Reflective Bible Study

On returning from being tempted, Matthew’s gospel references a gap and transition before describing Jesus beginning His ministry, and I find what Matthew tells us fascinating, especially in light of the prophecy Matthew references, and the starting topic for Jesus’ preaching.

This passage is found immediately after the passage we looked at in our last episode, which was found in Matthew chapter 4. For this episode, we will read from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 12, Matthew tells us that:

¹² John had been put in prison. When Jesus heard about this, he returned to Galilee. ¹³ Jesus left Nazareth and went to live in the city of Capernaum. It was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ In that way, what the prophet Isaiah had said came true. He had said,

¹⁵ “Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
    Galilee, where Gentiles live!
    Land along the Mediterranean Sea! Territory east of the Jordan River!
¹⁶ The people who are now living in darkness
    have seen a great light.
They are now living in a very dark land.
    But a light has shined on them.”

¹⁷ From that time on Jesus began to preach. “Turn away from your sins!” he said. “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

In this short passage, I am fascinated by a number of things.

First, I am curious about how much time passed between Jesus being tempted and John the Baptist being arrested. I would imagine it was no more than a few weeks. From the way Matthew frames this transition in his gospel, we could conclude that John was arrested while Jesus was being tempted, but this isn’t likely because John’s gospel, which doesn’t include Jesus’ baptism or temptation, has Jesus passing John while John is preaching, and in my mind, this likely was on Jesus’ return from the desert being tempted.

However, around that time was when John spoke out against Herod, and this message John shared led to his arrest.

But Matthew pays little attention to John. The only reason he includes this detail is to use it as a transition for Jesus returning to Galilee and ultimately Capernaum. Matthew includes this detail because he sees this decision as being a direct fulfillment of prophecy.

Before looking at the prophecy, I want to point out an interesting, and somewhat ironic, thought related to Matthew as a person, as a disciple, and as the author of this gospel. Matthew was previously a tax collector. Tax collectors were among the most hated and looked down on people in that society. Tax collectors were likely also the most secular.

It is interesting in my mind to think of Matthew, the tax collector, writing in his gospel narrative about all the ways Jesus fulfilled prophecies. Matthew and John are the disciples who focus in on the prophecies more than the other gospels, and I believe Matthew’s gospel draws our attention onto more prophecies than John.

The ironic part of this thought in my mind is that through his gospel, Matthew, the former hated and despised tax collector is teaching and challenging the Jews regarding who Jesus is, using the prophecies that they all may have known better than he should have known. However knowing and understanding are two different things, and Matthew rightly interprets the correct understanding of the prophecies even if he had been an outsider because of his occupation.

In the prophecy Matthew quotes here, we find an interesting focus. In this prophecy, we see allusion to God turning His attention onto the part of the country that was perhaps the least Jewish. Verses 15 and 16 tell us this prophecy:

 “Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
    Galilee, where Gentiles live!
    Land along the Mediterranean Sea! Territory east of the Jordan River!
The people who are now living in darkness
    have seen a great light.
They are now living in a very dark land.
    But a light has shined on them.” (v. 15-16)

I don’t know whether the Jewish leaders knew, understood, ignored, or simply rejected this prophecy from Isaiah’s writings, but this short prophecy gave Jesus direction for where He would live at the beginning of His ministry. In an interesting way, Jesus starts His ministry focusing on the exact opposite people than we might expect Him to focus on.

While the Jews would have had all the right knowledge regarding the Messiah, Jesus likely knows that they are blinded by their tradition and their closed-minded, single-track understanding of the Old Testament prophecies. Perhaps for this reason, or maybe simply because God likes to work in ways that we might not expect, Jesus begins His ministry among the least Jewish and most looked down on people in the country. One could say that Jesus started at the bottom of society’s ladder of status, and He kept a solid focus on the bottom rung of this ladder throughout His entire ministry.

When Jesus began speaking, preaching, and teaching, I am fascinated to learn Jesus’ beginning message. Verse 17 tells us that Jesus’ first preaching message was for people to “Turn away from your sins!” because “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

This message is exactly where John the Baptist’s message and ministry ended. John’s whole message was focused on getting people to repent, which is another way of saying to turn away from their sins, because the kingdom of heaven is coming.

