Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving through events in Jesus’ life, we come to an event that not only displays an incredible amount of faith, but this event also hints at what Jesus was like as a young man. While the Bible only includes one short event between Jesus’ birth and Jesus’ baptism, this event primarily shares Jesus’ focus, and it hints at Jesus’ knowledge, but in this event, we don’t yet see Jesus’ ability or Jesus’ mission.

However, our passage for this episode shares another key idea that teaches us about Jesus’ life as a young man. The event is called “The Wedding at Cana”, and in what happens, we discover some clues to what Jesus was like when He was younger.

Our passage and event are found in John’s gospel, chapter 2, we’ll be reading from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

⁴ “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

⁸ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, ⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

¹¹ What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

As we read this passage, a number of things stood out to me.

First off, John clearly and directly states after this miracle that it was “the first of the signs through with he revealed his glory.” While this doesn’t seem too significant on the surface, this detail actually tells us something about Jesus’ childhood. This detail tells us that this was Jesus’ first miracle, so any speculation of Jesus performing miracles when He was younger can be discarded because they don’t match John’s description of Jesus.

However, if Jesus had not performed a miracle before this wedding, then Mary’s actions and her faith in this passage is almost unbelievable. After all, Jesus discounts His own mother’s request to help out in this tricky situation – and only then does she simply instruct the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.

If Jesus had not ever done a miracle prior to this point, what might have been the reason Mary challenges Jesus to solve this social dilemma? Mary displayed a faith in Jesus that is incredible, especially with the description that Jesus had not performed any miracles before this point.

I don’t think that Jesus had ever performed a miracle while He was younger, but I wonder if He had displayed an unusual level of wisdom and skill for getting out of tricky social situations.

All through all four gospels, we see examples of Jesus’ Holy-Spirit directed wisdom for avoiding and/or countering all the intellectual traps set by the religious leaders. Also, during the one event when Jesus was young, we discover that He amazed those in the temple with His wisdom and insights – and this happened when Jesus was only 12 years old.

In my own mind, it is not a stretch to think that Mary’s faith, and her actions, were not rooted in expecting or demanding a miracle – or another miracle, since John clearly states that no miracles had happened up to that point. Instead, Mary is putting her faith in Jesus’ wisdom and who she knows Him to be. I imagine she may have told herself, “If Jesus cannot solve this problem, no one can.”

Mary’s faith was rooted in Jesus, and in His previous demonstrations of God-given wisdom.

Mary is a model for us as we move through the various stages of our belief in Jesus.

However, in this passage, Mary is not the only one who the passage says believed in Jesus following this event. While we might expect the passage to describe the servants, who were obedient to Jesus’ instructions, to have faith as well, the passage does not imply this to be the case. The servants do demonstrate faith in Jesus by obeying, but perhaps their amazement at the miracle never developed into faith. Or perhaps the servants did believe, but John wants to direct our attention elsewhere.

The passage closes by saying that the disciples believed in Jesus, but there is a clear difference between Mary and the disciples: Mary believed before the miracle, the disciples believed after.

For most of us, it is not natural to believe in Jesus – or to even consider Him as Someone special. Our first step on the path of spiritual growth is to believe in Him because of His miracles. Jesus is okay with us believing in Him because of His miracles, but He never wants us to stop there. Jesus’ miracles were given to be signs to help us take notice, and to move closer to Him as we see how He displays God’s love and God’s character to our world.

A cleaver magician can cause us to take notice, but when we do move closer and learn the secrets of what happened, we find the event was a hollow trick or a cleaver deception. If we stop short and simply believe in Jesus because He performed miracles, we will then be tempted to leave Jesus when someone else is able to do something even more spectacular.

Jesus’ miracles were God-given signs for us to take notice, but they should never form the foundation of our faith. We can start believing in Jesus by believing in His miracles, and this is clearly where many of the disciples started, but Jesus never wants us to build the foundation of our belief in Him on His miracles.

This is where Mary is a much better model for our faith: She believed in Jesus because of who He was, and not because she thought He would perform a miracle. Mary had faith in Jesus through the relationship she had with Him – a relationship that was built over having spent years with Him.

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 intentionally choose to have a “Mary-like” faith in Jesus.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself. Discover who He is and what He did through reading the gospels, and focus on building a relationship with Jesus rather than simply spending time with Him because of what He can do for you! Build your faith in God on the foundation of who Jesus is – not on a handful of miracles 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!

