Reflective Bible Study

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, we learn that He sends His disciples out in pairs to tell others about what God was doing in their midst. While we don’t know any specific events that happened during the disciples’ mission trips, we do know that their outreach was a success – but more important than the success of their trips are things we can learn when we look closely at what Jesus tells them as He sends them out to witness for Him.

Our passage for this event is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 6, and we will be reading it from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 7:

⁷ [Jesus] called the 12 disciples to him. Then he began to send them out two by two. He gave them authority to drive out evil spirits.

⁸ Here is what he told them to do. “Take only a walking stick for your trip. Do not take bread or a bag. Take no money in your belts. ⁹ Wear sandals. But do not take extra clothes. ¹⁰ When you are invited into a house, stay there until you leave town. ¹¹ Some places may not welcome you or listen to you. If they don’t, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet. That will be a witness against the people living there.”

¹² They went out. And they preached that people should turn away from their sins. ¹³ They drove out many demons. They poured olive oil on many sick people and healed them.

From these few verses, we can learn quite a bit. First, it is interesting that Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs. This is significant because it is easy for one person to feel fear and chicken out of a task when they are alone. However, even if both people are scared and would chicken out if solo, when paired up with someone else, they both are more likely to follow through because they are not alone.

We can learn that if you have been living a spiritual live outside of a community and isolated from others, or if your only spiritual connections are online, you are limiting your growth potential. We are created to live in community with others and while I don’t know your exact circumstances or situation, finding at least one person you can spiritually grow with is important.

While common logic would suggest that each of the 12 disciples could have covered more area if they traveled solo, I remember reading that research has shown that their outreach wouldn’t have been nearly as successful or as effective.

Perhaps Jesus knew this characteristic of humanity, but it is also possible that Jesus wanted to emphasize another subtle truth we learn elsewhere in the gospels. This other truth Jesus promises the disciples is that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there with them. By sending the disciples out in pairs, Jesus knows that the Holy Spirit will travel with each team of evangelist-disciples.

The next thing we learn in this passage is that Jesus gave the disciples the authority to drive out evil spirits. This is interesting to me because when we compare this authority to what the disciples come back and share, they not only drove out demons, but they also anointed people and healed them of a variety of diseases.

From this contrast, I see God being willing to bless those who represent Him with more than they realize and when we let God use us for His purposes, we will be amazed at what God wants to do through us!

Next, Jesus tells the disciples what He wants them to do and not do. In verses 8 and 9, Jesus told them, “Take only a walking stick for your trip. Do not take bread or a bag. Take no money in your belts. Wear sandals. But do not take extra clothes.” I find this first set of instructions interesting because we also don’t know how long the disciples would be away. Was Jesus sending the disciples out for a one week trip, or for a trip that would last a month or even longer?

While Jesus’ instructions themselves are powerful, because they challenge each of His followers to be 100% trusting in God, I wonder if the culture of that day was different enough from today that the literal advice is not as applicable as the theme of the challenge. The theme in these first two verses of instruction pushes us to live lives of ministry in a way where we are dependent on God. I wonder if we lived more dependent on God, if we would see more miracles in our lives. Applying this challenge in my own life is difficult, but the difficulty emphasizes this challenge’s importance. In everything I do, I am challenged to 100% trust God regarding the outcome, and with everything that happens in my life, I must also trust that God has a plan or purpose for it – even if I don’t understand what God’s plan or purpose is in the moment.

The last thing we read in Jesus’ instruction is in verses 10 and 11. Jesus continues by instructing His followers, “When you are invited into a house, stay there until you leave town. Some places may not welcome you or listen to you. If they don’t, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet. That will be a witness against the people living there.”

In the first century nation of Israel, while Jesus was walking and talking with people, we discover that there were people and towns that were not open to hearing Him or His message. While we don’t know of any examples of towns by name, I don’t think Jesus would have shared this last portion of His instructions if there wasn’t going to be some opposition to the disciples.

However, regardless of whether the disciples faced rejection while Jesus was alive on earth, I imagine most of us can relate to the idea that not everyone in our lives is pleased with our relationship with God. Even in my own situation, where I am surrounded by people who share my faith, not everyone believes everything identically, and when spiritual topics come up, it is very easy to be defensive.