In a subtle, but not that subtle, way, Jesus starts where John leaves off signaling that He is picking up the torch that John began with His ministry. When John was arrested, Jesus continues the message that John began. However, unlike John, Jesus could take the message of God’s kingdom further than John could because Jesus was the Messiah John was preparing the people for, and because Jesus had arrived, the kingdom of heaven had come near.

Overall, in this passage leading up to Jesus’ ministry in Matthew’s gospel, we see Jesus intentionally choosing to focus first on the most secular, least Jewish, and most looked down on people in society. In this way, we get a picture of God who loves and desires a relationship with anyone and everyone, not just those who are spiritual and close to Him.

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

As always, be sure to intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to let Him show you what you should focus on and pay attention to. God has called us to be His representatives and part of this calling is focusing on loving those He has brought into our lives.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to keep your connection with God strong. While Jesus came to those who were the least connected to God, He didn’t want them to stay disconnected. Jesus kept His connection with God strong and He wanted to help those who God loves – which is everyone at every place of society – to have a strong connection with God like He did.

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 into the week Jesus was crucified, we come to an event that happened in the gap that we skipped over last week. Last week, if you noticed, we jumped over the daytime and focused on two consecutive mornings, one where Jesus curses a fig tree, and the day after when they pass by the withered fig tree and learn the lesson Jesus wanted to teach them.

In this gap, we discover that Jesus spent some time in the temple, but during this period of time, He didn’t make very many people happy. Let’s read about what happened from Matthew’s gospel. Our passage is found in chapter 21, and we will be reading it from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 12, Matthew tells us that:

¹² Jesus went into the temple courtyard and threw out everyone who was buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons. ¹³ He told them, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you’re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!”

¹⁴ Blind and lame people came to him in the temple courtyard, and he healed them.

¹⁵ When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings saw the amazing miracles he performed and the children shouting in the temple courtyard, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were irritated. ¹⁶ They said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

Jesus replied, “Yes, I do. Have you never read, ‘From the mouths of little children and infants, you have created praise’?”

¹⁷ He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

In this passage, we discover how Jesus began this week by trying to point people back to God in God’s house. For the most part, while He didn’t make any friends among the religious elite, we do see that after His rampage through the temple chasing the commerce away, He welcomed those who needed healing and those who came to praise God. This paints a beautiful picture of God, of Jesus, and about what God intended His temple to focus on.

Luke places this event immediately after Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on the donkey. If this is when this event occurred, it provides continuity with the praise that the children shouted in the temple courtyard with what they shouted while He was traveling towards Jerusalem. When Jesus rode towards and into Jerusalem, the crowds shouted hosanna, and whether these children followed Jesus into the courtyard on the same day, or if they arrived to praise Jesus a day or two later, we see a beautiful picture of Jesus accepting those that society had rejected, and pointing everyone present towards God.

Regardless of when this event specifically occurred, a phrase in Jesus’ rampage stands out in my mind. Jesus challenged the priests and religious leaders on their focus and their priorities by saying in verse 13: “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you’re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!”

Regardless of where you believe the line should be regarding commerce within church buildings, Jesus frames His entire rampage pushing the commerce away on the scripture and ideal that God’s house would be called a house of prayer. While prayer is possible in a commercial environment, it is a stretch to connect the two.

Commerce at its core is about exchanging goods/services among people for the benefit of both parties involved. While helping others is one side of commerce, helping oneself is also included. This is the ideal framing of commerce. Some people see commerce as simply one person trying to trick or con others into giving them money. In this case, commerce is only self-serving.

However, prayer stands on the opposite side of both the positive and negative views of commerce. Prayer is all about coming before God, and submitting ourselves to His will. While prayer can include requests for help from God, prayer is inherently focused on God and not on ourselves. An exclusively self-focused and self-serving prayer is unlikely to be answered ever.

Moving to the second half of our passage, after Jesus has finished clearing the commerce out of the temple, another phrase stands out in my mind because of what it says and does not say about the religious leaders. In verse 15, Matthew tells us that “When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings saw the amazing miracles he performed and the children shouting in the temple courtyard, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were irritated.”