Before Jesus stepped into the spotlight during His life on earth, God had arranged for Jesus to have a front-runner in ministry. The goal of this individual’s life would be to tell everyone who would listen that God was about to do something. In essence, this individual was to announce the Messiah’s arrival.

The gospel of John tells us about Jesus’ forerunner in ministry, who also happened to be named John. To keep these two John’s separate for our episode, I’ll refer to one as John the disciple, who authored the gospel that bears his name, and the other John as John the Baptist, who was the forerunner and the focus of our passage in this episode.

Let’s read what John the disciple has to say about John the Baptist. This can be found in the gospel of John, chapter 1 and we’ll be reading from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 19, we learn that:

¹⁹ This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” ²¹ They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²² Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

²⁴ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” ²⁶ John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. ²⁷ It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” ²⁸ These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Let’s pause reading here to draw our attention onto what John the disciple says about John the Baptist. In this gospel, we learn that John the Baptist had been asked directly about who he was, and what role he was filling. John the Baptist openly denies that he is the Messiah, or Christ, and he also openly denies that he is Elijah, who was foreshadowed to come before the Messiah. John the Baptist also chose not to claim the role of the Prophet either, and he was asked this because the Jews were also expecting someone who fit the description of prophet as well.

Instead, John the Baptist points them to a potentially ignored portion of prophecy where Isaiah describes one who is a voice crying in the wilderness.

When challenged about choosing to baptize people with water, John the Baptist simply redirects their question with an answer pointing forward to the coming Messiah, who is Someone they do not yet recognize.

Continuing our reading in verse 29, John the disciple tells us that:

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ³¹ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” ³² John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. ³³ I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

What stands out as amazing to me in this declaration is that John the Baptist knows exactly who Jesus is at this point. Prior to this meeting, Jesus had come to the place where John the Baptist was preaching, and Jesus had asked to be baptized. However, immediately following His baptism, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to fast and to be tempted.

This encounter with John the Baptist that John the disciple shares in his gospel likely happened as Jesus was coming back from being tempted and fasting. During the forty days Jesus had spent in the wilderness following His baptism, John the Baptist likely shifted his message from “the Messiah coming soon” to “the Messiah is here right now”. John the Baptist probably didn’t know that Jesus had left to fast and be tempted in the wilderness following His baptism, but here in our passage for this episode, we see a clear proclamation from John the Baptist that Jesus is “the Son of God”.

If we look closely at this passage, John the Baptist’s call to baptize people was partly to give those he baptized a public way to show that they were returning to God and leaving a life of sin. However, it also gave God and the Holy Spirit the perfect opening and way to show John the Baptist exactly who the Messiah was. Reading from the other gospels about Jesus’ baptism event, it seems likely that John knew beforehand that Jesus was the One, however what happened during Jesus’ baptism simply confirmed it.

In the lives of both John the Baptist and John the disciple, I see a call for each of us. This call is to be pointing people to Jesus. John the Baptist was able to point people forward to Jesus, and he was able to clearly identify God’s Messiah for those present. In contrast, we can’t point people to a physical person who happens to be walking by and identify that individual as Jesus. However, we can model our lives after Jesus, and choose to be like Him, love like Him, and care for those around us like He did. Jesus came to love those who were hurting and challenge those who were self-righteous. We can do the same in our lives today.

John the disciple was able to spend one-on-one time with Jesus and then after Jesus had returned to heaven, John was able to point people back to what Jesus had done. John the disciple even wrote about His experiences with Jesus first-hand and His gospel has helped people ever since grow closer to Jesus even if they lived after Jesus had returned to heaven. While we don’t have the ability to sit down with Jesus face-to-face like John the disciple did, we are able to spend time in prayer and through honest, heartfelt prayer, the Holy Spirit lifts us into God’s presence, where we are able to spend time with Jesus, and share life with Him.

These two Johns challenge me to live a life that is within God’s will and that includes living like Jesus both in public and in private. Perhaps these two Johns are challenging you to do the same.

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

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally choose to focus your life on God above everything else. Intentionally seek Him, spend time with Him, and learn from Him – instead of taking someone else’s word for it.

The best way to do this is through heartfelt, prayer-filled Bible study, and specifically personal Bible study. By praying and studying the Bible for yourself, you are able to learn firsthand from God and the Holy Spirit, and He is able to change your heart and life in ways that no other method of hearing the gospel can. While a podcast or a preacher can inspire change from the outside, Bible study with the Holy Spirit inspires change from the inside.

