Reflective Bible Study

It is at about this point in our year moving through the gospels where I realize there are more events left in Luke’s gospel than we have adequate time for in the remaining time this year. This happened for the last two gospels, and I was pretty certain this would happen in Luke’s gospel as well, since Luke’s gospel is the longest of the four gospels.

However, while we only have three episodes left and two full chapters of Luke remaining, let’s not focus too hard on what I wasn’t able to include, and instead focus on what we do have time left to focus on from these last chapters in Luke.

With that said, our last podcast episode focused in on Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders. After the religious leaders condemned Jesus as guilty, they still had a problem. Because of Rome’s occupation of their territory, they did not have the right to execute someone, and especially the right to execute someone in a very public, humiliating way. This means that after Jesus was religiously condemned as guilty, He still needed to be condemned worthy of death by the government.

For this dilemma, we then come to another trial Jesus faces, and Luke includes an extra detail that no other gospel includes, which is fascinating in my mind. Let’s read what Luke describes.

Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 23, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us:

¹ Then the entire assembly stood up and took him to Pilate.

² They began to accuse Jesus by saying, “We found that he stirs up trouble among our people: He keeps them from paying taxes to the emperor, and he says that he is Christ, a king.”

³ Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Yes, I am,” Jesus answered.

⁴ Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I can’t find this man guilty of any crime.”

Pausing briefly, I am amazed at both Pilate’s response here, and at the way this translation simplified Jesus’ response. Technically Jesus did agree with Pilate, but a more literal reading of Jesus’ response would be that Jesus replied by saying, “It is as you say” or “Those are your words, not mine”.

As I compare various translations, since I don’t know the original Greek language to look back at the source, the translations seem divided along the lines of Jesus agreeing with Pilate verses Jesus telling Pilate that this is not the title He claims.

Either way, I am surprised at how Luke seems to summarize this conversation. According to Luke, after Jesus answered one single question, Pilate declares Him as innocent of any crime.

However, the religious leaders are very unsatisfied with this ruling. Continuing in verse 5, Luke tells us:

⁵ The priests and the crowd became more forceful. They said, “He stirs up the people throughout Judea with his teachings. He started in Galilee and has come here.”

⁶ When Pilate heard that, he asked if the man was from Galilee. ⁷ When Pilate found out that he was, he sent Jesus to Herod. Herod ruled Galilee and was in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸ Herod was very pleased to see Jesus. For a long time he had wanted to see him. He had heard about Jesus and hoped to see him perform some kind of miracle. ⁹ Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus wouldn’t answer him. ¹⁰ Meanwhile, the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings stood there and shouted their accusations against Jesus.

¹¹ Herod and his soldiers treated Jesus with contempt and made fun of him. They put a colorful robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. ¹² So Herod and Pilate became friends that day. They had been enemies before this.

In Luke’s version of Jesus’ public, civil trial, we discover that Pilate tries to hand Jesus off to Herod because Jesus is from Galilee. However, Herod, while being interested in meeting Jesus, is not all that impressed with Jesus. Herod wanted to see a miracle, but He wasn’t interested in Jesus for who He claimed to be.

As I look at these two very different rulers, and their respective impressions of Jesus when meeting Him, I am amazed at one detail that each event uncovers. With both these meetings, Jesus doesn’t visibly step into the role of king. Jesus doesn’t act like a king for either governor, and Jesus doesn’t really even overtly defend Himself against the accusations of the religious leaders.

This shared detail is powerful, because we discover something amazing about both governor’s in their response to Jesus being claimed as a king. Pilate is reserved and intrigued, because Jesus is not like any self-proclaimed messiah that he had dealt with before. In stark contrast, Herod laughs and mocks Jesus because Jesus doesn’t display any characteristics Herod believed a king would have. Pilate’s response to meeting Jesus is one of curiosity, while Herod’s response is one of mockery.

I suspect this is why only one gospel includes Herod’s brief encounter with Jesus. In the big picture of the cross, Jesus being taken to see Herod is an easy event to exclude, since Jesus stands before Pilate both before and after this very uneventful meeting.

Why then might Luke have included this unique detail?

I suspect that Luke included this, not just to be historically accurate, but to illustrate a powerful truth. When we ask questions of God with an open mind, don’t be surprised if or when God answers. However, if we demand things of God, I’m certain we will be answered with silence.

