Reflective Bible Study

As we continue our way through the second half of Matthew’s gospel, we come to an event that only Matthew includes, and this is an event that doesn’t seem to have any resolution, except that this event likely happens exactly as Jesus describes. After all, Jesus describes other events in detail and they happen just as Jesus predicted, so there is no reason in my mind to doubt that this event happened exactly the way Jesus predicted it.

However, in this event, we also see a parallel to one of the biggest themes in the entire Bible, and when I saw this theme in this event, I have a hard time unseeing it.

Let’s read what happened and discover what this short passage teaches us about God’s character. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 17, and we will be reading from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 24, Matthew tells us that:

²⁴ When Jesus and his followers came to Capernaum, the men who collected the Temple tax came to Peter. They asked, “Does your teacher pay the Temple tax?”

²⁵ Peter answered, “Yes, Jesus pays the tax.”

Peter went into the house, but before he could speak, Jesus said to him, “What do you think? The kings of the earth collect different kinds of taxes. But who pays the taxes—the king’s children or others?”

²⁶ Peter answered, “Other people pay the taxes.”

Jesus said to Peter, “Then the children of the king don’t have to pay taxes. ²⁷ But we don’t want to upset these tax collectors. So go to the lake and fish. After you catch the first fish, open its mouth and you will find a coin. Take that coin and give it to the tax collectors for you and me.”

With this verse, our event ends. We are left to conclude that this event happened exactly as Jesus described to Peter. However, in this event, I find it fascinating that when these tax collectors come, they ask Peter whether Jesus pays the temple tax. This is interesting in my mind because these tax collectors don’t ask Peter if he pays the tax or if any of the other disciples pay the tax.

This got me thinking about what this tax was. A quick search located the verses talking about the Temple Tax in the book of Exodus, chapter 30. Verses 12-14 describe this tax saying: “When you take a census of the Israelites, each person must pay the Lord a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will happen to them when they are counted. As each person is counted, he must give one-fifth of an ounce of silver using the standard weight of the holy place. This one-fifth of an ounce of silver is a contribution to the Lord. Everyone counted who is at least 20 years old must give this contribution to the Lord.”

From this reference in the Old Testament, and from how these tax collectors frame their question to Peter, we see a strong clue that all of Jesus’ disciples looked like they were less than 20 years old, and with the exception of Peter, who might have looked younger, they all were less than 20. Peter likely was older than 20, because Jesus tells Peter to use what he catches with the fish to pay the tax for the two of them.

However, while we have this huge clue about the disciples’ ages hidden in the details of this event, what is more amazing are the details surrounding who actually pays the temple tax in this event. When we ask ourselves the question about where the coin came from to pay the tax, we discover something amazing.

On first glance, it appeared as though Peter paid the temple tax, but the coin Peter used was not Peter’s. The coin Peter used wasn’t even Jesus’ or from the money that had been gifted or given to Jesus and His disciples. Instead, the coin came to Peter in the most unusual way.

For the events to happen just like Jesus described, the only possible explanation is that God’s hand was clearly at work in this event. Either God created a coin in the fish’s mouth when Peter hooked it, or an angel directed a coin to fall into the water, a fish to catch the coin in its mouth, and then direct that fish to Peter’s hook at the exact point in time that Peter was down at the lake fishing. All while keeping the other fish away so that this would be the first fish Peter caught.

Everything in this event speaks to God being the ultimate source of the coin used to pay the temple tax. This means that in this event, God pays His own tax. While I don’t know if Jesus would have paid the tax if these tax collectors had asked Him directly, but because they ask Peter, and because Peter promises before thinking, Jesus steps in with a solution.

This event has a huge theme tucked within it that tells us God is willing to help us when we have messed up and made mistakes. While Jesus’ mission to earth guarantees and pays for everything we need for a future life in Heaven, this event with the fish and the temple tax teach us that God is even willing to help us when we mess up in this life and over promise when we can only under-deliver. God is interested in our lives on this earth, and He is willing to help us save face by providing us a way out.

The Temple Tax collectors likely had no idea where the coin came from, and even if Peter had told them, they probably wouldn’t have believed him. However, in this event, God pays His own tax, and this tax is supposed to be paid by others. When we are adopted into God’s family, He pays the spiritual tax that we owe, and He helps us leave our past behind as we begin a new life with Him. Our life in God’s family can begin today, and our life in God’s family extends into eternity!

