Reflective Bible Study

As we continue in Mark’s gospel, we come to Jesus’ last stop before He carries the cross out to be crucified. While this may be among the most graphic parts of the gospels, within the cruelty of this event we discover a powerful truth that is easy to miss or ignore. While it is unlikely that any of us would intentionally act like the soldiers in this passage towards Jesus today, something we might do today might actually treat Jesus like these soldiers treated Him, even if we don’t realize it.

Let’s read this passage and discover a subtle trap Satan would love for us to fall into. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 15, and we will read from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16, Mark tells us that:

¹⁶ The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. ¹⁷ They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. ¹⁸ And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹⁹ Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. ²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

As I read this passage, did anything stand out in your mind that you could see yourself doing to Jesus, even unintentionally, that is similar to what these soldiers did?

If you’re at all like me, nothing on the surface in this description would be anything like I would do. I wouldn’t twist a crown of thorns together and set it on Jesus’ head. I wouldn’t beat Jesus over the head with a staff or spit on him. And I wouldn’t mockingly call Him the king of the Jews or make fun of Him.

However, while these soldiers were making fun of Jesus, they were likely doing something even they didn’t realize. While mocking Jesus, they were actually giving Jesus empty, meaningless worship. In the entire history of humanity, only One individual is truly worthy of worship, and this individual is Jesus. Jesus deserves our glory, our honor, our praise, and our worship.

While it is pretty clear by their actions and abuse that these soldiers were not genuinely worshiping Jesus, what specific things made their actions towards Jesus not true worship?

Aside from the abuse, the beating, and the crown of thorns, the worship, or homage, these soldiers gave Jesus did not even hint at including humility, respect, or any of the soldiers’ hearts. The “worship” these soldiers give Jesus is empty because the worship these soldiers give is worthless in both the soldiers’ eyes, and it is worthless in God’s eyes as well.

In addition to God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the only One worthy of our worship and our praise. When we come to worship Jesus and thank Him for what He has done for us, are we bringing Jesus glory, honor, and praise in our worship? More importantly than that, are we bringing our hearts with our worship and our gifts and giving our hearts to God within our worship?

As I have read and studied worship more, I have come to realize just how important giving our hearts to God is when we come to worship Him. Above any other gift, God wants our hearts. If our hearts are not included in our worship to God, then our worship is no more pleasing to God than the soldiers mock-worship was.

For a long time, I found myself going to church every weekend because it was a habit, or a routine, and because I felt it was what God wanted me to do. While there is nothing bad about going to church, when we let church become a habit, and simply be a part of our routine, we risk our worship becoming empty and “heartless”. If our worship doesn’t give our hearts to God, then we could call this heartless worship, and heartless worship is what the soldiers gave Jesus before His crucifixion.

Above anything else, God wants our hearts. Our hearts are the gift that God values the most. If you feel like your worship has become empty, shallow, or routine, I would caution you to not give up on or stop worshiping. Instead, while routine worship isn’t the goal, it is slightly better than no worship at all. Realizing your worship needs help is the first step to helping it get better.

If you feel like your worship isn’t where you would like it to be, what are some ways you can bring your heart back in to your worship? Finding the answer to this question is the best way to revitalize your worship experience, and the answer to this question is best found by bringing your request to God in prayer.

While it seems like our conversation has shifted away from the event we began talking about, let’s circle back around at look at what Jesus experienced leading up to His crucifixion. When we take a step back and look at everything Jesus went through, it is nothing short of horrific. The amount of abuse, hostility, and pain that Jesus went through is about as extreme as I can imagine.

However, what is even more amazing is looking at what Jesus went through and realizing that it was entirely within God’s power to write the details of Jesus’ death. Before history began, God knew the plan of action for when humanity sinned, and He wrote into history every detail surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion weekend. Why then would the Godhead write Jesus’ death into history in what was likely the cruelest, most painful way to die?

As we read what happened to Jesus leading up to the cross, I cannot escape the truth that Jesus chose to face the cruelest death, and path to death, possible because He wanted humanity to know that God loves each of us that much more! God was willing to face the worst humanity could come up with in order to show humanity how much He loves us!