Herod’s encounter with Jesus was entirely self-serving. Herod didn’t care one bit about who Jesus was or what the religious leaders claimed Jesus to be. Herod simply wanted to see a miracle that Jesus had been rumored to do, but Jesus knew that any miracle given in this context would not bring God glory. A miracle in this context might have even derailed Jesus facing the cross, which was His ultimate mission.

Pilate’s encounter with Jesus, which each gospel shares unique details about, is one where Pilate is curious about Jesus and about the claim that the religious leaders make of Jesus. Pilate isn’t fully sold on the accusations of the religious leaders, but he also doesn’t know what to make of Jesus. It is Pilate’s reservation about this entire event and a partially open mind that let’s Jesus speak briefly.

Jesus’ brief conversation with Pilate prompts Pilate to see Jesus in a completely different frame of reference, and while Pilate ultimately bends to the crowd’s demands to crucify Jesus, he ended that morning with a different impression of Jesus than he began his morning with. Pilate also likely ended that morning with a slightly different impression of the religious leaders than he had before.

We can learn from these two encounters. If we want to hear God speak and if we want God to show up in our lives in powerful ways, we must be open to receiving the Holy Spirit into our lives. Demanding God will do something for us is an easy way to receive silence and disappointment. Instead, let’s honor God, give Him the glory, and praise Him for any and every blessing, challenge, and opportunity to grow that He brings into our lives.

As we come to the end of this 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 open to receiving the Holy Spirit. When coming before God, intentionally be humble and repentant when bringing God your request and don’t demand that He helps you. A demanding, arrogant spirit will ultimately get the same response Herod received when he met Jesus, and that response was silence.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn what God wants to teach you and to grow closer to Him. When praying and studying, be sure to ask God for His help to understand what you are studying, and be open to what God wants to teach you through the pages, passages, and events included in the Bible. Don’t let anyone get between you and your relationship with God!

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 try to arrogantly rush into where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him! Remember that even if we don’t understand why, God’s timing is always best!

As we near the end of Matthew’s gospel, I debated whether to include Matthew’s passage focusing on Jesus’ crucifixion or not. As I looked at what Matthew’s gospel includes in this event, and what I want to cover for the rest of the episodes this year, I decided it makes sense to jump over the point of Jesus’ death, and look at what Matthew’ gospel tells us happened right after Jesus’ death. In the entire crucifixion record, only Matthew includes a key set of verses that sets the stage for what happens on Resurrection morning, and it makes a lot of sense in my mind to focus on these verses leading up to the resurrection.

Leading into this set of verses, Matthew draws our attention onto a previously unknown disciple, and we discover that this disciple steps into the spotlight at just the right moment in history.

Our passage for this episode is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 27, and we will read it from the Contemporary English Version. Starting in verse 57, Matthew tells us:

⁵⁷ That evening a rich disciple named Joseph from the town of Arimathea ⁵⁸ went and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate gave orders for it to be given to Joseph, ⁵⁹ who took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. ⁶⁰ Then Joseph put the body in his own tomb that had been cut into solid rock and had never been used. He rolled a big stone against the entrance to the tomb and went away.

⁶¹ All this time Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb.

Let’s pause reading here for a brief moment because I want to emphasize something that we might not immediately see from a simple reading. When Joseph from Arimathea steps onto the scene asking for Jesus’ body and placing Jesus’ body in his own tomb, we discover that this benefits everyone. This benefits Jesus’ disciples, the women who followed Jesus, and even the religious leaders. If no one had claimed Jesus’ body, it would have been thrown into the trash hole with all the other bodies to be buried or burned.

Joseph, while described as a disciple in this passage, steps into history at just the right moment as a neutral party with just what everyone in this event needs. Everyone needs a place for Jesus’ body to lay and a place that is clearly defined.

Most of the gospels include this detail, but what Matthew tells us next is fascinating and unique to his gospel. Continuing in verse 62, Matthew tells us:

⁶² On the next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees went together to Pilate. ⁶³ They said, “Sir, we remember what that liar said while he was still alive. He claimed that in three days he would come back from death. ⁶⁴ So please order the tomb to be carefully guarded for three days. If you don’t, his disciples may come and steal his body. They will tell the people that he has been raised to life, and this last lie will be worse than the first one.”

⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “All right, take some of your soldiers and guard the tomb as well as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they sealed it tight and placed soldiers there to guard it.

On this Sabbath day, when the Pharisees and chief priests should have been resting, they were clearly worried about Jesus. It is amazing to think that while these leaders call Jesus a liar, they actually took His words about being raised seriously and are scared of the consequences if something should happen to His body.

