Reflective Bible Study

As we begin another year moving through the life of Jesus, most of Jesus’ birth story will be fresh in our minds, and some people might even be sick of hearing about it. Hopefully this isn’t you, because I’ve been amazed that looking at Jesus’ birth story outside of the official Christmas season has prompted me to see amazing insights that I might not have noticed if I only paid attention to these verses one month or so out of a year.

The passage we’ll be looking closer at as we begin this year needs no real introduction as it is one of the passages that is read almost every time Jesus’ birth story is shared. This passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 1, starting in verse 26, and we’ll be reading from the New International Version of the Bible:

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

Let’s pause reading here because I wonder if you or I would have a similar response as Mary. On one hand, the angel Gabriel has just given Mary one of the highest compliments he could have given to her, but on the other hand, there’s still the looming question about why an angel is appearing to her.

Just like you or I would be a little concerned, Mary is both caught off guard and “greatly troubled” at the angel’s words.

Also worth noting is that Gabriel doesn’t start with his customary opening line of “Do not be afraid” until after this first compliment.

Let’s continue reading. Picking back up in verse 30:

³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

Let’s pause again here because it is worth noting that, at least on the surface, Mary’s question sounds a lot like Zechariah’s question. Earlier in this chapter in Luke, in verse 18, Zechariah asks the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

These two clarifying questions are similar but also very different. Zechariah is hopeful but also doubtful and I think he wants a sign, or something tangible, that he can have to remind him of this promise. Nearing the end of Zechariah’s life, he is uncertain if he and his wife are even capable of having children still, and Gabriel gives Zechariah a sign even if this sign really appears like a punishment for Zechariah’s lack of faith.

But when we shift over and look at Mary, she asks a very similar question but gets a completely different response from Gabriel. Mary asks in verse 34, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

Just like Zechariah, Mary asks a question and follows up with a statement of supposed disqualification. Zechariah believed his age was a limiting factor and Mary wonders about her virginity.

However, tucked in the details of Mary’s reply, I see her asking a logical question and I don’t see any doubt like with Zechariah. It is almost as though Mary is asking, “What is the next step? I’m engaged to Joseph. Is this birth going to come through this marriage, or should I be expecting something different?”

Mary wants more information so she can follow through with God’s plan for her life and the promise that Gabriel is sharing with her. We see this idea the most clearly when we conclude reading our passage and see how Mary responds at the end of her and Gabriel’s encounter.

Picking back up in verse 35:

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

The response Mary gives is worth repeating. She responds to the promise God gives her through the angel with the words “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”

In Mary’s response, we see an amazing level of humility and willingness to be used by God. Mary models an attitude that we all should have as we start out every day, every month, and every new year. We all should be willing to be used by God and to let Him direct our steps and our path forward.

With all this focus on Mary in this passage, it is easy to miss one verse that shares a powerful truth we should also always remember. The last message the angel Gabriel tells Mary is the statement, “For no word from God will ever fail.” This is a promise every single one of us can hold onto.

When studying the Bible, we find many places where God gives us promises. We can see places where God’s messengers give prophecy, and while we all might have different interpretations for some of God’s prophetic messages, one thing we all can agree on is Gabriel’s promise to Mary: “For no word from God will ever fail.”

As we begin a new year moving through the gospels together, let’s keep this promise in mind. As you and I move into a new year of life together, let’s remember this promise. Gabriel’s promise to Mary is just as applicable to us as it was to Mary living over 2,000 years ago.

God has promised us that He wants us to live forever with Him in heaven, and that became a possibility because of what we just read. Everything that the Old Testament pointed forward to regarding Jesus’ first coming began with Mary accepting God’s plan for her life. God invites us to be a part of His plan for the future. Will we step into His plan for our lives as willingly as Mary did?

As we finish off the first podcast of a new year, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by saying, intentionally seek God first in your life. If you have slipped away from God in the past, make today the day you will refocus on Him. Be like Mary and be willing to step into God’s plan for your life even if an angel doesn’t appear to you give you direction.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do in one way or another, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself, because within the pages of scripture, we can find God’s plan for our lives here on earth, and as we study, we will discover God’s promise of an eternal life reward in heaven. This reward comes when we place Jesus first and we intentionally make Him a priority in 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 abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we begin our second chronological year moving through the gospels, I thought it may be good to tackle something interesting that I found in what many people might call the “most boring part of the four gospels”. This part is not boring because it is confusing. Instead, many people think it is boring because they simply don’t see it as being all that relevant to us today.

