Reflective Bible Study

After being rejected in His hometown of Nazareth, Mark’s gospel transitions to Jesus sending His disciples out to spread God’s message. Whether this was directly because of the rejection Jesus faced, or because Jesus wanted to teach the disciples a big truth, Mark transitions us to this event, and he specifically includes some of Jesus’ instructions to the disciples as they head out.

Let’s read what Mark tells us and discover some things we can learn from Jesus sending out His disciples. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 7, Mark tells us that Jesus:

⁷ [He] called the 12 disciples to him. Then he began to send them out two by two. He gave them authority to drive out evil spirits.

⁸ Here is what he told them to do. “Take only a walking stick for your trip. Do not take bread or a bag. Take no money in your belts. ⁹ Wear sandals. But do not take extra clothes. ¹⁰ When you are invited into a house, stay there until you leave town. ¹¹ Some places may not welcome you or listen to you. If they don’t, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet. That will be a witness against the people living there.”

¹² They went out. And they preached that people should turn away from their sins. ¹³ They drove out many demons. They poured olive oil on many sick people and healed them.

In this short passage, we discover some amazing ideas. Probably the first amazing thing is that Jesus gives His disciples the authority to drive out evil spirits. While we can learn from the detail of Jesus sending His disciples out in pairs, this strategy is less amazing than the incredible thought that Jesus would give sinful, people the authority to drive out evil spirits.

It is even a little more amazing to think that this passage strongly implies that Judas Iscariot would have been included in this. Judas Iscariot was the disciple who would later let Satan into his life prompting his betrayal of Jesus, and here, earlier in Jesus’ ministry, Judas Iscariot is given the power and authority to drive evil spirits out of other people.

However, in Jesus’ instructions to the disciples, another big idea stands out in my mind. Jesus tells the disciples to basically travel empty-handed. All Jesus tells them they can take are the clothes they are currently wearing, a walking stick, and sandals for their feet. This would be equivalent to what someone might take if they were going for an afternoon walk, but not for a month-long or more trip. While near the end of Jesus’ time on earth, He tells the disciples to pack a little more when they travel from that point forward, I believe this first missionary-like trip emphasizes dependence and acceptance.

Jesus then tells the disciples to stay at one place in town as long as they are welcome, and to silently reject the towns that reject them. While shaking the dust off of their feet would be visible to those who are watching, this action is not disruptive or obnoxious in any way.

Similar to how Jesus had been rejected in Nazareth, Jesus emphasizes that some of the disciples would likely experience rejection in the towns they visited. It’s possible that depending on how many towns Jesus asked the disciples to travel to, all six pairs of disciples faced rejection at least once.

When reading this event and wondering about the territory that was covered in this evangelistic campaign, I am curious if there was no overlap between disciple pairs covering the town. In other words, I am curious if one pair of disciples was rejected at their first or second town, if later on, a different pair of disciples stopped to share at the same town and was met with success. Something I have noticed as I have traveled speaking is that different people respond differently to different people. It is possible that the former tax collector Matthew could have been rejected because of his reputation, but James, who was a fisherman before becoming a disciple, was accepted.

In this passage, we have no indication how long the disciples traveled and we have no indication how many towns Jesus asked them to visit. It is quite likely that Jesus gave these disciples this detail, but that these details are not relevant to the bigger themes that the disciples understood Jesus to be teaching.

However, just like what we saw that was amazing at the opening of our passage, we discover an amazing idea and truth at the close of our passage. At the opening of our passage, we discovered how Jesus gives His disciples the power to drive out evil spirits. At the close of this passage, we discover how their missionary journey was successful. Not only were the disciples able to drive evil spirits out, they preached a message of repentance, and they healed many sick people as well. In the lives of these disciples, in this event we see evidence of the Holy Spirit being with them while Jesus was alive on earth.

When reading the summary of what happened, it is amazing to see what is not said alongside what was said. While about half of the instructions Jesus shares with the disciples relates to responding when a town rejects the disciples, nothing is even indicated that any town rejected any pair of disciples. This either tells me that the instructions Jesus gave regarding this point were not needed, or more likely, that the disciples simply didn’t focus on or dwell on the rejection that they did face. Instead, the disciples focused on the towns and people they were able to help and bless, and this truth is a great point to remember.

