Reflective Bible Study

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He gained a lot of popularity from the miracles, from His teachings, and from the counter-intuitive way He developed His ministry. However, at one notable point, Jesus returns to his hometown, and during this visit, we discover a challenge that we all ultimately face as we move through life.

Let’s read what happened during this event from the gospel of Mark, chapter 6, using 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.

The thing I find most fascinating about this event is the reaction of those in the synagogue. They ask each other in verse 2, “Where did he get all this? What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles?” They then continue by framing their knowledge of Him based on what they knew. Verse 3 describes them rhetorically asking themselves, “Isn’t he [Jesus] the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?”

Those living in Nazareth were amazed at the wisdom, knowledge, and power Jesus had, but they could not move past their knowledge of Jesus’ younger years and the family He grew up in. Even though Mark tells us that the lack of faith of those present kept Jesus from performing many miracles, a few miracles still were performed, and a small number of people were healed as a result.

However, this tiny number of miracles may have been meant to spark interest and inspire more faith. But the faith of those in Nazareth did not grow when witnessing the early healing. Instead, skepticism grew in the place of faith. As a result, these Jews were more interested in discounting Jesus because they knew His teaching didn’t originate with His upbringing, instead of pushing further and discovering the true Source of Jesus’ knowledge, and the Source of His miracle-working power.

It is because of this that Jesus makes the sobering statement in verse 4 that “Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family.” It seems that if something cannot be explained by those closest to us, or if God chooses to use us to do something special, the ones who are closest to us seem to be the least likely to understand and accept it.

I will be the first to say that this should not be the case. In an ideal world, those closest to the people God chooses to use in a special way should be the biggest supporters of the ministry and the testimony of what God is doing. What the Jews in Nazareth faced when Jesus returned is a paradox that many of us will face at some point in our lives.

While Jesus was traveling, teaching, preaching, and healing, word spread far and wide about what was happening, and what this former carpenter was accomplishing. When the rumors made their way back to Nazareth, those present had a challenge on their hands: Do they believe the rumors, even though what they are hearing doesn’t match up with their memory of the carpenter’s apprentice son; or do they accept the rumors and break out of their preconceived stereotypes, believing that God had chosen Jesus to be more than a mere carpenter?

Those in Nazareth had heard of the wonderful miracles, healing, and reputation Jesus had from His ministry in the other parts of Israel. But when those in Nazareth had the opportunity to see these miracles for themselves, they instead rejected the idea that Jesus was special because they had a history with a younger Jesus that was normal in every way they knew.

On this point, I want to pause and point our attention to the implication that if Jesus’ younger years had been filled with miracles, if Jesus had shown any above-average spiritual knowledge, or if Jesus’ growing up life contained even a single thing out of the ordinary, those in Nazareth would probably have been the first to welcome Him back and have faith in Him. In this scenario, Jesus’ younger years would have broken their stereotype for a carpenter’s son.

Instead, their reaction subtly speaks to having only experienced a normal “Jesus” and they missed out on truly seeing the divine “Jesus” when the time for His ministry had begun.

For all of us living today, we face the same challenge when walking with Jesus. It is likely that much of our walk with Him might look normal, feel normal, and/or otherwise not seem special or significant. However, just because we don’t always have a warm, fuzzy feeling of God’s presence doesn’t mean that Jesus isn’t right beside us. Probably the biggest test of our faith is what we choose to do and move forward doing during the times when we don’t have a clear direction or answer from God.

Will we trust God during the times that it seems as though He is silent and distant? Is our faith going to be based on the spiritual peaks of our past, or on the spiritual valleys? Is it possible, or even wise, to place our faith on something that isn’t as subjective as our own experience?

We all must choose a foundation for where we place our faith, and the best place I know of to place our foundation is on the big themes of the Bible. While our feelings change, and while the past high points of our lives fade within our memories, the themes of the Bible are timeless and truth. While skeptics and culture discount certain details within the Bible and try to use these challenges to discredit the whole thing, nothing will be able to topple the themes of the Bible that have lasted for centuries.

For me, this is where I place my faith, because the biggest theme in the Bible is that God loves humanity so much that He gave Himself to pay the punishment for our rebellion, and He offers each of us the gift of a new life with Him. This promise, and this version of history, is where I choose to place my faith.

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

Continue seeking God first in your life. Choose to base your faith on something more solid and lasting then your feelings or your memory.

Grow your faith in God through regular prayer and regularly studying the Bible for yourself, because only through personal prayer and Bible study is your personal relationship with God going to grow into what God wants it to be.

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!

