Reflective Bible Study

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to be fruitful in whatever season you are in. Whether you are resting in the winter or growing fruit at various stages during the spring, summer, and fall seasons, intentionally be fruitful with what God has blessed you with in the season of life you are in.

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

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

At the end of a long twenty-four hours and the end of a tiring night of fighting the wind while crossing the lake, Jesus and His disciples arrive at Gennesaret. However, while some of the gospel writers have stopped giving details, Matthew and Mark include a few verses about what happened after they landed.

While it would be very easy to skim over these verses in favor of a more glamorous miracle, I wonder if you’ll catch some interesting details in these three verses that remind you of miracles we have already looked at.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 14, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 34, Matthew tells us that:

³⁴ They crossed the sea and landed at Gennesaret. ³⁵ The men there recognized Jesus and sent messengers all around the countryside. The people brought him everyone who was sick. ³⁶ They begged him to let them touch just the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.

Do you remember earlier this year we spent an episode that focused on a woman pushing her way through a crowd just to touch the edge of Jesus’ garment? When reading our passage for this episode, this miracle comes to mind. This got me thinking about where the woman’s miracle took place. While the gospels aren’t real explicit about where the synagogue leader who Jesus was going to help lived, when we read the broader context, we can conclude that that set of miracles likely happened in Capernaum.

I then did a quick search and discovered that Gennesaret and Capernaum were neighboring cities on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. What we read in the three summary verses we are focusing on in this episode is likely a direct result of the miracle we read about where the woman pushed her way through the crowd. All these miracles show us one big, clear theme: Faith, when added to just a sliver of Jesus, is capable of extraordinary miracles. The faith of all these people, when mixed with a momentary touch of Jesus’ garment experienced healing.

However, while looking up Gennesaret, I discovered that another prominent miracle happened here, and this other miracle is one that we looked at earlier this year as well. While Matthew and Mark are the gospels that give us the summary we are focusing in on in this episode, Luke, chapter 5, shares a different miracle that happened at Gennesaret.

Luke’s Gennesaret miracle is where Peter and the other fishermen disciples get a miraculous catch of fish. It is likely that while Jesus may have been raised in Nazareth, the group of most famous disciples, specifically Peter, Andrew, James, and John very well could have grown up in Gennesaret. This is where their fishing business was centered, and it was where Jesus invited them to become followers and “fishers of men”.

While some might think that it is too great of a stretch to take, my mind clearly sees a connection between the miraculous catch of fish miracle, and the miracles we see included in these transition verses. While it would be easy to connect the passages by saying that both events include faith, it is significant in my mind the type of faith that each of these events display. When we look at both of these events and the faith that each includes, we discover that each event and each miracle has faith built on the foundation of another person’s experience or word.

When we look at Jesus asking Peter to go out fishing when it was the worst time of day for catching fish, Peter takes Jesus up on the challenge. The little bit of faith Peter had, whether it was based on seeing if Jesus would be right or proving Jesus wrong, Peter and the other fishermen take Jesus at His word and experience a miraculous catch of fish that should not have happened.

In our transition passage of miracles, we discover that this region likely had heard about the woman’s almost secret miracle, and they were willing to claim the truth that if touching Jesus’ garment healed someone else, then touching it personally would be enough to heal me. All the sick people who were brought to Jesus simply wanted to touch his garment because they knew in their hearts that this simple act would heal them.

This makes me wonder something about faith: When we see people demonstrate faith in Jesus, does it show more faith to think Jesus can touch them and heal them personally, or does it display more faith to simply believe that touching the edge of His garment will make them well?

As I think about this, I imagine that those who believed that touching the edge of Jesus’ garment had more faith. If we were to imagine the formula for a miracle as the sum of two element: Jesus and faith, the more we increase Jesus, the less faith we would need, but the more faith we have, the less Jesus we would need. However, this does not necessarily mean that Jesus is not needed for a miracle to happen; it simply means that it would take an extraordinary level of faith to overcome the absence of Jesus.

This detail is incredibly relevant for us today. If miracles work based on this formula, and provided that the miracle will bring God glory, then our faith in this life is critically important. If we read about miracles in Jesus ministry where little faith is present, we can see Jesus is clearly present. This is the case for the miracle of the miraculous catch of fish. Peter likely had no faith, but only a desire to prove Jesus wrong. Any faith that was present was likely just enough to follow through with the actions of fishing to get his point across.

