Reflective Bible Study

Leading up to the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, Matthew includes an event that every other gospel writer also includes, but with the exception of Mark, each gospel writer includes this event in a unique place. Matthew and Mark’s gospel place this event right before the night Jesus is arrested while Luke places a similar event much earlier in Jesus’ ministry, and John includes this event happening shortly before Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. When looking at the chronology of what happened, I lean towards John’s gospel’s timing, which places this a day or two before Jesus enters Jerusalem on the donkey.

However, since Matthew places it here in his gospel, we have included it here. This event was a special meal that Jesus was invited to attend, and what happened at this meal is extravagant and it leads directly into Jesus’ betrayal.

Our passage and event is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 26, and we will read from the New International Version. Starting in verse 6, Matthew tells us that:

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, ⁷ a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸ When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹ “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰ Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹ The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. ¹² When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. ¹³ Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

¹⁴ Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests ¹⁵ and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

This event is the last event leading up to the night Jesus was betrayed in Matthew’s gospel. While Matthew tells us the disciples were indignant, or annoyed and angry, about the woman’s gift, John’s gospel frames this reaction specifically towards Judas Iscariot. With the timing of this event being several days before the festival, this would give Judas Iscariot enough time to plot revenge on Jesus for honoring a sinful woman ahead of him, especially with a gift that should have simply been sold and donated to them in his mind.

This leads us to one key idea that is becoming less common in culture today. This idea says that gifts that are given instead of money (or gift cards), always show more thought involved than gifts that are simply money donated. While our culture often times prefers money or gift cards so we can “get exactly what we want”, gifts of most anything else display a greater level of caring and connection between the gift giver and the gift receiver.

Gifts like the one this woman gave Jesus are even more special because if I understand the details and traditional thought of this event correctly, this was a very expensive, one-time gift. What this woman gave Jesus was not something that could then be sold or re-gifted later – especially with the way this gift was given to Jesus.

Giving Jesus the perfume by pouring it on Him was likely what angered Judas Iscariot the most, because it gave it to Jesus in a way that could not be converted back into money. This was such an extravagant gift that it was hard for Judas Iscariot not to see the potential dollars that could have been given to him as the keeper of the disciples’ money. Because of this event, and Jesus’ response, Judas emotionally agrees to sell Jesus to the religious leaders for significantly less.

However, in Jesus’ response, we see another amazing prediction. While the woman likely believed her gift to be anointing Jesus leading up to Him stepping into the role of Messiah and King, specifically the messiah that would overthrow the Romans and give the Jews back their homeland, Jesus shifts the meaning of this gift to be foreshadowing His burial.

Being anointed was something that was done for both people stepping into greater roles in society and for people who had just died. Those stepping into more significant roles were anointed for spiritual significance, while those who were anointed for burial were anointed to keep their bodies from stinking too badly while decomposing.

All four gospels include an event where a woman anoints Jesus on the head with perfume. Jesus’ prediction that this woman’s gift would be remembered and shared alongside His death has been fulfilled.

Within this gift and event is another subtle foreshadowing, and this idea is one that the disciples might not have wanted to understand or admit. This foreshadowing was Jesus telling them that they will always have the poor among them, but they would not always have Him. While Jesus was crucified, buried, and then resurrected, He knew that not long afterwards, He would return to heaven, leaving the disciples to carry on what He had started.

Jesus accepted the gifts that people wanted to give Him knowing that they would not be able to give them to Him later. Jesus places spiritual significance on the gifts we give to Him as well. While Judas Iscariot, and perhaps another one or two of the disciples, believed this gift to be a waste of money or resources, Jesus amplified this gift, giving it amazing spiritual significance, and He tells us that this woman’s gift will be remembered forever.

When we give gifts to Jesus, I believe He is just as willing to take our gifts and use them for His glory, and I believe that while Jesus can use gifts of money to help where money is needed, Jesus really values the gifts that are more specific than money. The gifts we give Jesus that are non-monetary are ones where He can use and multiply what we gave Him for His glory. Also, giving God non-monetary gifts helps us grow and stay connected to Him in our lives.

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 give Him gifts that cannot easily be repaid with money. Gifts such as time, talents, or specific items that are needed are much more valuable in God’s eyes than government issued rectangle pieces of special paper or a string of numbers on a computer somewhere. While God can use any gift we give Him, what God really wants with our gifts is our heart. Our heart is the most valuable gift we can give God in His eyes.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and Bible study, discover what God wants for us and what He wants from us. Don’t assume the Bible teaches anything. Instead, open the pages of this collection of books and discover what it teaches for yourself!

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!