While it is easy to remember and focus on the points when people rejected us in our past, remembering our rejection is never positive. Instead, we should remember the times when God has used us in powerful and/or significant ways, and seek to place ourselves in situations where God can work powerfully in us again. God used these disciples to bless the towns that accepted them, and God is more than willing to use us to bless our communities when we let Him lead our lives as well!

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 let His Holy Spirit guide and direct your steps. While it might seem that at times God is silent, during those times, I recommend living your life as a witness for God and to focus on growing your personal relationship with Him.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even a random podcaster can give you ideas to think about, take everything you learn and discover and test it against the truth of the Bible. God has giving us everything we need to strengthen our spiritual lives in the pages of the Bible, and the Bible gives us many warnings about traps our spiritual lives can face. With prayer and study, we can learn from God how to best live for Him in a world that is opposed to God in almost every way imaginable.

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 transition more fully into Jesus’ ministry and the miracles the gospel writers include, we discover that the religious leaders began to dislike Jesus. In our last episode, Jesus appeared to challenge their view of God being the only source of forgiveness, and this didn’t sit well with them, even if Jesus was more than willing, and able, to help people with His healing ability.

While we could call the religious leaders jealous of Jesus, jealousy covers some of their feelings, but not all of them. While there likely were some religious leaders who wished to have Jesus’ ability to help others, I think that most disliked Him for directing the people to a different view of the scriptures and of prophecy. They also disliked Jesus for not thinking that the things they believed were important were important.

The miracle we will be focusing on in our passage for this episode is one of these early miracles that challenged the religious leaders regarding their beliefs. While they could not argue with Jesus’ logic, they disliked the angle Jesus chose to share His message. Let’s read what happened.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, and we will be reading it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 9, Matthew tells us that:

⁹ Jesus left that place and went to a synagogue, ¹⁰ where there was a man who had a paralyzed hand. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they asked him, “Is it against our Law to heal on the Sabbath?”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath? Will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² And a human being is worth much more than a sheep! So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath.” ¹³ Then he said to the man with the paralyzed hand, “Stretch out your hand.”

He stretched it out, and it became well again, just like the other one. ¹⁴ Then the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

In our passage, the Pharisees in this synagogue could not argue with Jesus’ logic, but they also disliked the angle Jesus reframed the discussion. Up to this point, these religious leaders had focused entirely on the list of things that shouldn’t be done on the Sabbath. They had very detailed lists and definitions of what would be considered work verses something that was acceptable.

Because the religious leaders already knew the only answer they would accept, when Jesus tells them a different answer, they make plans to kill Him. It is unclear whether this was the beginnings of the plot to kill Jesus, or if Jesus subtly avoided these early attempts to kill Him, similar to what He did in the Nazareth synagogue when the leaders there wanted to throw Him off a cliff.

However, in Jesus’ answer and in the miracle itself, we discover an amazing perspective on the Sabbath. When discussing the Sabbath with most Christians living today, the impression one gets is that it was entirely negative, it was oppressive, it was nailed to the cross, and/or it is something that God gave exclusively to the Jewish nation and we don’t have to bother with it today. Very few Christians see the Sabbath as a specific day of the week and the perspective that this day has been given as a gift to us.

But in Jesus’ response, we see the contrast with what the religious leaders of that day believed, and we see how Jesus’ response contrasts what many Christians believe about this day today.

The Pharisees present in this synagogue likely had staged this scene to challenge Jesus on this point. The Pharisees ask Jesus to directly answer if healing someone on the Sabbath is breaking the Sabbath day’s rest.

However, Jesus doesn’t answer the question as directly as they would have preferred. First, Jesus shares the illustration of a sheep falling into a hole and how everyone present would agree that it is okay to lift the sheep out. Even if someone else was passing by, it would be okay to help because no money was being exchanged, and because this sort of thing was a spontaneous need.

Then Jesus shifts to remind us that human beings are worth much more than sheep. While there is a push in the world to think of humans as being equal to the animals, in God’s eyes, there is a difference in value. God doesn’t see animals as worthless, but He sees animals as having value, and humans as having a greater value.

Not to go on too far of a tangent, but God values animals more than we do, and He values us as humans so much that Jesus came to give His life for us! This is the measure of value God uses to value humanity. Jesus didn’t become a cat, dog, monkey, or even an insect to save those creatures, but He did come to earth as a human to save each of us!

