Reflective Bible Study

A couple of podcast episodes ago, we looked at Jesus warning Peter about his upcoming denial and Peter strongly refuting this as a possibility. However, in our last episode, we saw how Jesus’ prediction came true regarding all the disciples abandoning Jesus, and in this episode, we turn our attention onto Peter, and how he fulfilled a prediction he did not want to fulfill. As you may have already guessed, we will be focusing in on Peter’s time in the courtyard while Jesus is being tried and condemned to death.

Let’s read about what happened, and discover some things we can learn about this event. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 14, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible. Before starting to read in verse 66, it is worth noting that a few verses earlier, specifically in verse 54, Mark tells us that Peter followed behind the mob at a distance and ultimately made his way into the courtyard outside of where Jesus was on trial. Starting in verse 66, Mark tells us that:

⁶⁶ As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came, ⁶⁷ and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.” ⁶⁸ But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” And he went out onto the porch. ⁶⁹ The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This is one of them!” ⁷⁰ But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too.” ⁷¹ But he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man you are talking about!” ⁷² Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he began to weep.

In this short, seven-verse passage, we see Peter fulfill the prediction that he did not want to fulfill. In these verses, Peter denied Jesus the three times Jesus had predicted.

However, the third denial stood out to me as I read it this time. Mark describes Peter’s third denial in verse 71 saying, “But he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know this man you are talking about!’”

This third denial stands out in my mind because it kind of sounds like Peter is saying he has no idea who Jesus is. However, the only way Peter’s denial makes sense is if he had ignored every news story over the past two years prior to this, especially through the news channels in Galilee, which is where Jesus spent a lot of His time. News about Jesus had even reached Greece, since earlier that week, some Greeks had traveled to Jerusalem to see Jesus.

In my own mind, a much more plausible denial for Peter would have been one that acknowledged that he knew about Jesus, but that he had simply been too busy to pay much attention to him.

However, reading about Peter’s denial in Mark’s gospel, where some scholars believe Mark wrote this gospel from Peter’s perspective, it is interesting to not see anything written or recorded about Peter’s redemption. In contrast, John’s gospel both includes Peter’s denial of Jesus, and a challenging conversation Jesus has with Peter following Jesus’ resurrection that ends with a second invitation to follow Jesus.

One possible explanation is that Mark’s gospel has a very abrupt ending. Depending on the manuscripts and research that has happened, there are two possible endings for Mark’s gospel, but both are a little suspect for a number of reasons. This is why many Bibles today will include a longer and shorter conclusion to Mark’s gospel. However, there is evidence to suggest that neither of these endings is really the original ending of Mark’s gospel. One theory is that the real ending to Mark’s gospel was lost very early on, and some well meaning scholars in the early centuries after the New Testament wrote an ending to help Mark’s gospel have a good conclusion similar to Matthew, Luke, and John.

I am not a scholar, and I don’t have enough information or evidence to weigh in on these claims and theories, but I can say that each theory sounds reasonable. However, I find it powerful that at the close of this passage, as the rooster crows and Peter remembers Jesus’ prediction, it breaks Peter’s heart and Peter begins to weep.

Mark describes Peter’s big failure and how Peter, while confidently asserting that he would never deny Jesus, ultimately denies Jesus just like Jesus had predicted would happen. However, this failure marks a death in Peter that is only clear in hindsight. While Jesus faced the cross and physical death, Peter’s death was a death of self and a death of ego.

After his big failure, Peter had no room to brag about how good of a disciple he was. Prior to this, Peter had the reputation for being the star disciple in Jesus’ inner circle of followers. Everything is set for Peter to be Jesus’ right hand man ahead of the remaining disciples, using terms from our human perspective.

However, after Peter had failed Jesus in a bigger way than any of the other disciples – even after Jesus had warned and predicted that it would happen, Peter’s self-sufficient character breaks and dies, and he has no room to boast or brag about his accomplishments. Instead, from this point forward, Peter becomes humble and teachable, and when given the opportunity to be re-invited by Jesus, Peter steps up and accepts the invitation, proclaiming what Jesus has done for Him as someone who failed Jesus.

In our own lives, we can give up when we fail, or we can let the failure redefine who we are. When we fail God, we should let our ego die with our failure and step back up proclaiming an amazing God who forgives our sins and who accepts us back when we don’t deserve it. Peter’s gospel message and experience is similar to all of our experiences: While we fail God, God isn’t willing to give up on us!