When we began moving our way through Jesus’ final week, we’ve seen how every one of the four gospels has been building up to the moment Jesus is hung on the cross. For most of the other episodes this year, I’ve picked one or two of the gospels to focus in on, but since this entire year has been leading up to the point when Jesus is hung on the cross, it seems like we should take a little more time on this event. Also, all four gospels share unique details regarding the time Jesus spent on the cross.

While we don’t have enough time left in the year to devote an episode to each gospel for this event while also concluding the year with Jesus’ resurrection, let’s take the next couple of weeks and focus in on some big themes we can learn about Jesus and about God through what is shared about Jesus’ time on the cross.

Since Matthew and Mark are the most similar, let’s group them together in this episode, then in the following two episodes, let’s look at Luke and then John respectively.

With that said, let’s read Mark’s version of Jesus’ crucifixion to discover how he describes Jesus’ time on the cross. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 15, and we will be reading it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 25, Mark tells us that:

²⁵ It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶ The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the Jews.

²⁷ They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. [^[28]  Some manuscripts add a verse here that says: “And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘He was numbered with the transgressors’”] ²⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save yourself!” ³¹ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

In Mark’s version of this event, we discover that Jesus faced a different type of temptation during the last hours before His death. Up to this point, the temptation Satan has thrown at Jesus the strongest is the temptation to abandon both the cross as well as the human race. However, now that Jesus is on the cross, the temptation Satan throws at Jesus is one challenging Jesus to come down from the cross.

The only way this temptation makes sense is if it was within Jesus’ power to do. The fact that Jesus received hostility and insults from all angles suggests that this was prompted by Satan because Jesus could come off of the cross if He wanted to. Out of the challenges Jesus receives, the one Mark chose to include hits all the angles of a solid temptation.

Mark quotes the challenge by saying in verses 31 and 32, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”

The first part of the temptation hits on pride. This angle of temptation challenges Jesus regarding His ability to come down, and it suggests that Jesus doesn’t come down because He cannot come down. Satan ignores the detail, hoping we will ignore the detail as well, that while Jesus can come down, He chooses not to because the cross and death was His mission and the way we can be saved.

The second part of the temptation hits on Jesus’ mission. This angle of temptation challenges Jesus regarding the mission and role He came to the earth to fulfill. Jesus came as the Messiah that was promised, and Satan challenges Jesus that His death is a failure of His role – especially in the eyes of the Old Testament scriptures and the current generation’s understanding of these scriptures. Satan ignores the detail, hoping we will ignore the detail as well, that the Old Testament describes Jesus’ rejection, betrayal, and death, and that His death was part of the Messiah’s master plan for humanity’s salvation.

The third part of the temptation hits on Jesus’ divinity. This angle of temptation challenges Jesus regarding His right to receive worship as a member of the Godhead. Satan challenged Jesus through this temptation that if the Messiah dies, He is not worthy of receiving worship. In contrast, if Jesus displays His divinity by coming down from the cross, He will receive worship and praise from those present. Satan ignores the detail, hoping we will ignore the detail as well, that while Jesus is worthy of our worship, Jesus isn’t interested in receiving our worship or praise. Jesus would rather point all praise and worship to the Father, and Jesus didn’t come with the goal of being worshiped.

Also, it is significant to note that any praise or worship Jesus would have received would mean nothing if He came down from the cross. Either the worship itself would be empty because it was from shallow, unrepentant hearts, or it would be empty because Jesus would have failed His mission and He would have failed humanity.

Jesus overcame this big temptation because His mission was to redeem humanity. Jesus triumphed over every temptation Satan threw at Him from the temptations at the start of His ministry after His baptism, to this last temptation Satan was saving for Jesus’ time on the cross. Jesus overcame temptation and sin to make it possible for us to accept the gift He offers to each of us.

Mark’s gospel tells us that not only did Jesus receive insults and challenges from the religious leaders and soldiers who were present, but also from those who were crucified with Him. However, not all those who were crucified with Jesus were convinced that Jesus deserved these insults or challenges, but we’ll wait until our next episode to discover what happens when one of the people near Jesus decides to ask Jesus for a favor when they are both about to die.

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

Be sure to always seek God first. Know that Jesus faced and overcame temptation so that when we are tempted, we can lean on Him for the power to resist temptation in our own lives as well. Also, we can know and trust that when we have failed God, He is more than willing to accept us back and forgive us because that is one of the big reasons why Jesus came.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with Jesus. Through a personal relationship with Jesus, He helps us overcome temptation in our lives and He helps us live the life He created us to live.

Which leads us into the challenge 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 Jesus finishes sharing with the disciples the details about what will happen when He returns, Jesus shares a simple, but also challenging, parable that was meant to divide people. In this parable, we discover that our actions are important, and our actions appear to be connected and relevant to our salvation.

However, one of the most interesting things in my mind about the parable we are about to read is how both groups in this parable share some key similarities. Let’s read Jesus’ big conclusion to this teaching, and discover what we should keep in mind regarding His return.

Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 25, and we will read it from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Starting in verse 31, Jesus continued sharing with the disciples who were present:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵ For I was hungry
and you gave Me something to eat;
I was thirsty
and you gave Me something to drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you took care of Me;
I was in prison and you visited Me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’

⁴⁰ “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ ⁴¹ Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!

⁴² For I was hungry
and you gave Me nothing to eat;
I was thirsty
and you gave Me nothing to drink;
⁴³ I was a stranger
and you didn’t take Me in;
I was naked
and you didn’t clothe Me,
sick and in prison
and you didn’t take care of Me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?’

⁴⁵ “Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’

⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

When reading this parable, I cannot get around the challenging idea that both groups of people share one big characteristic. In this parable, both groups are unaware that their actions and attitudes are directly helping or not helping God.

This detail stands out in my mind because knowing about this parable would theoretically bring out a third or a fourth group. These other two groups would be those who know that their actions would be helping God and they either choose to help, or they choose not to help, depending on whether they want to be allied to God or not. Looking out at the world today, it is not hard to picture people who would actively reject God, even knowing what rejecting God means.

However, with this parable, what is Jesus teaching as truth, and what is simply given for illustrative purposes? Should all the details in this parable be taken to mean something, or should we only look for the big themes?

When we read this teaching, there is clearly a figurative angle to Jesus’ message because people are not sheep or goats, and we can understand that this illustration is about Jesus not separating types of animals like a shepherd but different types of people.

Is this where the figurative descriptions end and the literal ones begin?

While I will be the first to say that most everything else in this parable sounds more literal than figurative, with Jesus’ parables, it is best to not overextend Jesus’ analogy. Jesus used many tactile, concrete examples to explain spiritual truth, and it is very possible that we could incorrectly apply something Jesus says if we work in the incorrect direction.

Instead, the way I have begun to look at parables is to first discern the theme of the parable and the key point Jesus wants to share, before then working backward from there.

In this parable, what is the big key that Jesus wants us to learn?

While we might have different ways of saying this, I believe Jesus describes this truth twice in this parable, once for each group. In verses 40 and 45, Jesus describes the King’s words as: “I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.”

With this parable, there is no getting around the big theme and big truth that what we do for those who need help is significant in God’s eyes. When we look at the type of help that Jesus describes each group doing or not doing, the help that is given is help that cannot be repaid in equal measure. This type of help is what God desires to see in His people, and I believe this is because this type of help best reflects the help God showed each of us! God helps us in ways we could never repay Him for, and the best way we can say “Thank You” to God is by helping others who cannot repay us!

A secondary theme is present in this parable, and if left unchecked, some might believe this secondary theme is more significant than the one we just focused on.

The secondary theme is related to the fate of each group of people. Jesus finishes this parable by stating that the wicked people, or those who did not show help to the “least of these”, will go away into eternal punishment, which is described earlier in Jesus parable as the “eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels” (v. 41)

This is contrasted with the righteous receiving eternal life, which is described earlier in the parable as inheriting the kingdom prepared for God’s people from the foundation of the world. (v. 34)

While we don’t have time to cover this theme adequately in the time we have left for our episode, the big thing I believe we should focus on in this parable is not the rewards or punishments shared in this parable. These are side details that while valid, are things that are unchangeable in the big picture.

Instead, we should focus on what group we will choose to be a part of, and the way we choose a group is by choosing to help those who cannot help us in return. We can choose whether we will be a figurative sheep or a figurative goat, and our choice in this parable is described as having eternal results.

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 thank God for what He has done in your life by helping those who cannot repay you. When we help those who cannot repay us, we are helping like God has helped and blessed us!

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God. While a pastor, speaker, author, or even a podcaster can give you things to think about, take what you hear and learn and filter it through the truth of the Bible. While traditions change with every generation of people, the Bible remains constant, and the Bible is a reliable spiritual guide for navigating the storms of life!

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!

We’ve taken almost an entire year moving up to this point in the gospel narrative, and we now come to the passages that describe the road leading to the cross. However, in this event that all four gospels include, we discover something amazing: The four gospels don’t describe the same thing. In a unique turn of events, one of the gospels seems to contradict the other three.

Let’s read together this event and discover what happened. To represent the first three gospels, let’s read from the gospel of Mark, chapter 15, using the New Century Version. Starting in verse 21, Mark describes to us what happened by saying:

²¹ A man named Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was coming from the fields to the city. The soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross for Jesus. ²² They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. ²³ The soldiers tried to give Jesus wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he refused. ²⁴ The soldiers crucified Jesus and divided his clothes among themselves, throwing lots to decide what each soldier would get.