This context is important because nowhere in Jesus’ instructions does He tell us to debate with others or with those who don’t welcome us. Instead, we are called to challenge people to do what the disciples did, and in verse 12, we read that the disciples challenged those they met to “turn away from their sins”.

While we all might not have the Holy Spirit’s power to heal others or to cast out demons, we all can challenge others that sin is not beneficial to their lives. When we live for God and focus on Jesus first, we will naturally move away from sin. However, some sins are tricky, so we must also be willing to let God lead us towards His truth for our lives. Only with God do our lives have purpose and only because of what Jesus did for each of us do our lives have meaning.

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

Always seek God first and place your faith, hope, belief, and trust in Him regardless of what happens. While we live in a sinful world and not everything goes our way, we can know that in the end, Jesus will stand up victorious and we will be with Him because we placed our faith and trust in Him.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself and let the Holy Spirit lead you into the truth that God wants to share with you. While a pastor or podcaster can point you to some passages or promises they have found in the scripture, only God can lead you directly to the truth for your life within the pages of His Word. In my own experience, while I have learned from others, I have learned so much more from my personal study – and I believe God will do the same for you when you seek Him in 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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Part of me wonders about the faith component that many of the gospel writers attach to the healing miracles Jesus performed. Some miracles seem to place faith needing to be present from those Jesus healed. Other miracles happen seemingly from the faith of some friends of the person needing healing. Still other miracles seem to avoid listing anything about faith, but they simply happen because Jesus wants them to happen.

Looking at all the gospels, and all the different times Jesus healed people, we get a very broad picture of the ways that Jesus healed and the circumstances surrounding the healing. About the only common denominator is Jesus, but even He isn’t the common denominator because we read about Him sending His followers out in pairs and they are able to perform miracles and healing too.

However, in our passage for this episode, there is a subtle clue about what the common denominator is in all these Biblical miracles, and when we understand this common denominator, it will help us understand God’s character better.

Let’s read the passage and uncover it. Our passage is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 9, and we will it read from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 27, Matthew tells us:

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” ²⁸ When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!” ³¹ But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.

³² As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. ³³ After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

While this passage contained two very different miracles, several things we just read caught my attention.

First off, when looking at these two miracles we see almost two completely different sets of ingredients. The first miracle, which was the healing of the two blind men, Jesus ties the miracle to the blind men’s faith in Him. The blind men had followed Jesus requesting healing, and we don’t know how far they traveled with Him crying out for Jesus to heal them. These blind men seeking healing demonstrate a significant amount of faith in Jesus because their persistence was evidence of their faith, and it directly lead to their eyesight being restored.

If we only look at this first miracle, we might conclude that the people being healed must have faith in Jesus – but when we look at the second miracle, we know almost nothing about the man being healed. However, there are some clues to indicate what ingredients were present.

In the second miracle, if we look closely, we read that the mute, demon-possessed man “was brought to [Jesus]” (v. 32) The man could see just fine, and He probably could have navigated his way to find Jesus on His own, but perhaps the demon-possession would not allow him to move that way. Maybe the man wanted healing, maybe the man had faith in Jesus, maybe the man asked some friends to take him to see Jesus, but with all these “maybe” statements, we are assuming more than the passage directly tells us.

Assuming from the opposite direction, perhaps the man was skeptical, perhaps he didn’t have any faith, perhaps the demon-possession was so strong that the friends had to restrain and drag the man to Jesus. None of this set of statements are included in the passage either, so thinking them would also be assuming something is present in this event that the passage does not directly tell us.

In this second miracle, our passage shares three facts about this man being healed: the man’s disability, which was muteness; the root cause of this muteness, which was demon-possession; and that the man “was brought” to Jesus, which meant that he did not come on his own. We know nothing else from this passage about the setup for this miracle. However, even with the seemingly lack of details, we still have a clue regarding faith: Someone had to have faith in Jesus to have brought the man to see Him. Whether the demon-possessed man had faith but needed help traveling, or the individuals who brought the man to Jesus had faith, faith was demonstrated by at least one person in the act of this man being brought to Jesus for healing.