The next stage of faith is displayed by the sick people in the next time we see Gennesaret mentioned in the gospels. They have a lot of faith based on the evidence they had seen and heard about Jesus, and this means that their faith only needed to touch something connected with Jesus to be healed.

This doesn’t look too good for us living today, because the closest we can come to touching something of Jesus’ is by connecting with a group of people who are His followers – specifically people who are reflecting His character. This is something we can and should do, but it doesn’t mean that we can skimp at all regarding our faith. Instead, this means that we would need extraordinary faith in order to see miracles in our lives, and while this may sound discouraging, in our case, we have another option.

For those of us living 2,000+ years later, we have the option of leaning into the Holy Spirit for both our connection to Jesus and for our source of faith. With a Holy Spirit connection, we can have both the faith we need and the connection we need to see and experience miracles in our own lives. The big test of our faith is actually choosing to step out in faith that we will get answers and see the miracle.

I will be the first to say that sometimes the miracle doesn’t happen the way we’d expect it to, and other times, the miracle we are asking for doesn’t happen. However, the big thing for us to remember is that all the miracles Jesus did brought glory to God, and all the miracles we see Him doing today will ultimately bring glory to God as well. While it takes faith and trust to believe God knows what He is doing, we can have faith that every miracle we see today is given to help bring more people into a saving relationship with Jesus for eternity!

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

If you are uncertain how much faith you have or how much faith you need, don’t let your questions or doubt stop you from seeking God and from stepping out in faith. God rarely gives people the end picture before they have begun, and this is because knowing the end from the beginning, God knows we would either chicken out of His plan for us, or we’d get arrogant and try to push our own way. Learn to trust God and walk with Him one step of faith at a time!

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to continue growing personally towards God. God wants a personal connection with you and prayer and Bible study are two of the best ways to grow this connection!

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!

As we continue moving through the gospel of Mark, we come to an event where Mark gives the man being healed a name, while the other gospels that include this event chose not to. I don’t know why Mark gives this detail, but perhaps it was because this man was known in the region of Jericho and he helped the Christian church get started there.

From what I can tell, the man Jesus healed is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, but what Mark tells us about this event is powerful and an example we can follow in our own lives.

Let’s read what happened. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 10, and let’s read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 46, Mark tells us that:

⁴⁶ They came to Jericho, and as Jesus was leaving with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting by the road. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸ Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called the blind man. “Cheer up!” they said. “Get up, he is calling you.”

⁵⁰ So he threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.

⁵¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

“Teacher,” the blind man answered, “I want to see again.”

⁵² “Go,” Jesus told him, “your faith has made you well.”

At once he was able to see and followed Jesus on the road.

When reading this event, several details stand out that are worth paying attention to. In these details, we see an amazing picture of faith in Jesus.

The first detail is that we must be paying attention. While Bartimaeus might not have had the money to pay a guide to help him travel to find Jesus, he is very aware of Jesus being nearby and when he hears that Jesus is coming near him, he is ready. In our own lives, we should be paying attention and ready to come to Jesus when He is near. If we are already following Jesus, this could also challenge us to be paying attention for opportunities God sends our way and to be ready to help those in need.

The next detail for us to pay attention to is what Bartimaeus shouts to get Jesus’ attention. In Bartimaeus’ own words, we see the most basic prayer of faith. Bartimaeus says, “Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!” This short prayer is amazing, because it contains the two most important parts of prayer in it. Bartimaeus’ prayer acknowledges Jesus for who He is and it acknowledges us for who we are. When we pray, regardless of the type of prayer we pray, we should always acknowledge God for who He is, and we should acknowledge us for who we are.

In Bartimaeus’ case, he knew Jesus could heal him, and he knew that he needed healing. Asking for mercy is also interesting because it subtly recognizes that his blindness could be a punishment for a past sin. Bartimaeus’ request acknowledges that his past was not perfect, and with an imperfect past, he recognizes his need for a Savior. Every one of us has an imperfect past, and because of this we need Jesus as our Savior.