God emptied His heart for us as He calls us to give our hearts to Him! This is an invitation to all of us from a God who loves us more than anything and everything we choose to do to Him, and our invitation from God is an invitation to bring our sin-stained hearts to Him and let Him create new, clean hearts within us!

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 to intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to bring your heart to God with your worship. If worshiping with your heart is challenging, ask God to help you open your heart to Him and to discover how to bring Him the gift He desires the most – specifically the gift of your heart.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, we can open our hearts, minds, and lives to God and let Him transform us into the people He created us to be.

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!

As we come closer to the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, we discover two similar miracles. Some gospel records, and many lists of Jesus’ miracles combine these two miracles into one, and while I can understand this because of their similarities, I see their distinct details outweighing the similarities leading me to believe that these are two separate events. Because of this, we will deal with each miracle separately, and even though they are similar, I’m pretty sure we can discover some things we can take away from each.

The miracle we will be focusing in on in this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 35, Luke tells us that:

³⁵ As Jesus was coming near Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the road, begging. ³⁶ When he heard the crowd passing by, he asked, “What is this?”

³⁷ “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they told him.

³⁸ He cried out, “Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

³⁹ The people in front scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰ So Jesus stopped and ordered the blind man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Sir,” he answered, “I want to see again.”

⁴² Jesus said to him, “Then see! Your faith has made you well.”

⁴³ At once he was able to see, and he followed Jesus, giving thanks to God. When the crowd saw it, they all praised God.

In this miracle, we see many similarities with other miracles that took place earlier in the gospels, but in this miracle, many of the key details surrounding Jesus’ miracles are summarized nicely in what Luke describes.

In this event, we see a simple progression we might be able to use to see miracles happen in our own lives as well. To set the stage for this event, we have a blind man begging by the side of the road near the city of Jericho. Since this is late in Jesus’ ministry, the blind man likely knows about Jesus, but it is possible that he doesn’t have any friends willing or able to take him to find Jesus.

Looking at the gospel record, Jesus likely only visited Jericho one time during His entire ministry, and with this visit being later on, this brings a sense of urgency to this blind beggar. Setting the stage for this miracle teaches us that when God sends us an opportunity for faith, we must be ready to grab a hold of it.

When the man asks what is going on and discovers that Jesus is passing by, we discover that he is ready to be heard. The man believes Jesus to be the promised Messiah, the Son of David that God promised, and he honors Jesus with this title while asking for mercy. This teaches us that when asking for God to help, we should remember who God is and give Him honor and respect. It is unlikely God would help someone who is criticizing or cursing Him, even though it is possible.

Then the crowd gets involved, but not in a good way. Whether they were trying to hear what Jesus was teaching, or whether they simply didn’t recognize the opportunity present, those near the blind man scold him and tell him to be quiet. This reminds us that the more vocal we are about God and the more vocal we are about needing God’s help, the more resistance and/or ridicule we will face.

However, this man was ready to face a little resistance. While others might have given up and stayed quiet, this man knows that this is likely his only shot at a miracle for him, and this resistance simply results in him shouting louder. When we face resistance, consider it an opportunity to lean more into God and as an opportunity to further demonstrate your faith and commitment in a visible way.

Jesus then stopped and asked the crowd to bring the blind man to Him. Whether this happened immediately when Jesus heard the blind man the first time, or if there had been several increasingly louder cries for mercy, the faith of the blind man is clearly known. When Jesus calls the blind man to Him, and when Jesus asks the blind man what he wants from Jesus, while the blind man could have asked for anything, only one thing was out of his reach. The blind man wanted to see again.

This detail is fascinating, because it tells us that something had happened to this man’s sight that caused him to lose it. Because he wants to see again, that meant he had been able to see at an earlier point in his life and that he hadn’t been born blind. We can learn from this that sometimes things don’t go our way and sometimes life throws things at us that we would rather not face.

However, while in front of Jesus, the blind man asks for restored sight, and Jesus responds by telling him that his faith had made him well. This reminds us of one big theme within this entire year of podcasting that Faith + Jesus = A Miracle. While we can see some results when placing our faith in other things, Jesus is the only place that we should place our faith because Jesus is the only One who has seen the details of what is coming in our life, and the only One who has also seen how to successfully navigate the trials. While sometimes God works miracles through other sources, this doesn’t mean that God wasn’t behind the miracle in the first place.

