Reflective Bible Study

Early on in Jesus’ ministry, He traveled to Nazareth and was given the opportunity to read the scripture to those present. The passage that Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah doesn’t sound prophetic on its surface, but when looking at how Jesus interpreted and applied this passage into His own life and ministry, many people are able to see that this set of verses is very relevant when describing Jesus’ life.

Let’s read what Isaiah wrote, then dive into the event where Jesus references this scripture.

Our Old Testament passage for this episode is found in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 61, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 1, Isaiah writes:

¹ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
² To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
³ To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

In this opening to chapter 61, Isaiah looks forward to the Messiah as one that proclaims freedom, victory, and comfort to God’s people. In these verses, we get the impression that what Isaiah is writing about is deliverance for God’s people.

Fast forward to the New Testament, Jesus steps onto the scene, and Luke’s gospel describes Jesus traveling back to Nazareth to spend Sabbath with those He grew up with. Let’s read about what happened, which is found in Luke, chapter 4, and we will begin in verse 14:

¹⁴ And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. ¹⁵ And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶ And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

²⁰ And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

We’ll stop reading here, and save the last portion of this event for next week, where we discover another subtle prophetic link present, as well as a sudden shift in the attitudes of the people who were listening.

Instead, near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He draws a direct connection to His upcoming ministry, and the exciting and uplifting words of Isaiah. In Jesus’ own words, drawing from a passage the Holy Spirit directed Isaiah to write, He describes the reason why He came.

Jesus came to “preach the gospel to the poor”. When looking at this phrase that was written about Jesus’ ministry, I find it amazing that, as prophesied, Jesus focused on sharing God’s message with the lowest rung of society’s ladder. While I don’t doubt that a good percentage of those listening to Jesus were monetarily poor, I wonder if poor in this context could also mean poor in ways that are more than money. In a spiritual angle to this phrase, I wonder if Jesus came to share, encourage, and uplift those who could be described as being poor in spirit, which is another way of saying that they knew they had fallen away from God and were looking for a way back.

Jesus came to “proclaim release to the captives”. In this phrase, I believe Jesus fulfilled this idea in a spiritual sense more than in a literal or political sense. I also find it interesting that Jesus is described as “proclaiming release”, but not on directly releasing – at least in this phrase. In my mind, this phrase makes the most sense if we understand Jesus to be releasing people who are trapped in sin. Another, similar angle we could use is that Jesus came to proclaim God’s love and forgiveness towards those who felt as though their lives were held captive by sin.

Jesus came to give “sight to the blind”. While this phrase is easily understood in Jesus’ miracle healings, and on giving literal sight to many who were blind, the spiritual angle of Jesus’ words is that He wants to give spiritual sight to those who were spiritually blind. In John 9:39-41, after healing a literally blind man, Jesus briefly talks with some Pharisees present who Jesus suggests were spiritually blind, while they insist that they can see. Jesus came to help those who were willing to spiritually see past their preconceived ideas surrounding what God was doing and open their eyes to the ultimate Messiah that He sent into our world.

Jesus came to “set free those who are oppressed”. In an oddly chiastic, or poetic way, this phrase connects nicely with the phrase about proclaiming release for captives. While earlier, Jesus draws attention to proclaiming freedom, in this phrase, Jesus actually sets free those who are oppressed. In one spiritual understanding of this phrase, Jesus came to set free those who were oppressed by the extensive lists of spiritual rules and regulations that were present during that era. Jesus also spiritually freed those who were carrying the weight of sin and the emotional load of its consequences. Jesus accomplished this by giving His life on the cross.

Jesus came to “proclaim the favorable year of the Lord”. Through Jesus’ life and His ministry, He paid the penalty for sin, and opened the way for humanity to receive God’s favor. While I suspect that on one hand, the year Jesus died could be understood as being the favorable year of the Lord, a case could be made that the year Jesus was born as a baby was that favorable year. Other options include the year the angel spoke to Zechariah breaking centuries of silence which we focused on earlier this year, or even a year that is still to come, which would be most closely connected with Jesus’ return and the end of sin. This phrase spiritually makes sense when understanding that whenever the favorable year of the Lord is, the only reason it is favorable is because of what Jesus did for us.