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 and accept the gift of adoption into His family. Place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and thank Jesus for everything He has blessed us with through what He did for us and through what He is still doing for us in heaven. Be sure to thank God for paying the tax that we owe, and thank Him for taking an interest in our lives.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and discover what God is truly like. God the Father is not the mean, judgmental God that some people think He is. God the Father is a God who loves us so much that He paid the tax and debt we owed. Jesus’ death isn’t about forgiving us as much as it is actually paying the debt that we owed. We can be forgiven because Jesus paid our debt! Take this truth, and study it out for yourself through prayer and reading the pages of God’s Word. Discover a God who loves you more than you can imagine, and a God who wants to save you for 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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

After Jesus had finished sharing with His disciples, John’s gospel records Jesus praying a prayer that is both powerful and profound. While I was tempted to split this prayer up into multiple episodes, I decided not to. Instead, let’s read Jesus’ prayer with minimal interruption, to get an amazing picture of Jesus’ heart. Afterwards, I’ll share one or two things that stood out to me during the brief bit of time we have left.

This passage and prayer is found in John’s gospel, chapter 17, and we will read it from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ After Jesus had finished speaking to his disciples, he looked up toward heaven and prayed:

Father, the time has come for you to bring glory to your Son, in order that he may bring glory to you. ² And you gave him power over all people, so that he would give eternal life to everyone you give him. ³ Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. ⁴ I have brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you gave me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, give me back the glory that I had with you before the world was created.

⁶ You have given me some followers from this world, and I have shown them what you are like. They were yours, but you gave them to me, and they have obeyed you. ⁷ They know that you gave me everything I have. ⁸ I told my followers what you told me, and they accepted it. They know that I came from you, and they believe that you are the one who sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them, but not for those who belong to this world. My followers belong to you, and I am praying for them. ¹⁰ All that I have is yours, and all that you have is mine, and they will bring glory to me.

¹¹ Holy Father, I am no longer in the world. I am coming to you, but my followers are still in the world. So keep them safe by the power of the name that you have given me. Then they will be one with each other, just as you and I are one. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost, except the one who had to be lost. This happened so that what the Scriptures say would come true.

¹³ I am on my way to you. But I say these things while I am still in the world, so that my followers will have the same complete joy that I do. ¹⁴ I have told them your message. But the people of this world hate them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t.

¹⁵ Father, I don’t ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe from the evil one. ¹⁶ They don’t belong to this world, and neither do I. ¹⁷ Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours. ¹⁸ I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. ¹⁹ I have given myself completely for their sake, so that they may belong completely to the truth.

²⁰ I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me. ²¹ I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.

²² I have honored my followers in the same way that you honored me, in order that they may be one with each other, just as we are one. ²³ I am one with them, and you are one with me, so that they may become completely one. Then this world’s people will know that you sent me. They will know that you love my followers as much as you love me.

²⁴ Father, I want everyone you have given me to be with me, wherever I am. Then they will see the glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the world was created. ²⁵ Good Father, the people of this world don’t know you. But I know you, and my followers know that you sent me. ²⁶ I told them what you are like, and I will tell them even more. Then the love that you have for me will become part of them, and I will be one with them.

The prayer Jesus gives in this passage is amazing. One verse in particular stands out in my mind because it describes future followers of Jesus, including you and me. Verse 20 tells us Jesus prayed, “I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me.” Those of us living today have faith because of what Jesus’ original followers told the world, and because the message of Jesus spread through the centuries moving forward in history. In this verse, Jesus extends His prayer to include Christians throughout the last section of history.

The other verses that stood out to me have to do with what Jesus prayed immediately before verse 20. Verses 15-19 say that Jesus prayed: “Father, I don’t ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe from the evil one. They don’t belong to this world, and neither do I. Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours. I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. I have given myself completely for their sake, so that they may belong completely to the truth.”

In this part of Jesus’ prayer, He tells us that God’s word is truth, and that when Jesus’ followers accept God’s word as truth, we don’t belong to the world but to God. Jesus isn’t praying for God to remove us from the world, even if that would be desirable, but that He will keep us safe as He sends us into the world.

This passage contains a commission for Jesus’ followers. In this section of Jesus’ prayer, we see a challenge for Jesus’ followers to take God’s truth and share it with the world. Jesus gave Himself completely for us, and through Jesus’ sacrifice, God was able to grant us the gift of eternal life that we don’t deserve because Jesus took the punishment that He did not deserve. Jesus gave His life for His followers and for God’s people who have chosen to follow Him over what the world wants to pressure people to believe. Through Jesus’ death and believing God’s truth, we are God’s people while we live here in this world and we will ultimately live forever with God moving forward into eternity.