Next, we discover the crowd telling Bartimaeus to be quiet and to stop. When we demonstrate our faith in Jesus in visible ways, there will be resistance and other people will tell us to stop. If we are seeking a miracle or breakthrough in our own lives, stopping is the worst mistake we could make at this point. If Bartimaeus had stopped shouting, he would not have been healed.

When we face resistance to our visible faith, like Bartimaeus, we should resolve to lean in to our faith and display it stronger. When Bartimaeus was told to be quiet, he shouted even more loudly.

I am always surprised by the crowd in this event. On one hand, they want Bartimaeus to be quiet, but if they had stopped for a moment to pay attention, they would have realized that there was a miracle opportunity present, and if this crowd was like most crowds that followed Jesus, they would have wanted the opportunity to see another miracle.

Next in this event, Jesus acknowledges Bartimaeus and calls him to Him. Jesus’ message filters through the crowd and those who had been telling Bartimaeus to be quiet and now they get to tell Bartimaeus that Jesus has heard him.

When Bartimaeus is told Jesus has heard him, Mark tells us in verse 50 that, “he threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.” Some Bible scholars see this verse as significant. By throwing off his cloak, we see Bartimaeus leaving behind his earthly possessions when Jesus calls him to come. Bartimaeus does not hold onto anything alongside his faith in Jesus. When God calls us to follow Jesus, we might not be called to give up everything in our lives. However, we will be called to place Jesus first and to dedicate what we have been given to His service.

Next, when Bartimaeus comes near to Jesus, we see Jesus ask a simple question. Mark tells us in verse 51 that Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?”

While this might sound like an obvious question, there is nothing in what Bartimaeus shouted to indicate how he wanted mercy to be shown to him. Having mercy could be giving him back his eyesight, but it also could have been ending his life at that moment with the assurance of an eternal life in heaven. Having mercy could be asking for assurance that his sins were forgiven. While Jesus’ question sounds obvious, when we look a little closer, it is actually reasonable. Jesus has heard the cry for help, and He responds by asking Bartimaeus how would like to be helped.

Bartimaeus responds by requesting his eyesight to be returned, and Jesus grants this request. Jesus attributes this miracle to Bartimaeus’ faith. While it sounds simple, I see the key piece of this miracle not simply having a blind, directionless faith. Instead, Bartimaeus’ visible faith was placed in Jesus, and from Bartimaeus’ example, when we display our visible faith in Jesus, we can expect God to move in powerful ways.

The closing statement in this event is amazing. After being healed, Bartimaeus chooses to follow Jesus. Bartimaeus has left his cloak behind and dedicated himself to Jesus. When Jesus comes into our lives, we are challenged to follow Jesus. While Jesus told Bartimaeus to “go”, Bartimaeus chooses the direction he will go as intentionally following Jesus.

The miracle Bartimaeus experienced happened because he had faith in Jesus and because he made his faith visible. Jesus did not do this miracle seeking another follower, but when Jesus has shown mercy and restored our lives, what better way do we have to say thank you to Jesus than to dedicate our lives to Him! Jesus gave Bartimaeus his life back, and Bartimaeus, as an example for others to follow, dedicates his restored life back to 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 seek God first in your life and choose to dedicate your life to God. Regardless of if you have seen God show up in your life or not, choose to dedicate yourself to Him for no other reason than because of what Jesus did for you when He faced the cross. Jesus died the death we deserve and when we accept His sacrifice on our behalf, He offers us the eternal life He deserved in its place.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through personal prayer and study, discover how we can open our hearts to Jesus and grow a personal relationship. Don’t let anyone get between you and Jesus and choose to grow closer to Jesus each and every day.

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!

Immediately after the miracle where Jesus fed the crowd of over 5,000 people, we discover that He sends the disciples away. At the very end of last week’s passage, John told us that Jesus perceived that the people wanted to crown Him King and it is likely that the disciples would have not objected to this in any way. However, Jesus knew that being crowned an earthly king, while flattering, was not within God’s plan for glorifying Him before the people. Jesus also knew that being crowned King would ultimately not give honor to the Father.

This information sets the stage for our focus passage in this episode, and it leads into another miracle that is our focus for this week. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 14, and we will read it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 22, Matthew tells us that:

²² Jesus quickly made his disciples get into a boat and cross to the other side ahead of him while he sent the people away. ²³ After sending the people away, he went up a mountain to pray by himself. When evening came, he was there alone.