At the close of this event, we see the healed man following Jesus, giving thanks to God, and we discover that the crowd praised God. While the crowd wasn’t interested in seeing a miracle at the beginning of this event, we discover that through this miracle, they were given one more reason to praise God. When miracles happen in our own lives, either to us personally or to those we know, let’s use these miracles as opportunities to thank and praise God for what He has done and is doing in our lives and in the world today.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always, seek God first and place Him first in your life. Intentionally look for ways to make your faith in God visible and push past any resistance you face, choosing to see the resistance as an opportunity to demonstrate the faith you have in God. While Satan would have resistance cripple our faith, we can choose to respond to this resistance as an opportunity to show him and others what our faith is made of.

Also, keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and move closer to God in your own life. While pastors, podcasters, and other people can share great ideas, filter everything you hear, read, and see through the truth of the Bible, because the Bible is the best source for knowing God’s Truth.

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 pressured into abandoning where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through Mark’s gospel, we come to the morning Jesus is crucified. However, before Jesus is actually nailed to a cross, He must be sentenced to death by the Roman governor, who at this point in history was Pilate. During Jesus’ trial with Pilate, I am amazed how Mark describes this event and how Jesus is ultimately condemned to death without any actual crime being committed.

Let’s read Mark’s gospel record and discover how he describes what happened. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 15, and we will read from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ It was very early in the morning. The chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law, and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they tied Jesus up and led him away. Then they handed him over to Pilate.

² “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

³ The chief priests brought many charges against him. ⁴ So Pilate asked him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they charge you with.”

⁵ But Jesus still did not reply. Pilate was amazed.

Pausing reading our passage for a moment, I’m amazed at how Mark describes Jesus’ trial before Pilate. While we didn’t have time to cover it in an earlier episode, Mark describes Jesus acting in a similar way towards Pilate that he does towards the chief priests and religious leaders. When being charged and accused, Jesus simply remained silent.

When reading about Jesus’ silence, part of me wonders why Jesus did this. In the earlier case of the religious leaders looking for a reason to condemn Jesus, it makes a little sense, because while Jesus did not speak, the lies and false testimony begin to break down and fall apart.

However, before Pilate, there is only one set of accusations, and while Mark doesn’t tell us what these leaders accuse Jesus with, there is likely a little bit of truth with a whole bunch of lies.

But this doesn’t really answer the question about why Jesus stayed silent – especially when it would not be sin to speak the truth that He is innocent.

As I ask myself this question, I believe Jesus’ silence is intentional and it tells us something important. By not speaking, Jesus is intentionally, subtly, and willing to take all the lies, false testimony, and really all the sins onto Himself. Even though Jesus had predicted His death numerous times leading up to this weekend, no one present in this event believed Jesus’ mission at this point in history was death. Through Jesus’ silence, He allows all the lies, evil, and sin to rest on His shoulders as He is being questioned and charged by Pilate.

However, Pilate is an inquisitive person, but not entirely bright, especially in this instance.

Continuing in verse 6, after Jesus had remained silent, much to Pilate’s amazement, Mark tells us that:

⁶ It was the usual practice at the Passover Feast to let one prisoner go free. The people could choose the one they wanted. ⁷ A man named Barabbas was in prison. He was there with some other people who had fought against the country’s rulers. They had committed murder while they were fighting against the rulers. ⁸ The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

⁹ “Do you want me to let the king of the Jews go free?” asked Pilate. ¹⁰ He knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they wanted to get their own way. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd. So the crowd asked Pilate to let Barabbas go free instead.

¹² “Then what should I do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

¹³ “Crucify him!” the crowd shouted.

¹⁴ “Why? What wrong has he done?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd. So he let Barabbas go free. He ordered that Jesus be whipped. Then he handed him over to be nailed to a cross.

In this event, Pilate condemns a man to death who he knows has done nothing wrong. The people in the crowd reveal what type of messiah they wanted by requesting Barabbas, who was another potential messiah who had tried to rally people together to overthrow Rome in their region.