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

As I regularly challenge you to do, continue seeking God first in your life and choose to proclaim what He has done for us – especially what He has done when we don’t deserve it. While we have failed God more times than we may be willing to admit, He is willing to accept us back when we let our egos die with our failure. When repenting and asking for forgiveness, remember what Jesus did for us and let Jesus’ life and His sacrifice change our hearts and minds and let God’s truth transform our lives.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. 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 up everything for you and me, even when we have failed Him and don’t deserve forgiveness!

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

In our year moving through the gospels looking at Jesus’ miracles, we come to the miracle that takes up the greatest space of any single miracle in the gospels, and strangely this miracle is only included in John’s gospel. Part of me wondered if it was so well known of an event that the other gospel writers decided to exclude it because of its fame.

However, because it is such a long miracle, we’ll split our discussion on this miracle into two parts, because not only will that give us more time to understand Jesus’ teaching surrounding this miracle, but we can focus in on more than one theme that we can learn from this event.

So without further delay, let’s dive in to what we can learn from this miracle. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will be reading from the Contemporary English Version. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

^1-2 A man by the name of Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on the Lord’s head and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick.

⁴ When Jesus heard this, he said, “His sickness won’t end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.”

⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. ⁶ But he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “Now we will go back to Judea.”

⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “the people there want to stone you to death! Why do you want to go back?”

⁹ Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in each day? If you walk during the day, you will have light from the sun, and you won’t stumble. ¹⁰ But if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because you don’t have any light.” ¹¹ Then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up.”

¹² They replied, “Lord, if he is asleep, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was talking only about sleep.

¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead! ¹⁵ I am glad that I wasn’t there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me. Let’s go to him.”

¹⁶ Thomas, whose nickname was “Twin,” said to the other disciples, “Come on. Let’s go, so we can die with him.”

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.”

Let’s stop reading here for this episode, because we have hit a number of huge themes already, and we haven’t even hit the point in our event where the miracle happens.

The first thing I see is that looking at the spans of time given in the first part of the miracle, there would have been no way for Jesus to have arrived on time to save Lazarus – unless God had made the situation known to Jesus before the news officially arrived. We can conclude this using simple math: Jesus stayed where He was for two more days, and when He ultimately arrived, Lazarus had been in the grave for four days. The best-case scenario was that Jesus arrived two days earlier and Lazarus had been buried the day or two before that. It’s likely that the messenger who brought the message to Jesus learned that Lazarus had died after arriving back telling those present that he found Jesus and gave Him the message.

It may have even been a four-day journey between where they were and where Lazarus was buried because it appears that Jesus didn’t even start traveling in that direction until after describing Lazarus as asleep, or more specifically as dead.

This leads us to conclude that sometimes when it feels as though God, or Jesus, arrives too late, it may be because Jesus has a miracle in mind. If we focus on what we think should have been, then we might miss the miracle God really wants to accomplish. John writes in verse 15 that Jesus tells the disciples this event will now give them the chance to put their faith in Jesus. Maybe the disciples had been hesitant about putting their faith in Jesus, or maybe Jesus is giving them one more reason to believe in Him. Regardless of the reason, this miracle that hasn’t actually happened at this point in our event is pointing us towards a reason to believe in Jesus!

We discover what Jesus may have wanted to teach the disciples in this event when He repeatedly uses the concept of sleep to describe death. If Jesus did not want His followers to connect the idea of sleep and death together, then this would have been a great opportunity for Him to stop the analogy. Instead, everything in this event points to a believer’s death being temporary, just like sleep is temporary, and that we don’t need to fear it.

For a follower of Christ, death is insignificant because it is temporary. Death simply pauses consciousness like sleep pauses consciousness. If Jesus didn’t want us to think this way, this event would have been the perfect place to correct His followers.

Instead, Jesus stresses the sleep metaphor in both His conversation with the disciples, and in His conversation with Martha, Jesus reiterates how death, like sleep, is temporary.

The last big idea that we have time for in this episode is the truth that Martha shares about Jesus before going to get Mary. Martha tells Jesus in verse 27, “I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.”

Martha has one of the most powerful declarations about Jesus anywhere recorded in the gospels, and it’s likely Mary would have had a similar conversation except for the crowd of people present with Mary who weren’t there when Martha talked with Jesus.