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 continue moving into our first chronological year moving through the gospels, we come to a powerful event that marked the official start to Jesus’ ministry on earth. While I’m sure Jesus had helped people during His time with Mary and Joseph while growing up, following Jesus’ baptism, we discover in the gospels how His ministry drew peoples’ attention like nothing He had done before.

Our passage for this episode focuses specifically on Jesus’ baptism. Baptism, as done by John the baptizer in this passage, is an interesting event. If one takes all the spiritual significance out of the picture, it would have little use. The physical act of baptism is simply submerging, or being submerged in water. Without any soap or time to get yourself clean, it is more similar to taking a swim, but only getting in the water once, and for only enough time to get your head wet.

If we bring spiritual significance back into the picture, baptism has a lot of significance. Baptism is a life metaphor, symbolizing laying to rest our past, sinful self, and lifting up a new life with Jesus moving forward. We could also use the church-speak and say that we “die to sins”, and “resurrect into the life Jesus wants for us”.

I have experienced baptism twice in my life, and at each point, there was significance attached.

The first time I was baptized, it was on my 13th birthday, and this event symbolized my wanting to dedicate my life to God from that point forward.

The second time I was baptized was in November of 2011. This time, the significance was both rededicating my life as an adult, and dedicating my life’s work and ministry to God as well. Oh, and I should add for those of you who are curious, I was 29 this second time.

But here’s where things get interesting, especially when we look at Jesus’ life and parallel it to the baptism symbolism: Jesus didn’t need to “die to a sinful nature”. Instead, in Jesus’ case, His baptism would foreshadow when He would “die for humanity’s sinful nature.”

Let’s read Matthew’s version of this event, since it has the most detail of the three gospels that include this event. We’ll be reading Matthew 3:13-17 out of the New American Standard Bible translation:

¹³ Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him. ¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

It would seem that John the baptizer also caught the seemingly backwards nature of Jesus’ request.

John baptize Jesus? No, this really should be the other way around. Jesus had no sin that needed to be repented and turned away from. John knew that he himself did have sins and that would have made more sense to have Jesus baptize him.

However, in this act we read an interesting phrase in Jesus’ response: “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

In this response, Jesus is sharing a side mission to His life. Jesus’ primary mission was to show humanity what God the Father is like. This mission culminated in Jesus’ death on a cross – for humanity, when almost all of humanity had rejected Him. This was His primary mission.

In addition to Jesus’ baptism foreshadowing His death and resurrection, it also shows us His side mission. Jesus wants to show us how to live a life that is pleasing to God. Baptism is a symbol or metaphor for us putting our selfish “self-focused” desires behind us, and placing our trust in God as our number one goal: Death to self and raised with Jesus.

But in this baptism event, another significant metaphor is at work. It is a subtle metaphor; something that rests below the surface in most people’s minds. This metaphor is humility.

In order to be baptized, one must submit their lives into the hands of someone else. While I don’t know of any pastor doing so, and I’m sure there would be plenty of consequences if this was done, one could be held under the water in baptism so long that they would literally drown. While this has never happened to my knowledge, and it is unthinkable, the very nature of this option being a slight possibility, or perhaps even a fear some people might have, emphasizes this metaphor that in order to be baptized, we must submit ourselves and our lives into the hands of someone else.

However, in the case of Jesus’ baptism, we find this metaphor amplified to a much greater degree.

As I shared before, Jesus’ primary mission was to show humanity what the Father is like. In His baptism, Jesus takes the road of humbling Himself, submitting to John, who was a sinner like all of us, and He placed His life in John’s hands. Jesus humbled Himself and He placed His life in the hands of sinners, and this is a powerful truth to keep in mind!

I suspect that this is one more way that Jesus demonstrated the Father’s character. Through Jesus in this event, we see the truth that God the Father is not a dictator-god, but a selflessly loving God. God placed us ahead of Himself.

If we doubt this truth is present here at Jesus’ baptism, we can easily see this at Jesus’ crucifixion. When Jesus died for us, it was at the hands of sinners. Here at the start of Jesus’ ministry, we discover a powerful foreshadowing of this humility and God the Father’s character, through the very act of being baptized.

Jesus loves each and every one of us because the Father loves each and every one of us. Jesus’ baptism, which probably seemed very awkward to John at the time, becomes one of the most significant demonstrations of God the Father’s character at the start of Jesus’ ministry, and it frames Jesus’ entire ministry as one that places humanity ahead of Himself.