In this event, Pilate could see through the deception of the religious leaders, and Pilate knew the religious leaders disliked Jesus because of their pride and His popularity. However, Pilate doesn’t realize that the only people who would have made up the crowd at this early morning trial would have been those who the religious leaders handpicked.

Pilate doesn’t realize this detail until it is likely too late. While the crowd was present and they appeared impartial, this was the morning leading up to one of the biggest events in Jewish culture, which means that most people would be preparing for the festival and not paying attention to the trial taking place.

The crowd shouting in unison, at the prompting of the religious leaders, and likely all the forces of Satan as well, wins out over Pilate’s objective judgment. Pilate can see that the religious leaders have accused an innocent man. Pilate can also see that Jesus is not actively defending Himself, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to Pilate, but lack of a defense does not make false accusations true. Pilate sees the religious leaders’ lies in their actions, attitudes, and behavior.

Pilate knows one person tied up is guilty, while the other person tied up is innocent. Pilate knows Barabbas deserves death, and Jesus does not.

But the crowd’s united voice convinces Pilate to change his accurate judgment and switch the two condemned people. Pilate sentences Jesus to crucifixion, which was the death Barabbas deserved; and Pilate releases Barabbas, which was the outcome Jesus deserved.

In this event, we discover that Jesus willingly chose to take the place of a rebel, a murderer, and a sinner, and in this event Barabbas, the clearly evil, condemned-to-die person, represents you and me. Barabbas represents every human being who has ever lived who deserves to die for their sins but who gets the opportunity of a new free life because of Jesus!

When we accept the gift Jesus offers us through what He for Barabbas by taking Barabbas’ place on the cross, we allow Jesus’ death to cover our sins and we let Him face the death we deserve while He offers us the life He deserves. Through Jesus’ trial before Pilate, we see that Jesus willingly takes the lies, the false testimony, and all the sin onto Himself, and He willingly takes our place and our punishment onto Himself in order to give us a new chance of life that we did not deserve!

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 purposefully and intentionally seek God first. Choose to accept the gift Jesus offers to you and I through what He did for Barabbas on crucifixion weekend. Understand that while Barabbas was a criminal, Jesus wrote history in a way that shows God is willing to take the punishment of sinners and criminals against His law onto Himself. Accept the gift Jesus offers for a new chance at life that isn’t trapped and stained by sin!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and Bible study, we are able to open our hearts to God and let Him into our lives, and with God in our hearts, He will teach us how He wants us to live, how we can be loving like He loves us, and how to best thank Him through how we live 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 walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

In our last episode, we began looking at the miracle surrounding Lazarus being raised from the dead. However, because this also happens to be the miracle that takes up the greatest number of verses of any other miracle in the gospels, we didn’t actually get to the miracle part of the event in the last episode.

However, in this episode, let me briefly summarize what we covered in the last episode, before jumping back into the narrative. This event begins with Jesus hearing about His friend Lazarus’ illness, and Jesus reassures those present that Lazarus’ sickness wouldn’t end in death. Instead, it would bring glory to God.

However, instead of leaving immediately to go help Lazarus, Jesus stayed where He was for two more days, before announcing to the disciples that Lazarus was now asleep, or in other words dead, and that Jesus was now going to go wake Him up.

When they arrive in Bethany, which was the town that Lazarus, Martha, and Mary lived in, Martha comes out to meet Jesus.

Let’s jump into the event at this point. While we looked at some of Martha and Mary’s conversation with Jesus in the last episode, this will give us a great foundation leading into the big themes we’ll focus in on in this episode. Our passage and event is found in the gospel of John, chapter 11, and we will be reading it from the Contemporary English Version. Jumping into our event in verse 17, John tells us that:

¹⁷ When Jesus got to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was only about two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many people had come from the city to comfort Martha and Mary because their brother had died.

²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Yet even now I know that God will do anything you ask.”

²³ Jesus told her, “Your brother will live again!”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know that he will be raised to life on the last day, when all the dead are raised.”

²⁵ Jesus then said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. ²⁶ And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord!” she replied. “I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.”