While both the miracles and the praise irritated these leaders, they choose to confront Jesus regarding the children’s praise. This is an interesting choice in my mind, but not unexpected, because while they were probably more irritated that Jesus was healing and performing miracles, there wasn’t much they could do about it. The only way Jesus was able to perform miracles, or even heal anyone, was if God was with Him, and the religious leaders know that they don’t have any solid ground to challenge Jesus on this – especially since this wasn’t the Sabbath day.

Other times the religious leaders confront Jesus regarding His healing ability, it was always framed around Sabbath observance and Sabbath rest. Since this wasn’t the Sabbath, they can’t really argue or refute His healing miracles.

But they can challenge Him regarding what the children are shouting about Him, and that’s what they decide to focus on. They really dislike the messianic implications tucked within the children’s praise. They want this praise to stop because it is drawing more people towards Jesus, and away from them.

However, Jesus knows He is the Messiah, even if He also knows that the Messiah He came to be was different from the messiah that the religious leaders were looking for. Jesus was willing to defend the children praising Him with a messianic title because He realizes that the children’s words speak truth. Jesus also knows that this event would add to the pile of reasons that the religious leaders would use to condemn Him.

Jesus knew that the cross was about to happen, and He clearly and deliberately walked along the path that led to it.

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

Be sure to intentionally seek God first and walk the path He has created you to walk. While the plan God has for your life may not be easy in this life, God’s plan and His path leads to eternal life in your future. Know that there will always be people, religious or otherwise, who will dislike your decision to walk with God, but know that God’s truth matters more than the world’s opinion.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself to keep your connection with God strong. A personal relationship with God begins with personal prayer and personal Bible study and as I always challenge you to do, make your Bible study personal and don’t let me or anyone else stand between you and God.

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

Continuing into the gospel of Matthew, following Jesus’ baptism, we learn that Jesus heads out to the desert for a very specific purpose. While it would make logical sense for Jesus to start rallying disciples immediately after launching His public ministry, this is not what happened. Instead, Jesus heads to the desert because that is where God’s Spirit led Him.

Let’s read what Matthew tells us about what happened. Our passage is found in Matthew, chapter 4, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us:

¹ Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. ² After spending forty days and nights without food, Jesus was hungry. ³ Then the Devil came to him and said, “If you are God’s Son, order these stones to turn into bread.”

⁴ But Jesus answered, “The scripture says, ‘Human beings cannot live on bread alone, but need every word that God speaks.’”

⁵ Then the Devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, the Holy City, set him on the highest point of the Temple, ⁶ and said to him, “If you are God’s Son, throw yourself down, for the scripture says,

‘God will give orders to his angels about you;
    they will hold you up with their hands,
    so that not even your feet will be hurt on the stones.’”

⁷ Jesus answered, “But the scripture also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

⁸ Then the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” the Devil said, “if you kneel down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Then Jesus answered, “Go away, Satan! The scripture says, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him!’”

¹¹ Then the Devil left Jesus; and angels came and helped him.

In our passage, we read about three big temptations Jesus faced while alone in the desert. When we draw our attention onto these temptations, some really big themes begin to surfaces, and while we might not think we are capable of being tempted in the same way as Jesus was, it is very possible we experience these three types of temptations on a daily basis.

The first temptation Jesus faced was turning the stones into bread. At the heart of this temptation is the theme of using our resources for our own benefit. While we aren’t able to turn stones into bread like Jesus could have if He wanted to, I know I constantly face the temptation to use everything I earn for myself, my needs, and my wants. While Jesus needed and wanted bread, and while Jesus had the power to fulfill this need, He intentionally pushes back at this temptation knowing that self-service is not part of God’s character. Self-service is not a characteristic of God and we fall victim to this temptation when we place our own needs ahead of God’s desires for our lives.

The second temptation Jesus faced was jumping from the highest point in the temple. While I don’t know of any prophecies or traditions related to the Messiah appearing in this way, this act would have gotten the chief priests and religious leaders’ attention. The goal of this temptation is a self-focused goal on a social level. This temptation is one where Jesus does something to make the crowds look towards Him in a significant way.

But then we have a question: how is this temptation of getting people to pay attention to Jesus different from Jesus performing miracles and turning heads that way?

