satan. The second time is what we will be focusing in on at the start of our passage for this event.

Let’s read about what happened. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 12, Mark tells us that:

¹² The next day as Jesus was leaving Bethany, he became hungry. ¹³ Seeing a fig tree in leaf from far away, he went to see if it had any figs on it. But he found no figs, only leaves, because it was not the right season for figs. ¹⁴ So Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And Jesus’ followers heard him say this.

Let’s pause reading here. On the surface, this event sound entirely unlike the first time the gospels mention Jesus as feeling hunger, but while the situations were very different, in both cases, Jesus does not get his hunger satisfied – at least initially.

In a similar way, when we face feelings of hunger, whether they are feelings of hunger that are literal or feelings of hunger that are spiritual, oftentimes we are unable to satisfy those feelings immediately. Sometimes when we feel hungry, there is no immediate way for us to satisfy our hunger. In other times, when we feel hungry, we intentionally push our hunger aside for more immediate or pressing concerns.

Regardless of what prompts our feelings of hunger, if you aren’t able to satisfy your hunger, understand that Jesus has been there too.

Also in this event, we are introduced to a fig tree that was full of life, but it had no fruit. Mark tells us this was because it wasn’t the right season for figs, but that detail does not appear to matter to Jesus. In the context of this event, Jesus expected a tree that had life to also have fruit.

While this is a very literal event, I wonder if Jesus responds in a way that emphasizes a spiritual truth. If we are full of life while alive on this earth, I wonder if we are also equally expected to be bearing fruit. While we face different seasons in our lives, I wonder if every season of our lives is able to bear a different type of fruit. I wonder if in the drier seasons, our fruit is more internal, growing more trust, more dependence, and more faith, while during other seasons, our fruit is able to be more visible, and we are able to share this spiritual fruit with others.

While we normally think of fruit trees as having fruit only during the season for picking fruit, if it isn’t winter time when many of these trees go dormant, every other season has these fruit trees working on producing fruit. In the spring, the trees work on buds and flowers that will ultimately become fruit, and in the summer, we see fruit beginning to form and grow. It is only when we reach harvest time that the fruit is ripe and ready to pick.

I wonder if Jesus didn’t see any evidence of any fruit growing on this fig tree. Regardless of whether it was the right season to pick figs or not, if the tree had leaves on it, it would be reasonable to expect it to have some evidence of figs growing even if these figs were not yet ripe. I wonder if this tree showed no fruit at all.

Because of the lack of fruit, Jesus curses the tree saying “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

Jumping down a few verses to the next day, we pick back up in verse 20:

²⁰ The next morning as Jesus was passing by with his followers, they saw the fig tree dry and dead, even to the roots. ²¹ Peter remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “Teacher, look! The fig tree you cursed is dry and dead!”

²² Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. ²³ I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, God will do it for you. ²⁴ So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you. ²⁵ When you are praying, if you are angry with someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins. [ ²⁶ But if you don’t forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.]”

In this event, Jesus turns the now dead fig tree into being an example of the power of faith and prayer. I think too often, we immediately jump to this second illustration while missing focusing on the importance of being fruitful.

Actually, as I mention this, I think that all of these characteristics are connected. I don’t believe we can have visible faith and powerful prayer without being fruitful and being fruitful is evidence of a powerful faith and a powerful prayer connection with God.

I don’t believe God wants us to run around killing fruit trees or throwing mountains into the sea with our faith. Instead, I believe He wants us to know that our faith is powerful and when we have faith in Jesus, we can do more with God than we could even imagine. God wants our faith and our prayers to be fruitful, and when we are being fruitful we are living the lives God created us to live!

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 be fruitful in whatever season you are in. Whether you are resting in the winter or growing fruit at various stages during the spring, summer, and fall seasons, intentionally be fruitful with what God has blessed you with in the season of life you are in.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow a strong faith and connection with God. Only when we are connected with God can we produce the fruit God wants us to have in our lives and when we are connected to Jesus, we are able to be fruitful from eternity’s perspective!

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!