²⁸ After Martha said this, she went and privately said to her sister Mary, “The Teacher is here, and he wants to see you.” ²⁹ As soon as Mary heard this, she got up and went out to Jesus. ³⁰ He was still outside the village where Martha had gone to meet him. ³¹ Many people had come to comfort Mary, and when they saw her quickly leave the house, they thought she was going out to the tomb to cry. So they followed her.

³² Mary went to where Jesus was. Then as soon as she saw him, she knelt at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³ When Jesus saw that Mary and the people with her were crying, he was terribly upset ³⁴ and asked, “Where have you put his body?”

They replied, “Lord, come and you will see.”

This is where we left off in our last episode. Continuing reading from verse 35:

³⁵ Jesus started crying, ³⁶ and the people said, “See how much he loved Lazarus.”

³⁷ Some of them said, “He gives sight to the blind. Why couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

³⁸ Jesus was still terribly upset. So he went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone rolled against the entrance. ³⁹ Then he told the people to roll the stone away. But Martha said, “Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell.”

⁴⁰ Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹ After the stone had been rolled aside, Jesus looked up toward heaven and prayed, “Father, I thank you for answering my prayer. ⁴² I know that you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so that the people here would believe that you sent me.”

⁴³ When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face.

Jesus then told the people, “Untie him and let him go.”

In this miracle, one phrase stands out to me as the big theme throughout this entire event. Without this phrase, this miracle would simply be just a miracle, or something special Jesus did back then, but no real indication of Him wanting to do the same for us today. But with this phrase, suddenly this miracle becomes a foreshadowing promise for every believer who worries about or faces death.

While Jesus is talking with Martha, He tells her in verses 25 and 26, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die.”

There are three big truths centered in these three short statements, and they might sounds as though they contradict each other.

In the first statement, Jesus makes the bold claim that, “I am the one who raises the dead to life!” If you have ever been fearful about being stuck in the grave in death, or if you have doubts about whether God loves you, pay attention to the fact that Jesus is the one who does the resurrecting, and it is Jesus who died for you. There is nothing to fear in death because Jesus has the power over death to bring you back to life!

The next statement speaks to a future resurrection for everyone who has faith in Jesus. Jesus tells Martha, “Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die.” This verse speaks to the truth of the resurrection Jesus promises to every believer. Death isn’t something we should fear when we have faith in Jesus, because Jesus has promised us life. From Jesus’ perspective, the grave is not relevant, because He conquered death.

With the third statement, we might be tempted to believe Jesus then contradicts Himself. After saying that those who have faith in him will live even if they die, Jesus then promises that “everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die.” While I can understand why some might see this verse supporting believers being swept up to heaven immediately at their death, this doesn’t match the context of Jesus’ words, and it negates the resurrection Jesus has just promised. The future resurrection Jesus promises us becomes irrelevant if at death we receive our rewards immediately.

Instead, Jesus centers our focus on the truth that when we sleep, a metaphor for the death before the resurrection, we don’t truly die because Jesus keeps us safe, and figuratively holds us in His hands. This first death is irrelevant for a believer to focus on because unless we are alive when Jesus returns, we will face this first death.

However, this first death is irrelevant because we look forward to the resurrection that brings us back to life, and there is a strong theme running through the Bible that when we face this first, sleep-like death, the next conscious event we will know is the resurrection.

So what is Jesus’ key idea in the third statement? Jesus promises us that “everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die.” Following the sleep-death that ends with our resurrection, we are giving the gift of eternal life. Jesus purchased that gift for us with His death on the cross, and He is anxiously awaiting the day when He will give it to us. The day we all look forward to is resurrection day, the day of our rebirth into a new life with God!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Intentionally seek God first and place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus. Live your life in a way that honors God as a way to say thank You for everything He has done. We can never be good enough to earn our salvation, but we keep getting back up when we stumble because we want to honor God with our lives, and we want to accurately reflect Jesus to our chaotic, crazy world.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and move closer to God each day. While death is not a pleasant subject for many people to think about, if you haven’t studied all the conflicting beliefs surrounding it, I challenge you to do so today. While most beliefs about death claim the Bible as their foundation, choose the belief that has the greatest weight of evidence behind it. Don’t pick a belief simply because I or another person think it. Pray and study it out for yourself 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 walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!