In the case of the miracles Jesus did, every miracle was aimed at helping someone else and providing an opportunity to praise God. If Jesus would have jumped from the temple, He probably would have had the protection Satan promised in the scriptures, but the act of jumping would have been a self-serving act because it wouldn’t have been a blessing to anyone else. Drawing the focus onto Himself is not part of God’s character, and when we do things to be looked at highly by others, we fall victim to this temptation.

The third temptation Jesus faced was worshiping Satan for a moment in order to avoid the ministry, mission, and ultimate destiny of Jesus’ life. The essence of this temptation is spiritual. This temptation offered Jesus an empty shortcut to achieve His goal, except that Jesus’ goal wasn’t dominion over every earthly kingdom at the height of its glory. Instead, Jesus’ goal is the hearts and minds of His people, and this is something only the cross can purchase.

While it appears on the surface like this third temptation is more Satan-serving than self-serving, the only reason to even consider this temptation is because of self-focused motives. Sometimes the road God has called us to walk is hard. Self-focused motives would opt for an easier path. Satan offers Jesus an easier path, but the cost of taking this easier path is too high a price to make it worth it. If Jesus had fallen for this temptation, He would have sinned, which would have made the sacrifice on the cross worthless, and it would have left those He came to save as lost in their sins. Jesus pushed back at the self-service-focused nature of this worship-based temptation. Jesus, like God, isn’t interested in self-service. Instead, Jesus came to serve and to give His life to save all of God’s people!

Tucked within these temptations are doubts Satan wanted to cast onto Jesus’ self-identity and onto the greatness of Jesus’ mission. Satan subtly counters God the Father’s clear claim at Jesus’ baptism that Jesus is God’s Son by challenging Jesus on this very point in the first two temptations. Each of these two temptations are framed using the opening, “If you are God’s Son”. Jesus was well aware of God being His Father, and He wasn’t going to let Satan cast doubt into His mind about this.

The last temptation was a subtle attempt to elevate Satan into the Godhead. If Jesus momentarily worshiped Satan, then that would elevate Satan to the status of God and Jesus would have broken the circle of the Godhead. Jesus didn’t fall for Satan’s trap in this temptation, or at any point during His ministry, and everything Jesus did brought glory to God the Father.

In all these temptations, Jesus pushed back at Satan using promises and statements from the scripture. When we face temptation, the best way for us to push Satan away is through challenging Him with God’s promises. God has promised to help us when we need help and when we are living in a way that brings Him glory, nothing will stop us from shining for 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. When Satan throws temptations your way, choose to push back with God’s Word and with God’s promises. Choose to lean on God for the strength to fight Satan’s tricks, traps, and temptations.

If you don’t know your Bible like you wish you did, be sure to intentionally, regularly pray and study the Bible for yourself, to learn what the Bible teaches first hand. While it is easy to depend on other people for Bible truth, if we do, we short-change our spiritual growth because we are only growing up to the level of those we are listening to. While this might not be bad, God wants to teach us more and He does this when we open up the Bible in prayer and study it for ourselves.

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 tempted to leave where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Early on during the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, we read about an interesting and somewhat strange event within the gospels that might not make a lot of sense on the surface. In many ways, this event is one time where Jesus might appear to be irrational.

Both Matthew and Mark include this event, and for our time together, let’s read what happened from Mark’s gospel. Our passage is found in Mark, chapter 11, and we will be reading from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 11, 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.

Pausing reading here, I am amazed at this event because we have no context for Jesus becoming hungry, and we find Jesus cursing a fig tree because it didn’t have figs while it wasn’t the right season for figs. It’s possible that there was something unique about this tree that meant it should have had figs on it, but nothing in our passage suggests this except that this tree was filled with leaves.

If it weren’t for what happened the following morning, it’s likely that Mark wouldn’t have included this event in his gospel.

Jumping down to verse 20, we continue reading to discover that:

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.]”

When reading about what Jesus tells His disciples the following morning, I’m inclined to believe that this whole event was orchestrated to teach the disciples about the power of faith in God. When the disciples see the withered up fig tree, they initially are amazed at how powerful Jesus is.

But this event didn’t happen to get the disciples to look up to Jesus even more. This event happened to teach the disciples that faith in God without reservations or doubts can accomplish even greater things than this.