As we continue our chronological walk through the gospels looking at Jesus’ life and ministry, we come upon an event where it would be very easy for one of the individuals present to lose hope and faith in Jesus.

While the details of this gospel are not clear on if Jesus could have arrived in time had He not been distracted, because Jesus was distracted with an unexpected healing, we discover that the girl Jesus was headed to heal ultimately dies.

I suspect many of us who are familiar with the gospels know which event I am referring to. However, instead of jumping to the end of this event, let’s take a few minutes to focus on what happens leading up to the even-more-amazing-than-anyone-expected-it-to-be miracle that Jesus ultimately did.

If we look at the details leading up to the miracle, there are more than enough reasons for anyone faced with a similar situation to lose hope and faith in Jesus. However, with all these reasons for giving up hope, there are also hints within this passage that prompt us to keep our hope alive.

Let’s read what happened. Our passage for this episode is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 5, and we will read it using the New Living Translation. Immediately following an unexpected healing, verse 35 tells us that:

³⁵ While he [referring to Jesus] was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”

³⁶ But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”

³⁷ Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). ³⁸ When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. ³⁹ He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”

⁴⁰ The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. ⁴¹ Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” ⁴² And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. ⁴³ Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.

Before this passage took place, Jesus had simply been a Healer – or an exceptional doctor – but after this passage, His reputation shifts into being a “life-giver”. The crowd, the messengers, and the mourners had all given up hope. “Don’t bother the Teacher anymore,” they said. Everyone, except Jesus, understood that returning someone’s life is different than simply returning someone’s health. They all believed that Jesus could return health, but returning life was completely different.

Jairus faces the tension in this passage: give up hope, or continue to have faith in Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus stopped the crowd and told them (in addition to all but three of His disciples) to not go with Him the rest of the way to the house. It would seem that the pessimism in the crowd was spreading like a virus, and the last person Jesus wanted it to infect was Jairus, the father who Jesus wanted to help.

By stopping the crowd and only continuing with the select few individuals, Jesus stops the sea of pessimism and shifts it to one of curiosity and back in the direction of hope and faith.

However, the crowd of mourners at the house, like in the earlier crowd, had let death conquer their hope. Even Jesus, when He tried to shift their perspective, was laughed at. Death in their minds was nothing like sleep. These mourners understood that we wake up from sleep; we don’t wake up from death.

But Jesus would not be distracted. Taking the three disciples and the girl’s parents into the room, He proves all the naysayers wrong by giving life back to the dead girl.

In this event, Jesus proves that death really is just like sleep: at one point we lose consciousness, and at another point – when Jesus calls to us, we regain consciousness and “wake up”. Almost every spiritual truth has been illustrated by a physical parallel, and in this event, Jesus teaches us that physical sleep is our parallel to death.

But death is different than sleep. When we die, we cannot wake ourselves back up. After death, our bodies decay. Death in many ways is the absence of life, and our body’s internal systems cease to function or even exist. A loud sound can wake us up from sleep, but from death, no such noise can break its hold. Give our bodies just a little time to decay and we would not even have ears to hear that noise. When logically comparing death and sleep, death appears to be significantly different than sleep.

You may be scared of death. I can relate. There have been times in my life when the concept of dying is scary. But the truth I always come back to is Jesus – specifically the truth about who He is. Jesus is a “life-giver” and when given the opportunity, He gives life.

So with all this said, why would Jesus tell the crowd that this girl is not dead? Verse 39 records Jesus’ words as, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” There had to have been other doctors around who could have taken a pulse and determined when the heart actually stopped beating. With no heartbeat and no breath, the girl’s life had left her. Doctors at the time would have easily been able to call this, and they would have done so prior to Jairus meeting Jesus, since messengers come and find them before they reach the crowd that is headed to the house. The messengers bring the message that the girl had died, and there was no reason to think anything different.

That is, until Jesus pushed the crowd to think differently, until Jesus pushed Jairus to not lose hope, and until Jesus proved His point by demonstrating that we have reason for hope after death. This twelve year-old girl was given a second chance for life, and her new life had a purpose. From that point forward, her life was no accident – it had been given and returned especially to her for a purpose. Jesus would always hold a significant place in her heart.

Jesus is the “Life-giver”, and when given the opportunity to give life, He does so. We might not experience the miracle of having our lives restored in the same way that this girl experienced, but Jesus does promise to restore our lives at the end of history when He returns.