The blind men demonstrate they had faith because they searched for and found Jesus and then they wouldn’t leave Him alone until they were healed. On the other hand, the mute man may have had faith that lead Him to seek help finding Jesus, or perhaps it was the faith of his friends, family, or neighbors that prompted His encounter with Jesus.

Faith is an ingredient in these two miracles, with it being clearly visible in the first miracle, and hinted at in the second miracle.

Secondly, it would be bad to skip over another obvious similarity between these two miracles – which is simply that both miracles were connected to Jesus’ ministry. Jesus was there for both of these miracles and He is connected to all of God’s miracles – whether He was present in person, or whether He was asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit to help in a specific situation.

I should emphasize that I said God’s miracles in the previous statement. God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are not the only spiritual force behind miracles. Following the second miracle, we see a clear dividing line present in the reaction to what Jesus was doing.

The passage concludes in verses 33 and 34 by saying, “the crowds were amazed, and were saying, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.’ ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, ‘He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.’”

This brings us to the clear test we can use to determine the source of the miracle: If the miracle leads us to strengthen our faith in God, Jesus, and/or the work of the Holy Spirit, then the miracle was from God. If the miracle leads us to place our faith in anything else, then there is a different spiritual force working behind the miracle.

With how this passage concludes, I can see why Jesus never performed miracles specifically for the Pharisees or Jewish leaders. The religious leaders openly stated their belief that the source of Jesus’ miracles was from the ruler of demons.

I suppose in looking at Jesus’ ministry, and at His miracles, one could choose to conclude either way. It is technically possible that Jesus could have used either spiritual force for many, but not all, of His healing miracles. However, to understand which force Jesus actually did use, each of us must personally read the gospel record to see Jesus’ character revealed – and then following this, we must make up our mind regarding who Jesus is for us.

If Jesus actively pointed people towards God in His ministry, then God is behind His ministry. However, if Jesus drew people away from God, as the Pharisees claimed, then God would not be supportive of Jesus’ ministry, leaving Jesus to be dependent on the other source. Only by reading the gospels for yourself can you know, for yourself, how to answer this dilemma.

The Pharisees saw Jesus as an impostor, while the crowd believed Him to be someone sent by God into the world.

With this said, as we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by telling you, intentionally seek God first in your life. If you have not studied Jesus’ life or decided for yourself who He really is, choose to do so this coming week! Reading the gospels from beginning to end doesn’t take much time, and reading them like four letters from start to finish helps you see a clearer picture of what He was really like. Almost no one reads the gospels as one long letter or message, but those who do will second my claim that reading a whole gospel letter in one sitting paints a powerful picture of Jesus.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue to pray and to read the gospels for yourself instead of taking my word or someone else’s word for it. When eternity is at stake, what are a few hours of reading to discover for yourself the truth about the Jewish Carpenter named Jesus who ultimately divided history and humanity.

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!

While reading the gospels and especially the portion of an event we are looking at in this episode, I wonder if Jesus was ever actually busy or in a hurry. Perhaps this is something that is different in today’s culture than it was at the time Jesus walked the earth, but I imagine that with Jesus’ popularity as a miracle worker, a healer, and a counter-cultural teacher, He would have just as many demands on His time as someone living today. Jesus might have had even more demands on His calendar than the busiest of us. Even though Jesus didn’t travel very far over the course of His life, by the later stages of His ministry, I doubt there was anyone living in Israel who didn’t know something about Him.

However, while my life gets busy pretty regularly, and it is easy to let the busyness sidetrack me from slowing down, when I read the gospels, I don’t even see a hint of Jesus acting busy or stressed out. Throughout the gospels, I instead see Jesus modeling a presence in every moment that is very unusual when compared with our highly distracted societies today, and it might have even been unusual in the first century as well.

One great example of Jesus living in each moment comes in our passage for this episode. We will be reading from the gospel of Mark, chapter 5, using the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 21, we learn that:

²¹ When Jesus went in the boat back to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him there. ²² A leader of the synagogue, named Jairus, came there, saw Jesus, and fell at his feet. ²³ He begged Jesus, saying again and again, “My daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so she will be healed and will live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed Jesus and pushed very close around him. ²⁵ Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had, but instead of improving, she was getting worse. ²⁷ When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his coat. ²⁸ She thought, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Instantly her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her disease.