It is almost funny to think that those most concerned about the protection of Jesus’ body in this entire event are the people who called Jesus a liar and the ones who put Him to death. While some of the disciples and the women who followed Jesus wanted access to His body to prepare it for burial, only the religious leaders were worried about the body disappearing.

In their attempts to keep Jesus’ body secure, the religious leaders actually place the most valid witnesses present at the tomb for the greatest event in history. While these soldiers appeared to be bribable, they were witnesses everyone could believe – that is except for the story the religious leaders try to bribe them to tell. The lie we will learn about in the next episode is less believable than the truth.

The last section of this passage is also fascinating in my mind. Pilate agrees to the religious leaders’ request. He tells the religious leaders to take their own guards and seal the tomb as well as they know how. The way Pilate frames this request is interesting in my mind. While traditional thought would believe Pilate loaned some of his own soldiers to the religious leaders, the way this translation of Matthew’s gospel frames this event, it is possible that Pilate told the religious leaders to use their own guards and to do the best they could.

It is interesting that Matthew frames Pilate’s message in this way because when we look a little later, it seems that these guards are both under the religious leaders command but also answerable to Pilate the governor. It is likely that with how Pilate frames this message that many of these guards at the tomb were among the mob that arrested Jesus and were present throughout His trial, beating, abuse, and crucifixion.

If the mob that came to arrest Jesus in the night scattered Jesus’ disciples, they were the perfect people to use to keep Jesus’ disciples away from the tomb.

The way Pilate frames his last statement is also interesting because it leaves open the subtle belief that the religious leaders were powerless to stop Jesus from doing what Jesus was going to do. While the religious leaders call Jesus a liar, they openly tell Pilate that Jesus predicted His own resurrection, and I think Pilate likely believed Jesus’ prediction over the Pharisee’s description.

All the plotting, worrying, and conspiring to keep Jesus’ body secure is actually a side story on this Sabbath Jesus was resting in the tomb. The bigger, amazing, massive, and also ignored significance of this Sabbath is that it marks the finished work of salvation. This Sabbath mirrors the Sabbath that was blessed and sanctified at the conclusion of creation week, and this Sabbath is forever significant as the point in History Jesus rested from His work of Salvation.

While Jesus has more to do for all of God’s people, Jesus gets a day of rest following the biggest event in the history of the universe, and the most significant event in our salvation story!

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 and choose to accept Jesus as your Savior and accept the gift He gives to each of us that was purchased with His life. Don’t discount what Jesus did for each of us on the cross as something that was insignificant as I have seen some people do. Instead, take this event and study it to discover just how much God loves you and me!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow a personal relationship with God. Choose to spend time praying and studying to grow personally closer to God and to fall in love with Him like He has fallen in love with you. Discover in the pages of the Bible, a God who gives us Himself because He wants to be with you, me, and everyone in history who is willing to accept His gift for eternity!

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 discount and abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Moving from the night of Jesus’ arrest and to the morning Jesus was ultimately crucified, we arrive at Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders. In order to condemn Jesus to death, the religious leaders needed to find something Jesus was guilty of.

While many of the gospels share different details about what happened during the twelve hours between the garden and the cross, the way Luke’s gospel frames Jesus’ trial is fascinating. Let’s read what happened.

Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 22, and we will read from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 66, Luke tells us:

⁶⁶ At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, ⁶⁷ and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”

But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. ⁶⁸ And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”

⁷⁰ They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”

And he replied, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹ “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”

In Luke’s version of Jesus’ trial, I am amazed at what the religious leaders actually latch on to as a condemnation of Jesus. While other gospel writers share this event differently, if we were to take and focus on Luke’s gospel alone, nothing in Jesus’ response sounds worthy of death in my mind.

Oddly enough, according to what we just read in Luke’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t really even claim to be the Son of God.

In case this didn’t stand out for you, let me read this passage again and pay close attention. Reading again from verse 66:

⁶⁶ At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, ⁶⁷ and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”

But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. ⁶⁸ And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”

⁷⁰ They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”

And he replied, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹ “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”

In this passage, all that these religious leaders actually hear is Jesus predicting that God would honor Him, which might not be acceptable in their minds, but it certainly isn’t worthy of death in my mind.

The only other thing Jesus says is that the religious leaders themselves are pressing the specific title onto Him. Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man, while the religious leaders are claiming Jesus’ title is the Son of God.

However, is there something happening behind the scenes in this passage that the religious leaders understand but we might not fully grasp living in a different culture and thousands of years removed from the first century world?