In this scripture written by Isaiah, and drawn upon by Jesus, we get a beautiful overview of Jesus’ life and ministry, and Jesus’ mission to this world.

Also, in an interesting way, we see in these five phrases, five big phases of Jesus’ ministry throughout history: In the early points in history, God sets the least likely people apart for Him. God proclaims freedom for the Israelites who were living in captivity after having set them apart. When Jesus walked the earth, He gave sight to the blind, and through His death, He set free those who were oppressed. In the last portion of History, Jesus is ready and eager to proclaim the year of God’s favor, and the point in time when sin will be forever sent to the past.

While I have no idea whether this broad understanding of these five phrases is an understanding that fits all the details, even if this angle on this passage misses the mark, I can see Jesus’ ministry to this world and to humanity as being a fulfillment of all these ideas and themes.

Jesus came to preach the great news; Jesus came to proclaim release; Jesus came to give sight to the blind; Jesus came to set free the oppressed; and Jesus came to announce that through Jesus’ sacrifice and His gift, God wants to pour His favor onto you, and He wants to redeem you for eternity.

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

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to accept the gift that He offers to you through what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God through what the Bible teaches us about Jesus.

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!

As we continue moving through Luke’s gospel, we come to the point when Luke decides to insert one of Jesus’ most important parables. Jesus even frames this parable as being so significant that understanding it will affect how we understand all His other parables. Also, in our discussion of this parable is the challenge that not everyone will be able to understand what Jesus has shared; but with that said, Jesus does not want you or me to be excluded from those given understanding.

Let’s read this parable and then discover what Jesus wants to teach us about God within it. Our passage and parable are found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 8, and we will read from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 4, Luke tells us that:

⁴ One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: ⁵ “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. ⁶ Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

Let’s pause here for a moment, because how Jesus has just concluded this parable challenges us to listen and understand. Jesus finishes by calling out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand”.

While a skeptic might call Jesus out for excluding those without hearing in this statement, when reading the gospels, it appears as though Jesus healed people before He taught the crowds. When someone who needed healing showed up, Jesus would stop teaching to focus on healing, or at the very least, He would shift the focus of what He was teaching to include healing. Jesus loved healing people.

With this in mind, I doubt there was a deaf person in the crowd when Jesus spoke these words, even though there may have been people present who had been deaf when they woke up that morning.

This parable emphasizes a number of big ideas. First, Jesus emphasizes a farmer sowing seed. While the farmer is planting seeds in his field, it appears he isn’t overly careful about where the seeds land, since some of the seed lands on less than ideal soil. Some seed lands on a footpath and it couldn’t take root; some seed fell among rocks, but it also couldn’t grow well; and some seed fell among thorns, which allowed it to grow, but not very long.

However, from the seed that fell on good soil, the farmer gained a crop that was a hundred times what had been planted.

This is a great parable, but it can be interpreted in many different ways beyond simply being a story about a farmer with no underlying meaning attached.

Because of this, I believe the disciples wanted clarification, so they ask Jesus what this parable meant.

Continuing in verse 9, Luke tells us:

⁹ His disciples asked him [Jesus] what this parable meant. ¹⁰ He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:

‘When they look, they won’t really see.
    When they hear, they won’t understand.’

¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. ¹² The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. ¹³ The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. ¹⁴ The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. ¹⁵ And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

Reading this explanation Jesus gives is powerful. Jesus first emphasizes that He teaches in parables so that there is a distinct level of obscurity in the truth He shares. This is to keep people who are uninterested in God’s truth from learning it, and to allow the Holy Spirit room to work in the lives and hearts of those who truly want to hear, understand, and apply Jesus’ teaching.

However, Jesus then shares the explanation of this parable. In this parable, the seed represents God’s word and the various places the seed lands represent different types of people that hear Gods word and what they ultimately do with what they hear.

But there is a character in this parable that is not explained. Nowhere in Jesus’ explanation do we see Him describe who the farmer represents. This lack of a detail is crucial for us to pay attention to, because if Jesus drew extra significance to this parable, as He does in Matthew and Mark, why would He have intentionally left out who the farmer represents?