This passage and miracle help give us hope that death is not the end. The life Jesus gives is stronger than death. This means that if we ever face sleep-death like this girl did, we know that Jesus will be the first face we see when He wakes us up, and following Jesus waking us up, nothing resembling death will ever be able to take His life from 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. Purposefully place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him to keep you safe throughout history, and believe that the first face you see following any prolonged “sleep” that your future holds will be Jesus.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow closer to Jesus today. The closer you are to Jesus in this life, the more excited you will be for Jesus to return.

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 Jesus traveled around from town to town and village to village, crowds flocked to see Him and in probably every case, included in each crowd were dozens, if not hundreds, of people bringing themselves or friends of theirs to be healed by Jesus.

However, there was one man who needed to be healed by Jesus, but there was no way to get Him to Jesus. It is in this case that Jesus, prompted by the Holy Spirit, crosses the lake specifically to meet this one individual and heal him.

Three of the four gospels share this event, and for our podcast episode this week, we will be looking at Luke’s version of this event, which can be found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 8, and starting in verse 26. Reading from the New International Version, Luke tells us that:

²⁶ They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” ²⁹ For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹ And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

³² A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. ³³ When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴ When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, ³⁵ and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ³⁶ Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. ³⁷ Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

³⁸ The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

Some people might read or hear this story and think that Jesus doesn’t like pigs. However, looking from this angle at this event completely misses the big picture. All of the pigs in that herd were destined to be killed at one point or another, and so it made little difference exactly when that would happen – that is, except for the pigs’ owners and those tending the pigs.

However, while the demons likely didn’t want Jesus to gain popularity in another part of that region, they preferred an exit that demonstrated how extensive in number they were – and an exit like this would certainly attract attention.

But the biggest idea I see in this event is that Jesus made the trip across the lake for this one man. Matthew references the idea that there were two men, but regardless of the exact number, Jesus was willing to go to someone who needed help but who was unable to come to Him. Our passage begins with Jesus sailing across the lake to this man, and it concludes with Jesus being asked to leave and Him setting sail back across the lake.

This brings out another big idea: Jesus is happy to negotiate and He doesn’t want to force Himself onto others. When the demons know that they have been caught, Jesus is willing to grant their request for a different exit plan than the one they feared or claimed would be likely. Once the townspeople came out to see what the commotion was, they were scared of Jesus and asked Him to leave.

About the only person or thing in this passage that doesn’t get their request answered is the man who Jesus healed. Luke tells us in verse 38 and 39 that “The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.’ So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.” I’m sure that the man was happy to witness for Jesus, but that he would have rather become a disciple like the twelve that were with Jesus.

This brings us to a third big idea: Sometimes our mission is not to travel with Jesus but to share what Jesus has done for us. While our lives in the 21st century are different, as our relationship with Jesus is different than literally walking with Jesus in the flesh, we don’t have to pick between leaving our world behind to follow Jesus vs. sharing what Jesus has done for us. While all of us are called to leave our past, sinful lives behind, and while many are called to travel as missionaries, with the Holy Spirit and a regular time alone in prayer with God and our Bible, we can be with Jesus wherever we are at, which leaves us with the challenge to share with others what Jesus has done for us.

Jesus was willing to cross the lake to help one individual who could not travel to Him, and He is more than willing to do the same for us. Jesus is willing to come as far as He needs to in order to reach our hearts – and after He has touched our hearts and our lives, He calls us to tell others what He has done for us.

Our stories are our testimony and they are the best invitation for others to invite Jesus into their lives as well. Jesus is not interested in forcing His way into our hearts, but He is more than happy to enter our hearts and our lives when invited.

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

If you haven’t invited Jesus into your heart, I invite you to do so today. Ask Him to come in and change your life from the inside into being more like the person God created you to be. If you have already asked Jesus into your heart, and/or when God has done something significant for you, choose to not stay silent and share with others what He has done.

Also, while it is easy to get caught up in the busyness of life and doing ministry, be sure to take time to personally pray and study the Bible for yourself. Now that Jesus is in heaven and we have been promised the Holy Spirit, when we pause, pray, and study our Bibles, we are able to draw close to God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit and we are able to learn what He wants to teach us. If you depend on me or anyone else for your spiritual truth, you are limiting what God wants to teach you personally.

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

Not long after Jesus shared the parable of the farmer sowing seed that we looked at in our last episode, we discover that Jesus shared a set of lesser-known parables with His disciples while they are alone together.

However, as I have grown up in church and have heard two of the three parables in this set explained many times, as I have grown with God, I have begun to wonder if we are stopping short of a powerful truth that Jesus wanted us to learn. Part of this stopping short is ignoring the last parable in this set, while another part of stopping short relates to only viewing these parables from one perspective and not two.