The supposedly boring passages we will tackle as this year beings have to do with the two places in the gospels where Jesus’ genealogy is listed. Matthew opens his gospel by sharing how Jesus’ family tree traces its roots all the way back to Abraham, while Luke waits until after Jesus’ birth story to share how Jesus’ family tree traces its roots back to God. Since there are differences in each of the two genealogies, scholars have debated and discussed why this might be. The most likely consensus is that Matthew abbreviated his genealogy to get three sets of 14 names, while Luke shares every single detail and name. Another possibility is that one of the gospels covers Joseph’s family tree, while the other links to Mary, Jesus’ mother, but this is harder to see on the surface.

I might agree that this part of the gospels is the most boring if it were not for one little detail that Luke includes at the end of his gospel’s genealogy. The New American Standard Bible translations tells us that Luke ends his genealogy in chapter 3, verse 38 by saying, “the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

This is just a snippet of how Luke shares his genealogy, and while it might be boring to some, what I find fascinating is that Luke does not end by simply saying that Jesus was “Adam’s Son”. Instead, he takes it a step further by pointing out that Adam, the first human, was God’s Son. Regardless of whether you feel the creation story in Genesis is literal or figurative, Luke shares that the first human, Adam, can be known as God’s Son.

There are two angles on this idea that I find interesting.

Firstly, since Jesus came into the world supernaturally and God the Father was Jesus’ true Father, while Joseph took more of an adoptive parent type role, it could be said that Jesus was simply God’s Son in a first generation, direct-descendant sort of way. However, while this is what most Christians believe, Luke extends this idea even further by pointing out that Adam, the first human, was also God’s Son. In this way, Jesus and Adam are like brothers, who have the same Father. This is also why sometimes people will call Jesus the “Second Adam”. This echoes what Luke describes in how he opens his genealogy. He begins in verse 23 by saying, “When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,” and then it continues on from there sharing names all the way back to Adam, the son of God. Even if you doubt the virgin birth as evidence to Jesus being God’s Son, Luke challenges you to still look at Jesus’ life as though He was God’s Son through a genealogy that takes you back to creation, where God created Adam.

This leads us to another angle on this passage and idea that I find fascinating: If Adam was God’s son, than that makes all of us as descendants of Adam, also descendants of God – the first Father. This is why in some other places in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as our Brother, and we are all His brothers and sisters. This can only be the case if God is our Father, since Mary is not our universal mother.

However, have you ever really thought of yourself as God’s son or daughter? Christianity uses the phrase “child of God” to describe each of us, but this is too often minimized into being a close-to-meaningless cliché. Instead, what if we grabbed a hold of the idea that we are God’s son or daughter?

If we looked to God as being our True Parent, would that change how we live and/or act?

If we believed that our actions reflect on God like they do onto our parents, would that change how we live each day?

When we look at a young child and how they act and behave, we can definitely understand that some of what we are seeing is the child making a choice. However, we also get to see the results of how the parent has raised the child. We instinctively understand that both nature and nurture go into how a child develops. If we see ourselves as being sons and daughters of God and that He is our Father, then would we think differently?

Like our human parents helped direct the nurture side of our lives, perhaps God could be thought of as directing the nature side of our development. We probably should be cautious as we follow this train of thought because just as our human parents cannot control all of our nurturing as we develop, God probably limits what He ultimately chooses to control on the nature side of our development as well. Both God and our human parents can make choices that relate to our development, but as we grow, we become more independent and make choices on our own. The choices we make can have a positive impact on both our nature, which would be one way to say our biology or our body, and our nurture, which we could describe as our environment.

There is definitely crossover between God the Parent impacting our nature, and our human parents impacting our nurture. Our parents can help or hurt us based upon what they do while we are growing in the womb, and what they feed us when we are young. This is one way that our parents impact our nature, biology side. On the other hand, God chose what parents to bring your way, and he often directs and protects in broader ways than even our human parents can, which definitely impacts the environment, nurture side of our development.

As a parent, I would do well to see myself as a partner with God in my child’s developing, or growing up, years. If both my wife and I see ourselves as being partners with God, then this is the best way to help our children grow into being the adults God created each of them to be.

But this can really only happen if we choose to see ourselves as being parented by God, and as being children of God. This pushes us look at ourselves differently, and it helps us see God more personally than being simply a distant supernatural deity.