I suspect the answer is a yes.

While the conclusion of this trial was a clear setup according to Luke, because Jesus never really says what they claim to “hear” Him say, perhaps there is something lost in translation, or perhaps this was really the only sliver of an opening these leaders had to condemn Jesus.

The something I suspect that gets lost on us living so far removed from this event is that it appears as though Jesus references back to the unanswerable question He asked the Pharisees just a few days earlier. In Luke, chapter 20, verses 42 and 43, Jesus quotes David from the Old Testament who said: “The Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”

While this passage also doesn’t sound that significant, it is believed that David was quoting this conversation as being from God the Father to God the Son. With God the Son being the one to be honored at God’s right hand, we now have a solid context for why these religious leaders were upset with Jesus’ claim.

David has predicted that God’s Son would be the one to sit at God’s right hand, and Jesus has just stepped into claiming that position for Himself from that point forward.

When reading this passage, I am continually amazed at the religious leaders. I am very confident that these leaders understood Jesus’ reference to the position He would be given as equal to Jesus claiming to be God’s Son – even if nothing Jesus directly says claims this title. The religious leaders were smart enough to connect the dots when they wanted to find Jesus guilty of something.

However, the religious leaders were not smart enough to keep connecting the dots to realize that the Messiah God was sending to them would be rejected and killed by them. They didn’t realize that they would ultimately reject the Messiah that they were desperately longing would arrive.

It is the same with us today. Too often, we get so focused on one way of thinking that we stop being able to think there are other options, or other ways of interpreting the facts. Like these religious leaders, we know lots of information, but we have overlaid this information with a thick layer of bias that we cannot begin to see that the same information could really be telling other stories. It is this way when two people with different worldviews look at the same fossil record, or when two different people who are both very opinionated on opposite sides of the political spectrum describe the same political event.

The lenses we have on our eyes called our biases filter our lives through our beliefs. These biases lead to the religious leaders in the first century ultimately killing the Messiah God sent to them because Jesus didn’t fit their biased picture of who the Messiah would be.

Our biases today can just as easily cause us to miss out on signs God is sending or on amazing things He is doing in the world around us. Because our biases and beliefs filter the world around us, we must be extra diligent about what we use to form our biases and our beliefs. If left unchecked, our biases will stop us from truly learning anything new, and these same biases will trap us into missing out on seeing God.

The best way to combat bias in your life is to open up the Bible and read it for yourself. The amazing thing about the Bible is that it challenges every single bias we might have. The Bible challenges every area of science, every angle of politics, every angle of service, every angle of business, and every area of human interaction. The only thing the Bible doesn’t really cover is technology. The only way for you to know whether what I just said is actually true or not is to pick up the Bible and read it for yourself.

With that said, let’s wrap up this podcast with some direct challenges related to this big truth:

As I always begin by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life and intentionally place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus. Ask God to help remove any unhealthy biases from your life and ask Him to help you better reflect His love and His character to the world around you!

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself. Everyone has an opinion of the Bible, and it can be easy to simply take someone else’s opinion about what the Bible says and agree with it. However, with eternity on the line, accepting someone else’s opinion about the Bible is the worst thing you could do. It is like having a beautifully wrapped present in front of you and a stranger telling you it is just an empty box. If you believe the stranger and never open the gift, you will never truly know what was inside the box!

It’s the same way with the Bible. Don’t let someone else trick you out of discovering God’s gift to you through the pages of His Word.

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

Continuing our walk through Matthew’s gospel, we come to the place where Matthew wraps up the details of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal, and in the details of this event, while preparing for this episode, I had not noticed a detail in this event until now. In this detail, we get a brief glimpse of what Judas may have been thinking when he decided to betray Jesus, but when things go a different direction than what Judas thought they would, we discover a powerful truth about how Satan treats humanity.

Let’s read this event and discover what we can learn from one of the darkest parts of the gospel message. Our passage for this episode is found in Matthew, chapter 27, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

¹ Early in the morning all the chief priests and the leaders of the people decided to execute Jesus. ² They tied him up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

³ Then Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, regretted what had happened when he saw that Jesus was condemned. He brought the 30 silver coins back to the chief priests and leaders. ⁴ He said, “I’ve sinned by betraying an innocent man.”

They replied, “What do we care? That’s your problem.”

⁵ So he threw the money into the temple, went away, and hanged himself.