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

Choose to follow and obey God’s truth over whatever “truth” the world wants to pressure you to believe. We can know God’s truth through what the Bible teaches. The Bible remains consistent even when every generation in history decides to change the definition of truth.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to discover what it actually says. While people in history have taken verses and ideas from the Bible to make them fit with their own beliefs, God has called us to build our beliefs with the Bible as the foundation, and to reject the lies of the world. Don’t let me or anyone else dictate what you should believe. Instead, build your belief through prayer and personal study.

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

As we move through Matthew’s gospel, we come to an event that I wonder if it caused division among the disciples. In this event, Jesus takes the three closest disciples, He lets them experience something amazing, and then He tells them to keep quiet about what they saw until after He has been raised to life.

I wonder if the remaining disciples felt a little put off because of this, or if they simple accepted that the inner circle of three disciples got to learn something they didn’t.

Let’s read about what happened, and because this is in Matthew’s gospel, and because Matthew’s gospel was written after Jesus returned to life, we have this event included for all of us to know. Our passage and event, like all the passages and events found in this year of podcasting through Matthew, is found in Matthew’s gospel. Our passage for this episode is found in chapter 17, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us:

¹ After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John (the brother of James) and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone.

² Jesus’ appearance changed in front of them. His face became as bright as the sun and his clothes as white as light. ³ Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them and were talking with Jesus.

⁴ Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it’s good that we’re here. If you want, I’ll put up three tents here—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵ He was still speaking when a bright cloud overshadowed them. Then a voice came out of the cloud and said, “This is my Son, whom I love and with whom I am pleased. Listen to him!”

⁶ The disciples were terrified when they heard this and fell facedown on the ground. ⁷ But Jesus touched them and said, “Get up, and don’t be afraid!” ⁸ As they raised their heads, they saw no one but Jesus.

⁹ On their way down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen. Wait until the Son of Man has been brought back to life.”

¹⁰ So the disciples asked him, “Why do the experts in Moses’ Teachings say that Elijah must come first?”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “Elijah is coming and will put everything in order again. ¹² Actually, I can guarantee that Elijah has already come. Yet, people treated him as they pleased because they didn’t recognize him. In the same way they’re going to make the Son of Man suffer.”

¹³ Then the disciples understood that he was talking about John the Baptizer.

In this passage, I am amazed at a number of things. First, I am amazed that Peter actually had what was necessary to set up three tents with him. Unless Peter’s promise was an empty promise, Peter had planned ahead and he had what was necessary for three tents.

However, I am also amazed at Jesus’ brief conversation with Moses and Elijah. I wonder if these two men came at this point to encourage Jesus at this point in His ministry, or if there was some other message they had for Him. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus would have been great friends, not just from the time these men spent on earth, but because they had also spent centuries together in heaven prior to Jesus coming as a baby.

I am also amazed that God the Father speaks again. I wonder if those off the mountain heard thunder, or if the sound was strictly confined to those in that small group of people on the mountain. It is interesting that God the Father tells these three disciples to listen to Jesus, and this is interesting in my mind because of what Jesus tells them next. After helping the disciples to their feet and telling them to not be afraid, Jesus tells them on the way down from the mountain: “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen. Wait until the Son of Man has been brought back to life.” (v. 9)

This statement would be the perfect opening to ask Jesus what He meant and to get more details about what would happen on the crucifixion weekend, but the disciples miss or pass on this opportunity.

Instead, the disciples ask a different question, and one that might be fresher on their minds after briefly seeing Elijah with Moses on the mountain. They ask why the experts in Moses’ Teachings say that Elijah must come first. While this is just the way this translation chose to translate the word for scribe, I find it a little amusing that experts in Moses’ teachings would be talking about Elijah. Moses lived many centuries before Elijah, and nothing in Moses’ teachings would even mention Elijah.

However, I digress a little. Jesus responds by predicting Elijah’s return, before then shifting His focus and saying that Elijah had actually already returned, but the people didn’t recognize Elijah’s return and they mistreated him. Jesus paralleled John the Baptizer’s suffering to His own suffering that would be coming up.

The disciples rightly conclude that Jesus was talking about John the Baptizer, and that John, who was Jesus’ forerunner in ministry, was the person who picked up the mantel of Elijah to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. I’ve seen some people claim that John the Baptizer was a reincarnated Elijah, but the Elijah that appeared to the disciples on the mountain had a head, and no hint in this event suggests that anyone present believed Jesus to be talking with John the Baptizer while He was on the mountain.