As we come to the close of our first podcast episode this year, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life. Intentionally learn to see God the Father as your personal Father, who worked alongside your human parents helping you to become the person you were created to be.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do in one way or another, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, and keep your mind open to finding ways God the Father reveals Himself as a parent in the passages you read.

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!

Last week, we began our annual two-part finale by focusing on insights from the first half of our third year chronologically podcasting through events within Jesus life and ministry.

Before picking back up where we left off last week, let me give you a sneak peek at what is coming up for our podcasts in the next year or two. As you know if you have been listening for more than a few episodes, the past three years have been focused on moving chronologically through Jesus’ life, using the framework and timeline found within the Walking with Jesus Reflective Bible Study package.

However, instead of slowly moving through four years worth of material, and taking 4 long years to make it through Jesus’ life, I thought it would make sense and be more beneficial to spend four years moving through Jesus’ life with each year leading up to Jesus’ time on the cross.

Looking at our four-year plan, we have just finished our third year moving through the gospels in this way, and next year, we will wrap up this journey moving through Jesus’ life. The exciting part about next year is that the whole year will be focused on looking at events and details that these previous three years did not contain. While there are way more details for us to focus on than even four years would have time for, moving through the gospels in this way has been powerful, at least for me.

Looking past the fourth chronological year, I thought it would be neat to focus an entire year looking extra closely at Jesus’ crucifixion week. All four of the gospels devote a significant amount of space and detail to this portion of Jesus’ life, and I’m sure we would learn a lot moving through the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion together.

Thinking this far in advance is all very preliminary, and I have a whole year ahead of podcasting to think and plan for this. However, before that can happen, we need to pick back up where we left off last week and continue looking at insights from this past year of moving through the gospels together. Last week, we focused in on the first half of our episodes, and now let’s pick back up looking at insights, starting with episode 27.

In episode 27, we learned in an event focusing on Jesus visiting a Pharisee’s home that Jesus reserved His harshest words for those who kept others from seeing God’s love. Jesus’ challenge to all spiritual leaders, and really everyone who has been given a leadership role, is that they are given this role to help others. The religious leaders in the first century chose to bully and intimidate the people they were supposed to help.

Moving forward and into episode 28, when some people come to Jesus with a question about why some people died the way they did, we learned that a person’s death does not determine how good or bad their life was, but while a person is alive, repentance and turning towards God is crucial.

Jumping ahead to episode 32, where the religious leaders begin actively plotting for Jesus’ death, John taught us that regardless of whether someone, or a group of people, has aligned themselves for or against God, God is still able to use them for His purposes.

Episode 33, which looked at a parable Jesus spoke to some people who were self-righteous, taught us that while self-sufficiency might win points for us with culture, living a self-sufficient spiritual life leads to destruction, and in episode 34, we learned that focusing on someone else’s spiritual walk over our own will never lead us anywhere positive.

Jumping up to episode 37, which focused on the early part of crucifixion week and Jesus cursing a fig tree, we learned that when we live a life that is continually growing towards God, trusting Him with everything, and forgiving others without condition, we are being fruitful at the highest level possible, because these characteristics reflect God’s love towards us.

Episode 39 includes another one of those big, challenging insights as well. When looking at a question Jesus is asked about which commandment is the greatest, we learned that love is only as valuable as it is visible and helpful to others. Love that is hidden does not have any value in the big picture.

Moving ahead to episode 41, we looked at Jesus’ challenging parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids. In this parable and episode, we discovered that it is wise for us to plan for a time when we will fall asleep spiritually. Spiritually falling asleep is inevitable. But what ultimately matters is our planning on the front end, and the choices we make after we have been woken up. Never leave your post, because only when you are living for Jesus will He give you the Holy Spirit and let your life shine for others to see.

In episode 43, as we read about Jesus’ “new command to love each other”, we learned that the true test of whether we are Jesus’ disciples is if we will be loving towards others who call themselves followers of Jesus, but who look, live, believe, and/or act differently than we do. If we love like Jesus loved, we will look past our differences and towards how Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross unites us.

Episode 44 taught us in Jesus’ words to His followers on the night of His arrest that the more openly we live for Jesus, the more opposition from the world we will face – and that when opposition comes into our lives, we are not alone because God has promised to give us His Holy Spirit. Also in episode 44, Jesus taught us that if the world opposed Him for living within God’s plan for His life, it will oppose us for living God’s plan for our lives as well.