This is important, because the only description we have for the farmer is that he sowed seed. Since Jesus tells us the seed represents God’s Word, the farmer is one who shares God’s Word with others. Following this understanding to its logical conclusion, Jesus fulfilled the role of the farmer when He was teaching and preaching the crowds, and the disciples fulfilled the role of the farmer when they were teaching the people following Jesus’ return to heaven.

Ultimately, the farmer is a role that we step in to when we share God’s Word with others.

What about the Holy Spirit?

In one way, the Holy Spirit could be considered the farmer, but I think the Holy Spirit plays a different, more subtle role. In this parable, I believe the Holy Spirit shows up in directing where the seed lands, and in the preparation of the soil where the seeds are able to grow the best. In this parable, similar to how Jesus shared that not everyone would be able to understand His teaching, I believe the Holy Spirit is directly involved in the growth of the seed into being ready for harvest!

In this parable, we have another subtle truth. With the Holy Spirit actively working preparing soil, we have the choice of which type of soil we will be. While we might be among the first three types of soil to begin with, when we ask for God’s help, specifically the Holy Spirit’s help, we might discover that a footpath that was too hard to take root becomes broken up enough for the seed to grow. We might also find that with the Holy Spirit’s help, what was once rocky soil has the rocks removed and nutrients added allowing us to grow. And we might also discover that what was once a thorn patch along the side of the road has had the thorns removed allowing us to grow. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can grow into maturity regardless of what type of soil we believe ourselves to have been before meeting Jesus.

As we grow, we are able to step into the farmer’s role and begin spreading God’s word to others. In many ways, this parable describes the mission and methods of Jesus’ disciples and God’s followers. Wherever you are in your growth journey with God, be sure to ask the Holy Spirit for help moving forward!

God wants the best life for us, and I believe the best life for us in God’s mind is an eternal life in a recreated world. While God is more than willing to walk with us in this sinful world, He wants to help us grow and prepare us for the future sinless world that He desires us to be a part of!

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. Choose to ask the Holy Spirit for help growing with God and intentionally step into the farmer role and share Jesus with others. When we share God with others, we partner with the Holy Spirit and we shouldn’t be surprised when the Holy Spirit shows up to help us spread the great news about Jesus!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. While a pastor, speaker, author, or even a podcaster can share interesting ideas, filter everything you hear and read through the lens of the Bible to discover what God really wants for you. While the Bible might not speak to the technology of our world today, the Bible is amazingly relevant for our culture and for what we face spiritually as humans.

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!

As Jesus begins His public ministry, we arrive at another fulfilled prophecy from the Old Testament. This particular prophecy is fascinating in my mind, and part of me is a little surprised that it doesn’t get much attention. Overall, this prophecy is a little easy to skim over, but when we decide to do this, we miss being reminded of an amazing aspect of God’s character.

The prophecy we will be focusing in on is found early on in the book of Isaiah, specifically in the first part of chapter 9. For our podcast time together, we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Isaiah the prophet writes:

¹ But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

² The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
³ You shall multiply the nation,
You shall increase their gladness;
They will be glad in Your presence
As with the gladness of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
⁴ For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
⁵ For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
⁶ For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

In these seven verses, we have one of the most amazing pictures of the Messiah in the entire Bible. Not only does this prophecy begin with the Messiah being sent to a region known for being heavily populated with Gentiles, which is simply a descriptive catch-all word to describe those who are not Jewish, but this prophecy ends with the Messiah setting up His kingdom, which will have no end.

Reading this prophecy, and how it is framed helps us understand how those living in the first century could see the Messiah coming with military strength, and ultimately launching a successful attack against the Romans. This is because tucked within the middle of this passage is language that suggests the One God sends successfully freeing God’s people from those who oppress them.

However, when we move into the New Testament, it is interesting that at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He steps into the first portion of this prophecy to fulfill it. In Matthew’s gospel, chapter 4, starting in verse 12, we learn that:

¹² [Now] when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; ¹³ and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

¹⁵ “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶ “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light,
And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death,
Upon them a Light dawned.”

Here at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth, after He had been baptized and had spent time in the wilderness being tempted, we discover that Jesus stepped directly into fulfilling this prophecy by initially settling in Capernaum, which was within the region of Galilee. It is interesting in my mind that this prophecy specifically describes Galilee as being a region of Gentiles, rather than being a region of Jews. While Galilee was technically within Israel’s borders, or at least the borders that were established when Moses and Joshua brought the people of Israel to this region, over the centuries between that point and when Jesus walked the earth, politics had isolated this region away from the rest of Israel.