Similar to how our previous episode focused on a very foundational parable, as I have studied and focused on the set of parables we will be looking at in this episode, the framing of these parables have shaped how I look at every single one of Jesus’ other parables.

So without any further delay, let’s look at this set of parables in our passage for this episode. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read it using the New International Version. Starting in verse 44, Jesus taught His disciples by saying:

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

⁴⁷ “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹ This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

These three parables wrap up a longer series of parables that Jesus shares in the early portion of Matthew chapter 13. I have heard the first two parables in this set shared many times and in many different ways. But almost always, I have heard these two parables framed as parables challenging us believers to treasure and focus on finding God like we are looking for a pearl or like we just found a treasure hidden in a field.

I wholeheartedly agree with this truth: We are to be constantly on the lookout for hidden treasure and valuable pearls as represented in these two parables – and that Jesus is the most valuable treasure we can find.

However, too often, we stop here. I don’t recall ever hearing a sermon on the third parable in this set, and I’m skeptical if I have heard a sermon framing the first two parables differently than I just described.

When reading this set of parables, I am struck with the realization that the third parable does not fit the same frame that we often times place the first two parables in. While the first two parables can easily be understood in the context of us seeing treasure and fine pearls, the third parable, which also contains the theme of seeking good fish, prompts us to look from a different perspective. Since Jesus does briefly explain the third parable, we can understand and conclude that the third parable is shared from God’s perspective when Jesus returns.

This pushes us past where we might be otherwise inclined to go. If these three parables are all speaking to the same or similar truths, and the third parable in this set is clearly explained as being from God’s perspective, then the best place for us to start looking at the other two parables is if they were shared from God’s perspective as well.

This means that while we should value seeking God like a treasure hidden in a field or like a valuable pearl and sell everything we own to acquire the priceless treasure, looking at these parables from God’s perspective challenges us with the parallel truth that God does the exact same thing.

In the first parable, where the kingdom of heaven is framed as a treasure hidden in a field, we could imagine that God is looking out across the universe, and hidden in the field known as the Milky Way galaxy, is a small, bluish-green planet locally known as Planet Earth. On this planet is a treasure, and God “sells” everything to acquire it.

However, if you are objecting to this interpretation because you understand the truth that God owns everything already, you’re not wrong. However, the perspective in Jesus’ parable is not on who owns what, but how much the main character is willing to give up to purchase the treasure. By choosing to disobey God and sin, our race sold itself into sin and slavery, and through Jesus, God came and purchased us. Another way to say this truth is that God redeemed us.

To further emphasize this point, the second parable compares the kingdom of heaven to a merchant looking for fine pearls. While the first parable has the kingdom of heaven being a treasure, we are also taught that the kingdom of heaven is actively seeking additional treasure. This too is significant, because God is looking at every one of us and looking at our character. A merchant who specializes in fine pearls is going to know when he finds one that is exceptionally valuable, and Jesus makes the case in this parable that God is actively searching for valuable people that He can purchase and save. When He discovers people who He sees as valuable, He sold everything He could to buy us back.

While you may not think of yourself as valuable or special in your own eyes, God sees more in you than you could ever know or understand – and regardless of what you have done to make you think that you are not valuable, in God’s eyes, you are worth sending Jesus to die in your place. You are worthy of God’s redemption.

The third parable compares the kingdom of heaven with a fishing net. If God’s kingdom is like the net itself, then it gathers everyone, both the good and the bad, before separating the righteous, valuable people from those who are wicked.

In all three of these parables, the focus is on acquiring things of value. The explanation of the third parable gives context for this block of three. These three parables are important from God’s perspective, and He is actively seeking out each of us because we are valuable to Him.

All too often, we like to place ourselves in Jesus’ parables, but while we may initially think of ourselves as the man who finds hidden treasure, or as the merchant, or even as a fisherman, the perspective given from God’s eyes places us as part of the hidden treasure called planet earth, part of the exceptionally valuable pearl called the human race, and as a fish – hopefully a good fish – that was gathered and saved by Him.

God loves you and I so much that He sold everything in order to get us back. He succeeded, but has left us with the freedom to choose whether to be free in Him, or whether to reject His gift. God will not force His gift on us. Instead, He allows you and I to choose whether we accept this gift or not.

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. Understand and believe that God loves you so much that He paid the ultimate price to buy you back from sin. Realize that God loves you more than you could ever imagine.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself. Through prayer and Bible study, discover how you can grow closer to God as you move personally closer to Him through personal prayer and study. With personal prayer and Bible study, discover who God really is and just how much He loves you!

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!