³⁰ At once Jesus felt power go out from him. So he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ His followers said, “Look at how many people are pushing against you! And you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³² But Jesus continued looking around to see who had touched him. ³³ The woman, knowing that she was healed, came and fell at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear, she told him the whole truth. ³⁴ Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace; be healed of your disease.”

We’ll stop reading here because I want to draw out several things that stood out to me while reading this passage.

The first thing that stood out in my mind is that while Jairus urgently wanted Jesus to come quickly because the situation with his daughter looked very bleak, Jesus was more interested in identifying and drawing out the secret miracle. If we think a little deeper about what happens, it’s likely the woman who was healed, Jairus, and most everyone else present would have preferred this woman’s miracle and story to remain hidden.

But Jesus knows that this story needed to be vocalized, and He wanted to highlight this woman’s faith. We learn that the woman who was healed had a powerful testimony, but an even stronger faith that said she would be healed. While we’ll focus on the woman’s faith later in this episode, Jesus was willing to put the urgent situation of a dying child on hold to focus on the faith of a shy, would-rather-not-be-acknowledged woman.

Whether Jesus wanted to validate the woman, her faith, and the healing that just happened, or whether He wanted to stall long enough that Jairus’ daughter would actually die (which sets up the next part of the story), we see Jesus intentionally being present in each moment, even if the situation would pressure Him to hurry forward.

The next thing that stood out in my mind is that we learn that Jairus is a synagogue leader. This is significant to me because while I get the impression from the gospels that virtually all the religious leaders were opposed to Jesus, I highly doubt that this majority included Jairus – especially after this event.

Looking from the opposite perspective is also fascinating. From Jesus’ perspective, even though the majority of the religious leaders opposed Jesus, Jesus didn’t let the stereotype distract Him from choosing to help someone who needed help. Jesus didn’t let the stereotype that all religious leaders opposed Him stop Him from answering the call for help from one religious leader, and Jesus didn’t let the societal view of women stop Him from focusing attention onto this woman’s story, her faith, and her healing.

The third thing that stood out to me in our passage is the simple equation that Faith + Jesus = a Miracle. We learn from the woman’s story that she had tried everything else without success. She had spent all her money with no improvement. These details are important because the woman had faith in the medical practice of her day – even if the medical standards and understanding was lacking compared to what we know today. This woman had faith, but faith alone didn’t result in healing when she focused her faith onto the medical community.

When the woman shifted her faith onto Jesus, she discovered that was all that was needed. She focused all her faith on simply touching part of Jesus’ clothing, and that would be enough. She probably believed her condition wasn’t as serious as other conditions Jesus had healed, and because of this, Jesus’ direct intervention wouldn’t even have been necessary. She might have also believed that since her condition was less visible than most, that she could get away with a healing that was less visible than most.

The woman’s faith, when focused on Jesus resulted in a miracle and a healing in her life. We can learn from this as well because while there are countless things we could place our faith in, the only One truly worthy of our faith is Jesus – and Jesus is the only place where our faith can result in miracles occurring.

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

Be sure to place your faith onto Jesus. Focus on Him and on growing closer to Him each and every day.

Also, be sure to intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself because only through Bible study can you learn what Jesus is really like. While a pastor or podcaster can point you in the right direction, only through personal study can you grow a personal relationship with God!

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 fall away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Of all the events in the gospels, one event rises to the top when we look for miraculous events where Jesus displays an amazing level of trust. If you have ever wondered if Jesus lived out His faith, the passage we are focusing in on in this episode is a perfect example – and one that left a deep impression on all of Jesus’ disciples for the rest of their lives.

In the event we are focusing on in this episode, Jesus has just finished preaching, and He and the disciples decide to cross over the lake. This lake crossing is included in three of the four gospels, because something significant happens during it. Let’s read about this event from the gospel of Mark, chapter four, using the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 35, Mark tells us:

³⁵ That evening, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side.”

³⁶ Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus along in a boat just as he was. Other boats were with him.