To draw His answer to a clear conclusion, Jesus states that it is perfectly acceptable to help other people on the Sabbath. Jesus then uses less effort than one would use to lift a sheep out of a hole by telling the man to extend his hand, and in this action, the hand was healed.

When viewing the Sabbath, Jesus saw it as an opportunity to rest, remember what God has done for us, and a day where we can be free to help each other. In Jesus’ eyes, the Sabbath is a gift given to a perfect world at the conclusion of creation week, and there is no reason to even think that this gift would only be for a small segment of His creation, or even that this gift wouldn’t be present in the perfectly recreated new heaven and new earth.

The Sabbath as a gift brings with it opportunity not oppression, and it should be a day where we remember God and give thanks to Him for what He has done for each of us.

These religious leaders saw the Sabbath as a day dedicated to God, and one that God wanted His creation to honor and respect. While this isn’t a false idea, the picture they painted of God is that He was keeping track of how well or poorly His people were respecting this day, and their belief was that if the people disrespected it too much, God would become angry and kick them out of their land. This did happen in the nation’s history, but they misrepresented God’s love and grace by emphasizing the legalism because they feared God would do it again if they kept disobeying Him.

The Jews twisted God’s gift and made it a curse, and most Christians believe that Jesus erased both the blessing and the curse of Sabbath when He came. However, this miracle doesn’t say anything about the Sabbath being removed or erased. Instead, Jesus elevated the Sabbath back to being a gift for humanity, and a day that we are free to help each other while giving thanks to God.

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

Continue to seek God first in your life and choose to honor His Sabbath as a day of rest, and as a gift given to us where we can remember what He has done for us while spending time with others. Choose to see Sabbath as an opportunity for a closer relationship with God and not as an oppressive rule from a cruel deity.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn what God really wants to teach you. If you haven’t studied the Sabbath and its significance in God’s eyes, then that would be a great topic to study. The Bible gives us everything we need to be able to see the Sabbath as God sees it, and we also can learn exactly what day of the week it is. Choose to accept God’s Sabbath over what tradition wants to claim was changed or done away with.

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 moving through Mark’s gospel, we come to an event where one key detail is the lack of faith of those present. While all four gospels routinely demonstrate and highlight the faith of many of those Jesus healed, this event actually highlights the exact opposite. I have a suspicion that several of the gospels include this event as a warning to us about how easy it can be to choose doubt over faith, and to reject someone God sends your way because of petty details.

Let’s read this event and discover what we can learn from what happened when Jesus traveled to a place that was very familiar to Him. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read out of the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ Jesus left that place and went back to his hometown, followed by his disciples. ² On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed. “Where did he get all this?” they asked. “What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles? ³ Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?” And so they rejected him.

⁴ Jesus said to them, “Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family.”

⁵ He was not able to perform any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ He was greatly surprised, because the people did not have faith.

Then Jesus went to the villages around there, teaching the people.

In this event, we see Jesus returning to His hometown, which was Nazareth, and to the synagogue that He likely grew up in. An amazing detail I see in this passage is the progression of Jesus’ rejection. Stepping through the phrases of verses 2 and 3, we see that the first reaction people had was amazement: “Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed.”

When thinking about what makes people amazed, a number of different reasons can come to mind. Among those things are being amazed because something is profoundly different and/or better. Another reason might be because something is shocking in some way. A third reason might be because something that seemed impossible just happened.

In the context of our passage and event, it is likely in my mind that the amazement came because Jesus now spoke or taught differently than before. While I don’t know if He had ever spoken up or taught in the synagogue during the time He grew up in the area, the passage suggests that He might have since those present have a somewhat startled response.

The next phrase leads us to where these people start their logical progression. They asked each other, “Where did he get all this?” In the context of our passage, the phrase “all this” could refer both to the truth He taught, and/or to the band of disciples that was tagging along with Him. Unlike other places that Jesus taught, those in Nazareth would have known that Jesus did not attend any formal school and Jesus did not sit at the feet of any great teacher or Rabbi that they were aware of. For the last 10 or so years, Jesus had simply been a carpenter and the son of a carpenter, not a teacher or healer or anyone significant or noteworthy.