Pausing briefly, if you remember, two episodes ago, Mark’s gospel had set the stage for the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 with Jesus wanting to go and rest with His disciples. However, because of what had happened, we see in Matthew’s gospel that that night, Jesus rested and prayed alone while the disciples were crossing the lake without Him.

However, that night without Jesus was not peaceful for the disciples. Continuing reading in verse 24, Matthew shares that:

²⁴ The boat, now hundreds of yards from shore, was being thrown around by the waves because it was going against the wind.

²⁵ Between three and six o’clock in the morning, he came to them. He was walking on the sea. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. They said, “It’s a ghost!” and began to scream because they were afraid.

²⁷ Immediately, Jesus said, “Calm down! It’s me. Don’t be afraid!”

²⁸ Peter answered, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ Jesus said, “Come!” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he noticed how strong the wind was, he became afraid and started to sink. He shouted, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately, Jesus reached out, caught hold of him, and said, “You have so little faith! Why did you doubt?”

³² When they got into the boat, the wind stopped blowing. ³³ The men in the boat bowed down in front of Jesus and said, “You are truly the Son of God.”

In this miracle, we see some amazing themes and truths we can relate to in our own lives. After a whole night of rowing without making any progress, Jesus sees that the disciples need help. While I don’t know if any of them tried to command the wind and waves to be calm like Jesus had done earlier in His time with them, the disciples are trying in vain to cross the lake when it seems as though everything is working against them.

In this detail, we can see the idea that when we are not with Jesus, everything we try to do for Jesus is in vain. Without Jesus’ help, we are at the mercy of the waves of this life and at the mercy of the winds of culture. While we might be able to make progress on our own, any progress we do make would be nowhere near the progress that could be made if we were with Jesus. Without Jesus, the boat only reached a few hundred yards from the shore, which is not much progress when you are trying to cross the lake. But after Jesus entered the boat, reaching their destination was easy.

Also in this miracle is the powerful example we see in Peter. When all the disciples are fearful at the appearance of Jesus walking towards them on the water, only Peter has the courage to challenge Jesus on His claim, and in my imagination, before Peter even realizes it, he is jumping over the side of the boat and walking towards Jesus.

From what I’ve heard preachers and others say when describing this event is that Peter took His eyes off of Jesus, and this is what prompted him to start sinking. Some people have said that Peter’s downfall was when he looked back to see if the rest of the disciples were watching, which implies a prideful attitude that would lead to his sinking.

However, I don’t see anything in this event that hints at Peter looking back. Instead, all we see included in this event leading up to Peter’s sinking is two things. Verse 30 tells us that when Peter “noticed how strong the wind was, he became afraid and started to sink.” This statement is probably one of the most powerful statements in the entire Bible that relates to losing faith.

Note that there is nothing wrong with noticing how strong the wind was, but when we let the supposed strength of the wind exceed the faith in the power of God, we sink. In Peter’s noticing how strong the wind was, we could conclude that he took his eyes off of Jesus, but all it might have taken is a wave to break his concentration, or a splash of water.

Peter didn’t need to take his eyes off of Jesus to know that the wind and waves were strong. He had spent the entire previous part of the night rowing against the wind and waves. The critical phrase for us to pay attention to is Peter becoming afraid when walking towards Jesus. When Peter’s fear became greater than his faith, the only thing left was gravity, which pulled him down into the water. When our faith takes a second place seat to our fear, nothing we do will be successful. Faith is powerful, and faith plus Jesus is unstoppable.

As we move through the coming days, weeks, and months this year, remember to keep your faith stronger than your fear, and step forward with your faith into the life God has called you to live!

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

Always seek God and place Him first in your life. Intentionally move forward in life with a strong focus on growing your faith. Live intentionally with a faith that is stronger than your fear and when you mix this faith with Jesus, nothing Satan does can stop you from living the life God has called you to live.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and mature your faith in Him. God wants a personal relationship with you, and a personal relationship starts when you personally spend time with God praying, reading, studying, and listening to what He wants to share with you. A personal relationship with God is way more powerful than simply leaning on others for your spiritual knowledge.

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 scared out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!