In the first portion of this event, there is a lot we can discover, and when we pick back up with this event in our next episode, discover what else we can discover as we focus in on the longest miracle in the gospel record.

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

Always seek God first and put your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Him. Believe, like Martha, that Jesus is the One God sent into the world, and the One that God promised would come to pay the penalty for our sins. Trust in the ministry of Jesus, both the ministry that happened while He was here on earth, and the “ministry of intersession” He is doing now in heaven on our behalf.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God. Through the Bible, we can learn what God wants to teach us about life, and about the future life He has promised for all His followers.

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

As we continue our journey through Mark’s gospel and through many of the key events this gospel includes, we come to the beginning of what might be among the darkest events in this gospel, specifically the betrayal and arrest of Jesus.

However, while many gospels include the details of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest on the night before His crucifixion, only Mark’s gospel includes two verses describing something that might be a little shocking to some people.

With this forewarning, let’s read this passage, and uncover some things we can learn from what happened, and from what Mark chose to include in his gospel that none of the other gospel writers included.

Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 14, and we will read from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 43, Mark describes Jesus’ betrayal by saying:

⁴³ And immediately, even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders. ⁴⁴ The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. Then you can take him away under guard.” ⁴⁵ As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. “Rabbi!” he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss.

⁴⁶ Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. ⁴⁷ But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.

⁴⁸ Jesus asked them, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? ⁴⁹ Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there among you teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about me.”

⁵⁰ Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. ⁵¹ One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, ⁵² he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked.

In these last two verses, we read about one of Jesus’ lesser-known followers running away naked. This detail that is only found in Mark’s gospel is both interesting and very unique. This has led some Bible scholars and commentators to conclude that Mark, the author of this gospel, was that young man who ran away naked. This young man is not described as a disciple, and I believe this lack of a detail or description also supports the theory this was Mark.

I don’t have any reason to doubt this conclusion as it seems plausible, but I do also find it a little humorous that if you are going to include yourself in the details of a significant event, this might not be the best way to do so. Imagine your claim to fame as being the follower of Jesus who escaped the garden naked. While this might make this gospel less believable, in some peoples’ eyes, this type of detail aids to this being a record of history, specifically what actually happened, and not some fiction or summary that is edited to only include the good details.

However, Mark’s inclusion of this detail also tells us something else. Because Mark included this detail, we can know that the mob, while being primarily interested in arresting Jesus, was also interested in arresting everyone else present in Jesus’ group of followers. Knowing that every one of Jesus’ followers had an arrest warrant out on them helps frame why they were extra nervous in Jerusalem over that weekend, and why they spent most of their time behind locked doors.

When we place the detail that the mob likely wanted to arrest every one of Jesus’ followers, and place it next to the verses describing Jesus’ followers deserting Him and this young man escaping naked, we discover that even while Jesus appeared to be losing, God was still present. Even when evil seemed to have the upper hand, God was in control and God was protecting those present.

Another gospel writer includes the detail that Jesus tells the mob to let Jesus’ followers go. However, while Jesus makes this command, this statement is attributed to fulfilling a prophecy more than being a command that would have been expected to be obeyed. However, it is amazing that Jesus giving a command like this that is actually obeyed by His enemies is testament enough that Jesus is extraordinary.

Nothing in this event suggests that the mob would have even been interested in following through with Jesus’ command to let His followers go. The most logical action to crush a movement is to arrest and kill the leader and all the followers unwilling to give up their beliefs. Arresting the leader and letting the followers escape is illogical at best.

However, because all of Jesus’ followers escaped, we can know that God was with them during Jesus’ arrest, and we can know today that regardless of what we face in this life that comes against our faith, God is with us and He is in control.

When we face challenges in our lives and challenges against our faith, remember that God is with us and that even when evil appears to have the upper hand, God is in control. While not all of us might escape with our clothing intact, we can trust that God is still with us. In the challenges that we face in this world, we might even face death, but whenever death comes our way, we can know and trust that God is ready and willing to resurrect His followers who have endured to the end (as one of our previous podcast episode’s focused in on). And God is more than willing to give us a new body, new clothing, and a new home together with Him in heaven when we place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus!