In episode 45, while Jesus is praying in Gethsemane, we learn that when we face temptation, the best place for us to surrender is into doing God’s will. While this is easier to say than it is to do, our prayers should always be prefaced with God’s will being done.

Episodes 46 and 47 both drew our attention onto the shaky foundation that the religious leaders built their case against Jesus on, and on how Satan was likely behind the mock worship that the Roman soldiers gave as they were torturing Him prior to the cross. But in both these cases, we learned that Jesus chose the time He came into this world, and He chose to face the worst abuse imaginable to help us see how much He loves each of us.

This last insight is the perfect one for us to end this third chronological year of podcasting through Jesus’ life by focusing on. As we have come to the end of another episode, and the end of another year podcasting about Jesus’ life, here are some challenges for you to remember as we remember Christmas and look forward to a new year:

Seek God first and foremost as we balance the spiritual and the commercial demands of this season. Remember that without Christmas, there would be no Easter, and without Easter, Christmas would be worthless. Choose to take some time this coming year to focus on what God truly gave when giving His Son into the world, and let the amazingness of God’s love fill your heart this season as well as this coming year.

Also, be sure to always continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself, so that you are intentionally growing closer to God and strengthening your relationship with Him each and every day.

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!

Last week we began our annual two-part finale by focusing on insights from the first half of this year podcasting through our first chronological year looking at Jesus’ life and ministry. In our last episode, we finished off by looking at insights from episode 25, which focused in on Jesus redeeming a woman caught in adultery. For this episode, we’ll pick up where we left off and continue forward moving up to and through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

However, before we dive into these insights, if you are a new listener, or have recently found these podcasts, let me share briefly about where we are on this journey we are on in these podcasts. A little over a year ago, as we were wrapping up a powerful year of podcasting through Jesus’ miracles, I thought it would be neat to take four years and look at Jesus’ life in a chronological way. However, instead of slowly moving through every event in His life and taking four or more years, the plan would be to pick out events in Jesus’ life and work through Jesus’ life four times, each time looking at a different set of events, and each year would conclude looking at Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Moving forward to today, we are just finishing up the first year of this four-year plan and I don’t know about you, but I have found this trip through these gospel stories fascinating. Personally, I cannot wait to dive into Jesus’ life again looking at a different set of events, a different set of teaching, and a different set of miracles.

However, if I’m not careful, we’ll dive into our first event for next year and miss reviewing and remembering some of the greatest insights from this past year. So without any further delay, let’s pick back up where we left off last week, and focus in on the last half of this year podcasting through the gospels.

Starting with episode 26, which focused us on what happened following Jesus’ followers returning from a successful missionary trip, we were reminded with the truth that for thousands of years, the devil has tried to abuse people out of heaven, but God is bigger, God is stronger, God is smarter. He won’t let Satan’s abuse separate or steal away those He loves from being connected with Him.

In the next episode, number 27, we looked at Jesus teaching His disciples how to pray, and if I’m not mistaken, this was using Jesus’ model prayer that is found in Luke’s gospel, rather than Matthews. In this episode looking at prayer, we were challenged with the detail that everything in Jesus’ example prayer is completely focused on God – even the part where Jesus tells us to be forgiving towards others. We can learn from this teaching that Jesus wants us to see God the Father as our Heavenly Father: specifically as Someone big enough to tackle any problem we face, but also personal enough for us to share life with.

Moving forward to episode 28, we spend a little bit of time looking at Jesus’ parable about the rich man building bigger barns rather than being generous with his surplus crop. This parable and episode challenged us with the truth that any time an object, a project, or a balance sheet becomes a part of our identity, greed is working its way into our lives. This parable is not about God blessing or punishing rich people; it is about showing us a different perspective about ourselves that He can then redirect us towards having a new perspective on our lives.

I promise I won’t cover every episode in this finale, even though some might find that desirable, but before jumping forward, episode 29 was extra powerful when we looked at Jesus healing a man who was born blind. In this episode, we were reminded that throughout the Bible, as well as history, God has often used people’s lives as a witness to lead people to Him. This formerly blind man is an example of this: His life before meeting Jesus was filled with blindness, and after His encounter with Jesus, He had a completely new perspective. In our world today, both the church world and the secular world, there are groups of people who claim they can see even though they are blind. Acknowledging one’s blindness allows God to work in one’s heart, while claiming sight stops God from moving.