Let’s pause briefly here, because I want to draw attention to what I saw in this passage while preparing for this episode. Before this event, when Judas Iscariot was in the garden leading the mob to arrest Jesus, when it said that all the disciples scattered, in my mind, Judas disappears along with them. In my mind, only Peter and John turned back in order to be near Jesus. Peter turned back and ultimately hung out in the courtyard, while John likely stood on the outer edge of the room Jesus was being tried in.

However, in order for Judas Iscariot to be clearly aware of the outcome of the trial, he would also have needed to be present. With Judas’ reaction to the outcome of the trial, we can conclude that Judas believed the trial would have gone differently. Verse 3 tells us Judas’ response: “Then Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, regretted what had happened when he saw that Jesus was condemned.”

This regret gives us a picture that Judas believed Jesus would not be found guilty of anything, and Judas wanted to be present when Jesus revealed who He was to the religious leaders. Judas actually wanted to be an instrumental role in bringing about Jesus’ step into the role of Messiah.

However, Judas did not understand the role of the Messiah Jesus came to be. In a somewhat ironic twist to the story, Judas actually succeeded in his goal of moving Jesus towards the role of God’s Messiah to humanity, even though he was not alive to witness the end of the events he started.

Another amazing detail in my mind is the reaction of the religious leaders. While Judas Iscariot tries to undo what has happened while realizing he betrayed an innocent man, the religious leaders are clearly more guilty because they don’t care about Jesus’ guilt or innocence. Judas returned and admitted his sin, and the religious leaders replied, “What do we care? That’s your problem.”

The religious leaders reject Judas Iscariot’s realization that he had sinned. While Judas was likely trying to undo what he had done, Judas is also looking for a path to forgiveness. Realizing one has sinned is the first step towards being saved. Judas realized he had sinned, while the religious leaders reject the betrayer they helped create.

After throwing the money back at the religious leaders, Judas leaves and hangs himself. Then our passage continues in verse 6, back with the religious leaders. Matthew tells us that:

⁶ The chief priests took the money and said, “It’s not right to put it into the temple treasury, because it’s blood money.” ⁷ So they decided to use it to buy a potter’s field for the burial of strangers. ⁸ That’s why that field has been called the Field of Blood ever since. ⁹ Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true, “They took the 30 silver coins, the price the people of Israel had placed on him, ¹⁰ and used the coins to buy a potter’s field, as the Lord had directed me.”

The biggest truth in this entire event that is amazing in my mind is how the religious leaders walk almost blindly through fulfilling prophecy. This is amazing in my mind because of all the people in the first century, the chief priests would have been the most aware of the prophecies about the Messiah. If these religious leaders had truly recognized what they were doing while also wanting to discredit Jesus from being the Messiah, they would have intentionally changed the details of what happened in some way. If they wanted to break from prophecy, they could have paid a different amount, such as 20 pieces of silver, or even 35. The religious leaders could have taken the money and spent it on anything but a potter’s field.

However, while taking Jesus to the cross, the religious leaders fulfill more prophecies then they are willing to realize or admit, and this truth ultimately confirms the idea that they are the ones who ultimately rejected the Messiah God sent to them.

In this event, I see in the last stages of Judas Iscariot’s life a model for how Satan treats all of humanity. Satan tempts us to do something we know we probably shouldn’t do, and after we have done what he tempted us to do, he ridicules us, causes us to feel regret, shame, and embarrassment, and after we have fallen for the temptation, Satan is eager to remind us how bad of a person we really are.

Judas Iscariot believed he had no hope and he commits suicide. By committing suicide, Judas Iscariot missed out on seeing what he actually prompted. Because of Judas’ betrayal, the religious leaders rejected Jesus and condemn Him to death, the Romans crucified Jesus, and then God accepts Jesus’ sacrifice for humanity by resurrecting Jesus on the third day. Even though Judas Iscariot was not alive to witness it, he actually helped Jesus fulfill His mission.

While this is one of the darkest parts of the gospel message, it helps reveal one of the brightest truths about God/Jesus. Without the darkness of Jesus’ death, we wouldn’t have the hope of Jesus’ resurrection, and because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we can claim the promise that we too will be raised from the dead like Jesus when He returns to bring all God’s people home!

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 place your faith in Jesus. Recognize that because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we have the hope and promise of resurrection in our future when we place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. By studying the Bible personally with a prayerful, open mind, we are able to open our hearts to God and to grow a personal relationship with God and a strong foundation for our faith in Him.

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 be tempted or tricked into leaving where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!