It is interesting in my mind that Jesus subtly shifts the focus to His suffering. Just a few statements earlier, Jesus references His resurrection, and now Jesus referenced His suffering. I think Jesus was trying to get these disciples to ask Him questions about the upcoming crucifixion weekend, and of all the disciples, these three disciples were looked up to as being the leaders.

The disciples would need leadership especially during crucifixion weekend, and they would have benefitted greatly if one or more of this inner circle of three disciples had listened to Jesus and understood what Jesus was trying to teach them about His mission.

However, the disciples missed Jesus’ clues, and they miss this chance to ask Jesus the question He really wanted to be asked.

I believe this is the same in our own lives. I believe that too often, we have our own motives, agendas, thoughts, and perspectives, and that we miss opportunity after opportunity to come to God with the question He wants us to ask. I am probably as guilty as most everyone else in this regard. However, understanding this can help me change and grow.

Jesus came to give His life for you and for me, and Jesus’ death brings life to God’s people. God has a mission and a reason for each of us being alive at the point He has placed us in history, and when we understand why we are here, we are better able to live the mission God has placed before us.

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 ask God the questions that He leads you to ask. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn, grow, and discover God’s mission for your life because you were too narrow-minded to ask God the question He was trying to prompt you to ask. Instead, be open to asking God questions, and especially be open to listening for God’s response.

This is best done through prayer and personal Bible study. When we pray and study the Bible for ourselves, we can learn from God through the messages and words He has preserved for thousands of years, and we can learn the truth He wants to teach us. While God can and often does use other people to help lead and guide us, we should always bring what others teach and test their truths against what the Bible teaches. The Bible is God’s Source of Truth, and His truth will never contradict the Bible!

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!

Over the past several episodes, we have been focusing in on Jesus’ last opportunity to share with the disciples before being betrayed and arrested. At this point, Judas Iscariot has likely already gathered the mob and soldiers who would arrest Jesus, and there isn’t much time left for Jesus and the remaining disciples to be together.

As Jesus begins to wrap up what He wants to share with His remaining followers, we come to our passage for this episode. This passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will be reading it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16:

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

²⁹ Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰ Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

³¹ “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. ³² “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

In this conclusion to Jesus’ message to His disciples, we see an interesting miscommunication. Jesus shares that while He has been speaking figuratively, He points forward to a time when He won’t have to use figurative language.

In response, the disciples exclaim that they are happy now that He is speaking clearly and without figures of speech. This response to Jesus’ message is followed up with a statement they likely unanimously make that now, after hearing this, they all believe that He came from God.

Jesus then responds by challenging them on this very point. If they truly all believed and knew what would happen, then they would not have been surprised or scared when the mob arrived to arrest Jesus. And even if they were surprised, they wouldn’t have abandoned Him.

However, in Jesus’ challenge to His disciples, we see a massive idea within His words that is a promise we can take and apply into our own lives. Verse 32 tells us that Jesus told the disciples: “You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”

This truth is incredibly powerful. Regardless of what our circumstances look like, how we feel, or what Satan tries to tell us to discourage us, when we believe in Jesus, we are never alone. God the Father, and His Holy Spirit are always with us. Even if everyone else has abandoned us, God is still faithful, and His presence matters more than the presence of anyone else.

The reverse is also true. Even when we feel like we have failed God and left Him all alone, He is willing to accept us back when we are ready to come back. All the disciples failed Jesus, and Jesus was willing to accept back all the disciples who were willing to come back. The only disciple who didn’t return was Judas Iscariot, who committed suicide when realizing that He was responsible for Jesus’ death, and his decision could not be undone.

As Jesus wraps up this last message to His followers, He gives all of us a promise. Verse 33 shares this promise, which says: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

When we follow Jesus, He does not promise us a life that is trouble free. Our lives might include more trouble because of our decision to follow Him. However, we are to live each day with the peace God gives us, and this peace is built on the truth that Jesus overcame the world. Jesus overcame sin. Jesus overcame death. Jesus promises to include us in His victory when He returns as King!

This promise is one worth celebrating, especially when we look at how sin-filled the world is today!

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

Always seek God first and let His Holy Spirit influence your life. Trust that God knows the future; that He knows what will happen; and that through Jesus, He defeated Satan and overcame the world. Let God’s peace guide you through life and draw you to Him.

Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. A personal relationship with God is the best way to experience the peace He offers, and it is the best way to experience Jesus’ victory in your own life while sin is still present in this world.

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