In this event, we are challenged and instructed on how to pray. While most people look to one of the two times Jesus officially taught on prayer by giving example prayers, our passage here in Mark might be more powerful to remember.

When we pray, the first and most important thing for us to have is faith in God. Faith is simply trust multiplied exponentially. When we trust God with everything from our past, through our present, and into our future, we have faith in Him. Faith does not mean we must understand what is happening while also having all of our questions answered. On the other hand, faith also does not mean that if we understand or have answers to our questions that our faith is somehow diminished.

Contrary to popular opinion, faith does not need unanswered questions – even if there will always be unanswered questions. What faith needs is for us to remember how God has led us in the past so we are confident moving into the future with Him. Faith is built with and on a foundation of trust in God. In order to have a powerful prayer experience, we must have faith in God.

After telling the disciples that faith in God is key, Jesus also tells them that we should push away all doubts that God won’t do what we are asking Him to do. This is probably the hardest part of prayer for me personally. It is all too easy to let a little bit of doubt in that suggests that what I am praying for is not part of God’s will, or that God knows better than I do regarding whatever request I may have, and when I let doubt in, I unknowingly sabotage my prayers.

In this whole passage, the only things we find that are necessary foundations for answered prayer are faith in God, which we have already talked about, and forgiveness towards others. If we have these two foundations in place, then there should be no room for doubt in our minds. Our passage challenges us against it.

However, why might forgiveness be so important for us in our prayer life? While I cannot answer this for you, I will say that when I have been angry with someone, the anger clouds my mind and my attitude. When my mind is focused on anger, my prayers are not the same. From my own experience, anger affects my prayers and my attitude when coming before God with my requests. About the only help I can expect to receive when praying while angry is help to forgive the person I am angry with.

But with all this said, you might be asking me what about all the times you have prayed, with heartfelt faith in God, while you were not angry or doubtful, but your prayer does not appear to be answered. Aren’t those times reasons for doubt?

I have faced situations like this, and because of this, I would have to answer perhaps. However, I don’t believe that there are any truly unanswered prayers when we pray with faith, forgiveness, and no doubt.

Instead, I believe our prayers are answered the exact moment that they have left our lips. God answers prayer in four ways, and its possible we don’t see His answer because we aren’t expecting the response He gives.

The first possible response is the easy answer of “Yes”. When God answers yes, we understand that He clearly and directly was involved.

However, God can also answer our prayers with the answer of “No”. God’s answer of no might appear to be a rejection of our request, but it might be Him simply telling you that your request is not in your best interests.

While it might be easy to think that “yes” and “no” are the only possible responses, God has two other responses, and in my own life, these other responses are much more common.

The first other response God can give is the response of “Yes, but now isn’t the best time.” We might consider this response as God asking us to wait. Perhaps what we are asking is within God’s will, but we are truly not ready to receive what we are asking for. God’s goal is our salvation and us being with Him in Heaven, and I believe He will not answer a prayer in a way where our salvation is placed in jeopardy. This might be one of the hardest answers to receive, but our faith in God leads us to trust Him even when we don’t understand why at this point in our lives we are being told to wait.

The last response God can give is the response of “No, but here is something better instead”. If we are too focused on receiving only the answers we request, we might be oblivious to all the other blessings God is giving us in place of our original request. Similar to the response of “wait”, I believe God will not directly answer our requests knowing that it will place our salvation in jeopardy. Instead, God wants us with Him in Heaven forever, and that should be our ultimate goal as well.

We are called to pray with faith in God; with forgiveness in our hearts; with certainty that God loves us, that He wants to answer our prayers, and that He wants the best for us; and with the trust that He answers our prayers the moment they leave our mouth. After we pray, we should eagerly look for answers He has given and expect to see them show up in our lives when the time is right.

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

Seek God first and build a faith foundation of trust in Him. Be sure to pray with faith in God, without doubt, and with forgiveness in your heart, expecting to see the answers He promises to give us when we pray.

Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself. Grow your personal relationship with Jesus because the closer we are to Him, the more our will will be aligned with His will and when our lives are aligned with God, nothing will stop our prayers from being answered in powerful ways.

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!