³⁷ A violent windstorm came up. The waves were breaking into the boat so that it was quickly filling up. ³⁸ But he was sleeping on a cushion in the back of the boat.

So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to die?”

³⁹ Then he got up, ordered the wind to stop, and said to the sea, “Be still, absolutely still!” The wind stopped blowing, and the sea became very calm.

⁴⁰ He asked them, “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith yet?”

⁴¹ They were overcome with fear and asked each other, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

Every time I read this event, I am amazed at Jesus. The boat they were in was not big, nor was it all that stable, and Jesus is able to sleep through a storm that the expert-fishermen-disciples believe they will die in. During the worst storm these disciples had ever experienced, Jesus is at the back of the boat, sleeping – even though the fierce wind was blowing on Him, and wave after wave of water was splashing over the side of the boat onto Him.

Not only does this tell you Jesus could at times be a deep, deep sleeper, it tells us something else that is amazing about Jesus’ faith in God.

Jesus had complete trust in God and His protection for His life. Jesus knew the prophecies, and He knew the path that God had placed in front of Him to walk down. This path led to death on the cross. Jesus knew that until facing the arrest in Jerusalem on that future Passover weekend, His life was protected – which means that regardless of what happened, His life was secure.

This complete faith in God allowed Him to sleep while everyone who was with Him was in a panic.

The storm got so bad, and the disciples began to realize that Jesus wasn’t waking up to help, so they make their way to the back of the boat to wake Him up saying, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to die?” (v. 38b)

The disciples probably expected Jesus to help them pitch water out of the boat or give them some reassurance that they would survive this storm, but instead, Jesus does something they did not expect: He addresses the storm itself.

What at first was a desperate cry for help from Jesus because they were scared of the storm became a fear of Jesus after they realized that even the weather obeyed Him. Without even breaking a syllable, following commanding the storm to cease, Jesus turned to His disciples with the questions, “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith yet?”

Some translations choose not to call the disciples cowards but translate Jesus’ first question as simply “Why are you afraid?” Perhaps His question was aimed at their new fear in what Jesus just did, or perhaps it was aimed the disciples fear of the storm.

In either case, we learn something amazing about God. In the storms that life brings our way, they have had to pass through God’s filter of protection. This means that any- and every-thing that happens has been passed through a God-filter. God doesn’t filter all bad things from happening, because it is when we face challenges that our faith, trust, and character grow, but He does filter the senseless and meaningless bad from occurring.

In other words, if something happens to us in this life, God has an idea for how we can turn the pain into a stepping stone. Perhaps it is something that opens up a connection with someone God wants to reach, or maybe it gives us a shared experience that we can use when talking with someone God loves who has drifted away, or even maybe it is something that is intended to knock us out of our rut of complacency. If we become too comfortable and cease fulfilling our mission, God seems to send us things in order to wake us up.

I don’t claim to have all the answers for why bad things happen to us, except to say that we live in a world full of free choice and evil actions. What we see happening around us doesn’t always make sense, because we are only seeing it from half a perspective.

The event we just read teaches us about how God works through the storms of life. God didn’t keep the storm from happening to Jesus and the disciples, but He protected them all through it. Perhaps the disciples waited longer than they should have to ask Jesus for help, but they ultimately realized they needed Him. When the disciples finally asked for help, Jesus helps in a way that they were not expecting.

However, the big truths I see displayed in Jesus actions are a complete trust in God’s protection, and an extraordinary example of the power of faith.

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

As I always open these challenges by saying, intentionally seek God first in your life. When storms happen in our lives, keep your faith and trust in God’s protection, and turn to Him first for help leading you through it. Sometimes God will silence the storm, whereas other times He will walk with you through it.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do in one way or another, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn how God always protects His people through the trials and challenges they face. In the events of the Bible, sometimes God protects us from the bad that could happen, sometimes God walks with us through it, and sometimes God uses it to wake us up from our spiritual sleep. From the events of the Bible, discover that everything happening today, regardless of its level of good or evil, has a purpose and plan from God’s perspective, even if we cannot see it from our perspective. Trust that God knows what He is doing and that He wants to use whatever happens for His glory in order to save as many people as He can 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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!