We know this because Samaria, which was also technically within Israel’s borders, was shunned and looked down on by the Jews. While we don’t have time to dig into the reasons for this in our time together, the prejudice against those living in Samaria was so strong that most every Jew would travel a much longer road around Samaria, rather than go through it. This longer road would logically isolate Galilee in the north, from Jerusalem and the other Jewish territories in the south. This isolation would also logically attract a greater number of non-Jews, or in other words, Gentiles.

While in other places and at later points in Jesus’ ministry, we find pushback against Jesus for being from Nazareth, which wasn’t very far away from Capernaum, the detail that Jesus began His ministry here and that this was prophesied about centuries earlier is incredible. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the religious leaders knew this detail, but that they pushed it aside because it didn’t fit with the picture of the Messiah that they had created. The religious leaders at that time had a picture that was more in line with the middle and last portions of the prophecy we read, and I suspect that they skimmed over the first part which was less interesting.

However, for us living today, the first portion of this prophecy is powerful. Not only do we see Jesus fulfill the first part of this prophecy in how He begins His ministry, we see a powerful picture of God’s character as well.

In this prophecy, we see God stepping into history, and into a place that is described as being in darkness. Jesus came as a light that shines in the darkness. While it would be understandable if Jesus stepped into earth’s history into a place filled with people who were expecting Him, this is not what happened. Instead, Jesus begins in a place where most of those present were not actively looking for Him. Jesus came to a group of people who may have felt isolated through no direct fault of their own.

As a representative of God, Jesus teaches us that God is willing to come to those who feel isolated, abandoned, or outcast. Jesus came to a people who were not religious in the typical sense of the word. Jesus began His ministry among those who needed God’s light, God’s love, and God’s encouragement, and amazingly, many of Jesus’ disciples were people who lived within this place.

If you have felt distant, alone, abandoned, or in need of God’s light, love, and/or encouragement, then let’s take this prophecy as Jesus fulfilled it. Jesus came to people who felt like this, and Jesus called people who appeared to be the least religious.

Jesus loves those who society has rejected. Jesus loves those who are abandoned. And Jesus invites those who the world has given up on to come follow Him, and let Him transform them into the people He sees.

Jesus is calling you and me to follow Him. While our world is significantly different than the first century world, Jesus is interested in us as followers, because when we ally and align our lives with His, we can grow into being the people God created us to be at the point in history where He placed us in to live. While we might not get all our questions answered on this side of heaven, we can know and trust that God has a reason for giving us breath, and that with Him, we will be able to discover it as we move forward through life!

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 ally your life with His in order to grow into being the person He created you to be. Move forward each day with God and let Him lead and guide you along the path He created you to walk.

As we move forward with God, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with Him. While other people can give you things to think about and ideas worth considering, take what you read, hear, and see to the truth found in the Bible. Through the pages of the Bible, discover God’s big picture of History, and how everything centers around God’s love for sinful, fallen humanity. Let Jesus redeem you and invite you into a relationship with Him that can begin today, and that will extend into 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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue reading Luke’s gospel, we come to an event that may be in the other gospels, or it may not be. From the details, it is difficult to be certain. This is because one of the big details of this event is found in the other three gospels, but that is about the only thing this event shares. The events in Matthew, Mark, and John almost certainly describe the same event, but Luke’s version takes a completely different direction.

The event in question is when a woman comes and anoints Jesus’ feet shortly before His crucifixion. While the other three gospels place this event near the cross, Luke places a very similar sounding event early on in Jesus’ ministry and Luke draws our attention onto a very different set of details from this event which prompts me to lean towards the event in Luke being a different event than the other gospels.

Let’s read what happened and discover what we can learn from Luke’s gospel describing Jesus’ feet being anointed. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 7, and we will read from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 36, Luke tells us:

³⁶ When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. ³⁸ As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰ Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

⁴¹ “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴ Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

One of the big reasons I see this event being a separate event from the event Matthew, Mark, and John include is that nothing is even hinted at in Jesus’ response about the woman’s gift preparing Him for burial. Instead, the big context of Luke’s version of this event teaches on forgiveness, and on how we shouldn’t judge others. It also isn’t a great stretch in my mind to think that two different women would want to honor Jesus by pouring perfume on Him.