The road to Golgotha in Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include a previously unknown character. Simon from Cyrene had been minding his own business and was simple coming into the city when the soldiers spotted him and perhaps because Jesus was having difficulty carrying the cross because of the whipping and beating that they had done earlier, the soldiers force Simon to carry Jesus’ cross.

The way Mark describes this scene, and specifically that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus implies that the early church members knew who both Alexander and Rufus were. This makes me think that carrying Jesus’ cross had a powerful impact on Simon, and being forced into this situation drew Simon to Jesus in a way that no other event could have.

We don’t know if Simon had known, followed, or heard Jesus preach before this point. It is very possible. All we do know is that Simon, possibly reluctantly, steps into the pages of history to help Jesus when He needed help, and that at least two of Simon’s children were known among those in the early church.

However, John’s gospel describes Jesus’ road to Golgotha differently. John, chapter 19, verse 17 tells us that:

¹⁷ Carrying his own cross, Jesus went out to a place called The Place of the Skull, which in the Hebrew language is called Golgotha.

Is this a glaring contradiction between the gospels and a reason to distrust what John wrote? On the surface it might be, but part of me wonders if John is describing something different from what the other gospel writers included.

First off, John was the disciple who was most likely present for this. The other disciples had scattered and were hiding, so they would have learned about this event from others, and the gospel writers, specifically Mark and Luke who were not direct disciples, learned about what happened from other sources.

On one level, we could understand John to be clarifying a misconception that had been growing among the early church that Jesus barely made it very far with the cross. At the most basic level, John could be describing how Jesus successfully carried the cross all the way to the hill He was crucified on, but then lacked the strength to carry it up the hill. On seeing this, that is when Simon is recruited. This is one possible way we could harmonize this supposed contradiction.

However, on another level, John could be speaking more spiritually than literally here, and John could be describing Jesus’ “cross” not as the wooden structure that He would be hung from, but the burden that He carried taking all of humanities sins with Him to the crucifixion. In this symbolic understanding, Simon, while helping with the wooden beams for an undetermined length of the trip, could not have helped Jesus carry the emotional weight of the cross weighing on His heart.

John doesn’t give us many, if any, clues about how literal we should take this verse. The verses that surround it sound pretty direct and not symbolic, so it makes sense that this would be more of a literal description, but why would John be so direct about this when the other gospel writers are clear that Jesus received help?

It’s possible John emphasizes the event this way because he wants to draw our attention onto how Jesus bore His cross, specifically the cross that only He could bear, because that is what He challenged His followers to do as well. Luke, chapter 14, verse 17 records Jesus telling the crowd of followers: “Whoever is not willing to carry his cross and follow me cannot be my follower.” This challenge is problematic when we read in three of the four gospels that Simon carried Jesus’ literal cross to Golgotha.

However, Jesus’ challenge to His followers includes a layer of symbolism mixed within the literal. Many of Jesus’ followers were crucified on crosses, however not every one of them. Some of Jesus’ disciples traveled outside of the Roman Empire to share the good news of Jesus, and while they were persecuted for what they shared, they didn’t face any literal crosses.

But every one of Jesus’ followers, from the first century to where we are today has faced challenges, and our faith in Jesus that pushes us against the current of the world’s culture challenges us, and some might describe it as a cross we bear for Jesus. Earlier this year, we read about Jesus telling His disciples and His followers that they would be hated because of Him, and that if the world hated Him, it would not treat them any better.

In this regard, John’s gospel describes Jesus carrying a burden that only He could carry, and the only burden that He alone could carry is the sins of humanity. This is the strongest case for a spiritual reading of John’s somewhat contradictory passage.

However, regardless of whether Jesus only received a little help with getting His literal cross up the Golgotha hill, or whether Simon helped Jesus with His literal cross while Jesus was struggling with the emotional, spiritual cross that only He could bear, we can know that Jesus pressed forward towards the cross to take the punishment we deserved.

Jesus bore His cross like He challenges us to do. We have been brought into the world to do something that only we can do, and while each person’s responsibility will look a little different, Jesus has challenged each of us to carry the cross of His commission like He carried the cross of His big mission to this world!

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

As always, be sure to seek God first and place Him first in your life. Know that God brought you and I into this world for a reason and He challenges each of us to live out His mission for our lives. If we don’t know His mission for our lives, we are challenged to grow closer to Him to learn what His mission for each of our lives is, and to then step out in faith as He slowly reveals to us what He wants us to do for Him.

Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn from God directly. The Bible is the best place to learn about what God is like, and the Bible is the best foundation to have when growing closer to Jesus. Don’t take anyone else’s words or ideas about the Bible and let them distract you from reading and discovering the Bible for yourself. As I always challenge you to do, read the Bible for yourself to discover what it teaches you about God, about Jesus, and about what He has promised for each of us!

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!