Jumping forward to episode 32, we looked at Jesus teaching about faith and not being a stumbling block to others. In this episode, we were challenged with the realization that Just like the wind, only by seeing what faith moves can we truly know how strong it is. Jesus has called and challenged us to be humble, to place others ahead of ourselves, and to look to God for the strength to press forward with Him.

Jumping forward again to episode 36, we began zeroing in on Jesus’ final week leading up to His crucifixion. Prior to Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, we looked in this episode at a special supper that takes place right before this grand entrance into Jerusalem. In this episode, we were reminded that having a relationship with Jesus is more important than helping those who are in need. While both are significant and important in the big picture, if we could only choose one, a relationship with Jesus would ultimately be more important. Jesus calls each of us to focus on growing closer to God and to make Him our highest priority, even higher than the noble act of helping the poor. Having a saving relationship with Jesus is that important!

Moving forward to episode 38, we looked at some religious leaders challenging Jesus about where He received His authority. The details and themes of this episode challenged us to understand that Jesus came to build God up, and that isn’t done by using God as a platform. Throughout His entire ministry, Jesus avoided drawing the attention onto Himself at the expense of God receiving glory. If Jesus erred on any side, it was that He gave too much credit to God, while not accepting any praise onto Himself. Jesus took the opposite position the chief priests and leaders took: He came to build God up, not use God to build Himself up like the other leaders at the time were doing.

Skipping forward to episode 40, we come to the episode where we looked at Jesus challenging His followers to avoid some specific labels for themselves and each other. In this episode, Jesus challenges His followers to view God as our Teacher, our Father, and our Leader, and in a skillful way, Jesus shares these three roles in a way that connects each role with a member of the Godhead. God’s model for His people is to view themselves as a group of spiritual brothers and sisters who hold God as our true Father, true Leader, and true Teacher.

Moving forward to the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, we come to some significant insights within episode 44, that looked at Jesus promising His followers the Holy Spirit and challenging us as followers how we can show love towards God. In this episode, we discovered that the Source behind Jesus’ words and commands is God the Father. We also uncovered the theme and truth that we love who we obey. If we love the Father, then we will obey what the Father has commanded. In this case, Jesus is simply an Ambassador, speaking on behalf of the One who sent Him.

In the very next episode, which is episode number 45 and which also covered teaching Jesus shared with His disciples on the night He was betrayed and arrested, we were comforted with the truth that even though trouble, abandonment, rejection, hurt, or pain come, Jesus is bigger than these feelings because Jesus has overcome the world that includes all these symptoms of sin.

Jesus recognized that even when everyone He thought was a friend, follower, or disciple had run away, He was never truly alone, because God the Father and His Spirit would be with Him. Even while hanging on the cross, even if Jesus didn’t feel God’s presence, He still knew God was there.

As followers of Jesus, we too can claim this promise that being alone is never truly alone, because God the Father and His Spirit are with us.

Speaking of the cross, moving forward to episode 48, which looked at part of the time Jesus was hanging on the cross, we were reminded that before being nailed to the cross Jesus had the option of, and the temptation to, avoid it entirely; after being nailed to the cross, Jesus faced the temptation to come down off of it. However, in spite of this temptation Jesus chose to stay on the cross because His mission was more important than showing off His ability. Jesus fulfilled His mission on the cross because it is the way for His followers to receive salvation.

Moving forward to just a few weeks ago, we come to episode 49, which covered the guards reporting Jesus’ resurrection to the religious leaders. In this episode, we learned and were reminded that wherever lies are present, the truth will come to light eventually – and when it does, it is up to us to examine the evidence and choose the truth. In the case of Jesus’ death and resurrection, our eternity depends on it!

To wrap up this first chronological year of podcasting, our last episode before these finales, which was episode number 50, focused in on Thomas doubting then believing in Jesus’ resurrection. In this passage and episode we focused in on the promise that Jesus’ greatest blessing in this passage is for those who believe without having seen. Thomas could have been one of the first people to be gathered under this banner of “really blessed individuals”, but he stands as an example of many of us who are skeptical first, and only believe after we have been given proof.

Every blessing from God is given for our benefit. Every blessing is sent to help us learn, grow, and/or help others on life’s path.

As we come to the close of our first chronological year podcasting through the gospels and events within Jesus’ life, let’s remember just how much Jesus has blessed each of us, and look forward to His return and our eternal lives with Him forever!