It also isn’t a stretch in my mind to think that Jesus visited Simon’s home more than one time either.

However, it also isn’t difficult for me to think that this was one event and Luke’s gospel focused on one theme Jesus wanted us to learn from this event, while the other gospel writers use this event to foreshadow Jesus’ death, burial, and to give context for Judas deciding to be the betrayer.

With that said, what can we learn from Luke’s unique details?

As I shared earlier, Luke’s version of this event focuses on how it is unwise for us to judge or look down on others, and to emphasize forgiveness. While we don’t know what prompted Simon the Pharisee to invite Jesus to his home, if this is the same Simon of the other gospels, Matthew and Mark describe him as a leper, implying that Jesus cured him of his leprosy.

If this is the same Simon, then it is interesting to see his response when the woman comes and pours the perfume on Jesus’ feet. The first thing we see Simon do is subtly judge or look down on Jesus because of His interaction with this woman. Verse 39 describes this by saying Simon said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

While more people than just Simon appeared to look down on this gift, or a gift very similar to this as the other gospel writers emphasize, Simon’s first angle of judging is judging Jesus by association.

Judging someone by association is something that is common in this culture, and while there is a level of validity in thinking this way, Luke’s event and Jesus’ counter message to Simon push back saying that context matters.

The reason we know context matters is God associates with sinners. Jesus came into this world because God loves sinners. While God doesn’t love the sin, that isn’t going to stop Him from seeking out the sinner.

While it is a cliché to say that God loves the sinner but He hates the sin, this is true. However, too often, this phrase is shared is a less than ideal way, or it is heard in a judgmental way. It is entirely possible for someone to hear this phrase and think “God will only love me when I don’t sin”.

This phrase, while easy to remember and share, has another angle where it is challenging. In our world today, though perhaps this has been the case for every generation and culture in history, a person’s actions gets connected with their identity. We see this most clearly and innocently when we identify a person with their occupation, such as a builder, a baker, or an engineer. It also extends to physical attributes, like having long or short hair, black or blonde hair, being shorter or tall, being of a certain ethnicity, and other things like this. A person’s occupation and physical characteristics becomes a part of what identifies them.

However, it doesn’t stop there, if a person has a tendency to act a certain way, then that could become a part of their identity as well. This could include lying, stealing, bullying, or a host of other negative characteristics. If a person has accepted and views their identity as being simply what they do, then if what they do is considered a sin, saying that God loves sinners but hates the sin sounds just as judgmental as simply saying God hates those who sin. For many people, the identity of a sinner is wrapped up in the sin because our identities are most often focused on what we do.

What is rarely ever acknowledged in this phrase, while it really should be is that God sees everyone as being infinitely more than what they do or how they look. God looks past your physical characteristics, past your genes, and past your actions and He sees a child of God – or in other words, someone He helped create! God loves you regardless of who you are or what you do. However, God is never going to join you in doing something He would consider sinful.

The other angle of this theme of forgiveness is that forgiveness erases the debt imbalance. If two people have sins in their lives, and one person’s sins are significantly greater in number than the other person’s sins, forgiveness erases the debt and they are on the exact same level. Both debts have been erased. When God forgives our sin, it is like He erases our debt and all that is left is the essence of who we are that He loves. What we do, what we look like, or what is in our genes is not relevant when discussing God’s love.

Jesus assured this woman that her sins were forgiven, because He wanted her to move forward in a new life with God without the cloud of her past weighing her down. Jesus wants us to know that God has forgiven us because He wants us to begin or continue our lives with Him without the sins of our past weighing us down. God wants to redeem us out of sin and into new, eternal lives, with Him!

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 and know that when God looks at you, He loves who He sees you as over who you see yourself as. God sees you through His eyes, and His eyes look past the sin you have wrapped up into your identity. God’s desire is to help you see you as He sees you, and to fall in love with Him like He has fallen in love with you!

Discover who God really is by praying and studying the Bible for yourself. In the pages of the Bible, discover just how much God loves you. Don’t let anyone get between you and God because God wants a personal relationship with you, and for a relationship to be personal, it doesn’t include other people.

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