Following the first question, the next one begins to plant the seeds of doubt. After wondering out loud where Jesus got what He had, they clarify specifically what they are referring to by asking: “What wisdom is this that has been given him?” In a subtle way, those present understand that what Jesus shared was amazing truth, and they recognize the wisdom in Jesus’ words, but they had a hard time accepting that the wisdom Jesus shared may have been through personal study or directly from God. While those in this synagogue admit that Jesus shared wisdom that Sabbath, they immediately turn to looking for a logical source for this wisdom.

With this seed of doubt planted, they then turn to another question they cannot answer. The next question is based on rumors that they had heard. They ask each other: “How does he perform miracles?” While we understand the miracles Jesus did were because the Holy Spirit had filled His life, those in the synagogue set themselves up to reject Jesus by asking the big impossible question. While they can admit Jesus had some wise things to say, they cannot find a source for this wisdom, and asking about how a miracle is done when one doesn’t have faith means that they won’t ever find or accept the truth. With the first three questions the people in the Nazareth synagogue ask, we have questions that they are unwilling or unable to answer.

At this point, the people turn to two questions that they are able to answer, because they cannot bring themselves to admit that Jesus has an unknown-to-them Source for His teaching, His wisdom, and His miracles. The answerable questions are: “Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?”

With this set of questions, the logical progression of this group of Jews rejecting Jesus is complete. They can answer this question with a yes. Jesus is the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, and according to this passage, Jesus had at least two sisters, because the plural nature of the last question. Jesus was one of five boys and several girls in Mary’s family. These last two questions pull Jesus back to reality in the minds of those present, and it allows them to step fully through the door rejecting Jesus’ divinity and only accepting His humanity.

Because of this, we read that those in the Nazareth synagogue rejected Jesus.

With this whole progression of questions, I picture in my mind different people asking each question. With each question, the door is opened a little more to rejecting Jesus. Instead of accepting and admitting that God had used Jesus to share a powerful and wise message with them that day, those present cannot bring themselves to see a carpenter as anything more than a carpenter, regardless of the group of disciples He had collected. This truth teaches us that it is always easier to reject Jesus than it is to accept Him. There will always be reasons for people to doubt. However, while it is easier to doubt Jesus, doubting Jesus ultimately cheats you out of experiencing a miracle in your life.

In our own lives, God can use people to share His wisdom and His truth. While we are never called to accept messengers without first looking at the quality of the message, God has a way of using sinners to help spread His message and His truth. Aside from Jesus, everyone has sinned, and this truth challenges us to look past the messengers God sends our way and to focus on the message calling us to return to and believe in Jesus Christ.

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

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus. Through what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, we have the assurance of salvation when we accept the gift of Jesus’ perfect, sinless life in place of our own. Jesus took the punishment we deserved and offers us the life He deserved in its place.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to personally grow closer to God each and every day. While we can learn from other people, the best place to validate messages coming into our lives is by personally taking each idea and validating it against the truth of God’s Word, also known as the Bible. While customs, traditions, and society’s expectations change on a daily basis, God’s truth stays consistent, and it is as true today as it was during the Bible’s time period of history, and it will remain true throughout every generation that comes after us as well! God’s truth is the best place to build a spiritual foundation for our lives.

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

As we move forward in our year looking at Jesus’ miracles, we come to one of my favorite examples of Jesus healing while also challenging those present. This miracle is probably the single greatest example of persistence that we find included in the gospels about how far some men would go to get help for their disabled friend. Not only do we find an amazing example of persistence in this miracle, we also discover one amazing way that Jesus challenges the religious leaders regarding who He is.

Let’s read about what happened, and specifically about this incredible miracle that happened only because of the persistence of a group of friends. Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 5, and we will be reading this passage from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 17, Luke tells us that:

¹⁷ One day some Pharisees and experts in the Law of Moses sat listening to Jesus teach. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.

God had given Jesus the power to heal the sick, ¹⁸ and some people came carrying a crippled man on a mat. They tried to take him inside the house and put him in front of Jesus. ¹⁹ But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they went up on the roof, where they removed some tiles and let the mat down in the middle of the room.

²⁰ When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the crippled man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹ The Pharisees and the experts began arguing, “Jesus must think he is God! Only God can forgive sins.”

²² Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said, “Why are you thinking that? ²³ Is it easier for me to tell this crippled man that his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk? ²⁴ But now you will see that the Son of Man has the right to forgive sins here on earth.” Jesus then said to the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk home.”

²⁵ At once the man stood up in front of everyone. He picked up his mat and went home, giving thanks to God. ²⁶ Everyone was amazed and praised God. What they saw surprised them, and they said, “We have seen a great miracle today!”

In this passage and event, we discover that Jesus took the faith of this man’s friends and He used it to challenge everyone present. Jesus knew that the friends had displayed enough faith in their creative and unusual way of getting Jesus’ attention to heal their friend. We have no idea what Jesus was talking about at that moment leading up to this miracle, but it is fascinating to pay attention to how this passage opens.

Luke begins the passage by saying that “One day some Pharisees and experts in the Law of Moses sat listening to Jesus teach. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.”

This marks the point in Jesus’ ministry when enough things have happened that people, specifically the religious leaders, have taken note of Jesus, but before enough has happened that the religious leadership as a whole had condemned Jesus.

While the faith of the men bringing their friend to Jesus is amazing, the phrase I want to point out in this episode is the one the Pharisees challenge Jesus with. In verse 21, the Pharisees and religious experts argued among each other saying, “Jesus must think he is God! Only God can forgive sins.”

This statement is logical on one hand, while causing challenges on another.

When we sin, the act we commit may affect another person, but the sin we committed is against God. Forgiveness only means something when the persons involved in a sin do the forgiving. It doesn’t mean much if I say that I forgive someone else for what they did to someone else. Unless I was affected in some way, giving third-party forgiveness doesn’t work. When we sin, it is against God, and because of this, only God can forgive sins.

However, in John’s gospel’s great commission to the disciples, Jesus gives His followers an unusual ability, and that is the ability to forgive sins. John chapter 20, verses 21 through 23 tells us that:

²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.” ²² Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

On the surface, these two passages and ideas conflict with one another, but when we look closer, we see something amazing. When Jesus claims to have the power to forgive sins in this passage, it is because He has the Holy Spirit, and when He gives the disciples the commission to forgive sins, it is only after they have accepted and received the Holy Spirit.

The proof Jesus gave for His claim of sin forgiveness is a miraculous healing. This wasn’t healing to prove a point, even if a point was proved through it; this healing was to validate the faith of this man’s friends, and perhaps the faith of this man who might have been injured while doing something sinful.

In this miracle and Jesus’ response, we also see that talk is cheap when compared with action. A miracle is significantly more difficult to do, and the challenging thing to think is that if Jesus came for Himself, and for His own glory, He could have made claim after claim and they all would have fallen flat. Without the Holy Spirit supporting His ministry, Jesus would have done nothing miraculous. It is because Jesus came to glorify God that we see the Holy Spirit so visibly present in His ministry.

At this early stage of Jesus’ ministry, I don’t think it was accidental that all these religious leaders were present, and I don’t think it was a coincidence that these men brought their friend on a stretcher with the faith that Jesus could heal their friend. Everyone present praised God and declared that they had seen a great miracle, but with this miracle is the challenge we all must grapple with: Will we believe that Jesus had God’s authority when He was here on earth – including the authority to forgive sins?

This question divided the religious leaders regarding Jesus, and it divides people living today. Will we accept Jesus’ difficult truths and claims because we see God moving in a strong way validating His ministry, or will we reject Him and all the claims He is recorded making?

And if we accept Jesus at His Word, will we realize and remember that only God can forgive sins, but when God, specifically the Holy Spirit, is living inside of us, we have the power to validate God’s forgiveness of sinners? Forgiving sins and validating God’s forgiveness may be one of our highest callings as followers of Jesus while the Holy Spirit lives in and works through our lives.

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

Always continue seeking God first in your life. Choose each day to live within His will and to do things that will grow His Kingdom. Know that forgiveness is a big part of God’s character, and He has called us to live lives of forgiveness as well.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and move closer to Jesus. When we grow closer to Jesus, we can know Him better, and we can more fully receive the Holy Spirit in our lives. Always use your time spent in the Bible as a filter on your life and the world we live in. The Bible is the best guide we have to navigate the crazy lives we live.

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