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 and purposefully seek God first in your life and trust Him regardless of what Satan, culture, or the world wants to pressure us into doing or giving up. Know that the rewards God offers will easily outlast the reward the world offers us and the rewards of sin. Remember and trust that when evil looks like it has the upper hand, God is still in control, God is still with us, and God will see us through these challenges. Remember that for followers of Jesus, death is merely a pit stop on the path leading into eternity.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God each and every day. Don’t let other people filter the Bible for you. Choose to study it for yourself and make up your own mind about it. While skeptics may challenge you to do this, they expect you to reject the Bible because that is what they think you should do. Study and make up your own mind about the Bible after trying God’s way out for yourself. You may be surprised to find what skeptics are missing in the pages of God’s Word and His 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 abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we move through the miracles in the gospels, we come to the point in Jesus’ miracles where He makes His way towards Jerusalem leading up to the crucifixion. Early on in this trip, we come to an event that is interesting, because in it, those present are healed without Jesus’ presence and after they begin following Jesus’ instructions.

However, one of those present in the group risks everything because he chooses to deviate from Jesus’ instructions in order to do something he feels is more important than finishing the task Jesus had sent him on.

Let’s read about what happened, and discover some things we can apply in our own life from what took place. Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 17, and we will be reading it from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 11, Luke tells us that:

¹¹ While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; ¹³ and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? ¹⁸ Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

I am always a little surprised in this event. The implication in what is written is that the other nine former lepers were not thankful, but that is unlikely the case. I’m sure that all ten men were overjoyed at the realization that they were healed. While Luke’s gospel condenses this event to help us see the overall picture, I am a little curious how much time passed between the men being sent by Jesus to Jerusalem, and when the one man ultimately arrived back to thank Jesus.

This could have been hours later, or even days. When I look at a map of New Testament Israel, it is likely that these lepers had to travel about 50 miles on foot from where Jesus met them to ultimately reach Jerusalem. This would have then been at least a two-day journey. I suspect that this Samaritan arrived back to thank Jesus maybe a few hours later. Because while the group hurried towards Jerusalem, I’m pretty sure the Samaritan ran back to find Jesus.

We don’t know if the other lepers ever made it back to thank Jesus. It is possible that they did. It is also possible that they didn’t turn back because they were fearful that any deviation from Jesus’ command to go to show themselves to the priests in Jerusalem would result in the leprosy returning. This Samaritan risked losing his healing in order to thank Jesus.

Another unknown in this event is if the Samaritan then went to finish the mission of seeing a priest. We don’t have any indication of this in the scriptures, but part of me thinks that he did because that would be a smart, safe thing to do, not just because Jesus had told him to do so, but also because the priests were the official gatekeepers who declared the diseased people healed and able to return to society.

In this event, we discover that there is never a bad time to pause and give thanks to God for what He has done for us. While driving might come close to a bad time if it causes us to pay less attention to the road, nothing in giving thanks to God says it has to involve closed eyes or even take more than a few words. This event, and specifically Jesus’ response, highlights the importance of giving thanks for what God has done for us.

However, it is also interesting that when we read this event, the Samaritan returns to Jesus, “glorifying God with a loud voice”. In Jesus’ reply, we see where Jesus focused as well, because Jesus asked the question “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”

This distinction is significant in my mind. While the former leper thanks Jesus personally, he is much more interested in giving God the glory and credit for the miracle. While Jesus attributes the healing to the man’s faith, from the man’s praise, we see that his faith was in God and in God blessing Jesus’ ministry.

The other nine former lepers may have ultimately been thankful, but they might have simply attributed their thanks to Jesus and not to God. I wonder how many in the first century, like those living today, believe God the Father is unhappy with them, but that Jesus came to stand between us and an angry God. While there is scattered evidence throughout the Bible that a belief could be created from, this belief runs counter to the broader truth that Jesus’ love for us is the same as the Father’s love for us.

In this event, Jesus didn’t come seeking praise for Himself. Instead, Jesus came to give people the opportunity to give glory to God the Father, and to show the world what the Father is really like. If you or I are ever doubtful of what the Father is like, we don’t need to look any further than Jesus and what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross!

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

Always seek God first and give Him thanks when He brings blessings into your life. If there is a coincidence, a bit of luck, or something that simply went your way when it didn’t have to, give God thanks regardless of whether He was involved or not. When in doubt, it is always better to thank God because we don’t always know what He is up to in our lives.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to discover what God wants to teach you through the pages of His Word. While you can learn many things from many people, filter everything you see, hear, or read through the filter of the Bible to discover whether it is truth or not. If an idea conflicts with the Bible’s teaching, it is not a worthwhile idea 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, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!