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

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life. Remember to thank God and Jesus for putting you and I ahead of Himself. If you haven’t already done so today, decide today that you will recommit your heart and your life to Him.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue growing your relationship with God intentionally studying the Bible for yourself, and by keeping your eyes open to how He demonstrates His love for us both in your life each day and through the pages of His Word.

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!

The gospel of Luke is the only gospel to touch on an event in Jesus’ childhood between His birth story, which Matthew also includes, and the beginning of His ministry when He was fully-grown. This event happened when Jesus was twelve years old and part of me wonders why Luke chose to include it.

Perhaps this event was the only time in Jesus’ whole childhood that He “rebelled”, for lack of a better word, and ran away. Well, as we will soon see, Jesus didn’t run away, but in Mary and Joseph’s minds, it might have appeared to be that way.

Let’s read about what happened, from the gospel of Luke, chapter 2, using the New International Version. Starting in verse 41, Luke tells us that:

⁴¹ Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. ⁴³ After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁵¹ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

In many ways, this event shines a negative light on Jesus’ parents, because after all, how could you get a whole day’s journey away from Jerusalem before realizing Jesus was not with your group of travelers. This also shines a little bit of a negative light onto Jesus as well, because if He wanted to stay behind in Jerusalem and test the leaders’ receptivity to His upcoming ministry, it is likely that Mary and Joseph would have given him a day or two.

Perhaps this was one big misunderstanding, with Jesus believing He had given them the message, but the message not being understood.

However, one big thing I see in this event is with the reaction those present in the temple had towards Jesus. Luke tells us in verse 47 that at twelve years old, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” This verse emphasizes how much Jesus had learned being taught by Mary at home, and it also hints at Jesus’ bigger understanding of His mission and the path for His life.

While getting the right answers to the rabbi’s questions would be satisfactory, it would seem that Jesus understood the scriptures in a unique way from the religious leaders in order to actually amaze them with His understanding and challenging counter questions.

But as I read this, I still wonder what Jesus wanted to accomplish during this extended stay at the temple. I wonder, as I alluded to earlier, if Jesus was testing the waters regarding how receptive the leaders were to God’s self-sacrificing Messiah that Jesus would become, or if they were closed-minded to anyone other than the military leader they were hoping for.

Part of me also wonders if Jesus was testing the waters with how the religious leaders formed their arguments, questions, and challenges, and this would be a valuable set of skills to have later in life when other Pharisees and religious leaders would be challenging Him throughout His ministry.

Maybe Jesus’ time in the temple wasn’t as much for the teachers themselves, but an attempt to plant seeds in the minds of the other students that were likely present. A number of these students would likely have been leaders during the time of Jesus’ ministry, and it would be fascinating to learn that a young Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea were with Jesus those days in the temple. Equally fascinating in my mind would be if Jesus’ strongest opponents would also be there in the temple learning from the teachers and leaders in the older generation.

In Jesus’ response that He gives His parents, we see a powerful picture of how Jesus saw Himself. Whether Mary had taught Him this while growing up, or if Jesus had internalized this truth another way, when Jesus responds with the somewhat rhetorical question in the last part of verse 49 by saying, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” it appears to us looking back on this event that Jesus was well aware of God the Father being His Father, even if Joseph was filling the role of “dad” on earth.

We circle back around to where we began by asking ourselves why Luke might have chosen to include this event in His gospel. Not only is this question relevant to a discussion on Luke’s gospel, but equally insightful would be asking the question of how Luke learned about this event. While I’ve shared some ideas regarding the first question, Luke hints at his source for all of Jesus’ birth and childhood in the last phrase of verse 51, where Luke tells us that Jesus’ “mother treasured all these things in her heart”.

The only way for anyone to know this brief piece of information is from the source itself. It would appear that Luke the gospel writer had the chance to interview Mary personally, or at the very least, someone really close to Mary, to have learned some of the events that she treasured in her heart.

While we can only speculate as to why Jesus stayed behind, and why this event prompted Mary to treasure it, we can learn that even at this early age, Jesus understood that God was His Father, and that His life was to be lived according to God’s bigger plan.

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

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally place God first in your life. While Jesus can claim God as His Father, we can stand on this truth as well because when we are with Jesus, God has adopted us into His family.

With this truth in mind, study the Bible for yourself to learn what it means to be a member of God’s family, both the benefits as well as the responsibilities. While we can learn about these things from others, it is when we study them out for ourselves, personally, that we grow our personal relationship with God and His truths are better internalized into our lives.

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