Reflective Bible Study

When I read from the gospels and focus on the parables Jesus spoke to the various crowds and other groups of people, I occasionally wonder how much of the underlying truth in what is shared actually gets understood by those in Jesus’ audience. There are some places in the gospels where we are told that the people would hear Jesus words, but miss understanding the meaning of His message, and this is quoting from an Old Testament Prophecy.

However, there are other parables that don’t seem to be as misunderstood. One example of a parable like this is shared during the week Jesus was crucified, and in some ways, I wonder if this parable helped build confirmation bias in the religious leaders that they needed to get Jesus out of the picture.

This parable and event is recorded in three of the four gospels, and for our time together, let’s focus on Mark’s version of what happened. We will be reading from the gospel of Mark, chapter 12, using the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us:

¹ Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: “Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip. ² When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. ³ The tenants grabbed the slave, beat him, and sent him back without a thing. ⁴ Then the owner sent another slave; the tenants beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ The owner sent another slave, and they killed him; and they treated many others the same way, beating some and killing others. ⁶ The only one left to send was the man’s own dear son. Last of all, then, he sent his son to the tenants. ‘I am sure they will respect my son,’ he said. ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the owner’s son. Come on, let’s kill him, and his property will be ours!’ ⁸ So they grabbed the son and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?” asked Jesus. “He will come and kill those tenants and turn the vineyard over to others. ¹⁰ Surely you have read this scripture?

‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
    turned out to be the most important of all.
¹¹ This was done by the Lord;
    what a wonderful sight it is!’”

¹² The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

As I read the conclusion of this passage, it appears that the Jewish leaders who were in the crowd realized they were the villains in Jesus’ parable, and they did not like it. Some of these leaders even started to move towards Jesus in order to arrest Him before being pulled back by other leaders who were afraid of the crowd’s response.

But what I find most amazing about the leaders hostile response is that it essentially confirms the plotline of Jesus’ parable – and it subtly confirms the character of Jesus as the vineyard owner’s son. Whether they intended to do so or not, the reaction of these religious leaders in Jerusalem validate Jesus’ claim to be God’s Son, while in the same moment incriminating themselves as the hostile tenants.

While it seems strange to think of a landowner killing misbehaving tenants in today’s culture, I wonder if that was not as strange then. Perhaps this translation of the Bible tried to smooth over the idea of these “tenants” actually being slaves who were left with the responsibility of managing the vineyard. In this case, even if it is not politically correct in today’s western culture, killing a slave is not as unheard of.

However, note that regardless of the culture, these tenants or slaves, whichever term we want to use, have shown themselves to not value life or the privilege of managing the vineyard. They were given what some might call a dream job, and they let themselves become arrogant and prideful. While God doesn’t like those who are arrogant or proud, the real issue that we see with the tenants in the vineyard is that they are unwilling to return the owner’s share of the harvest.

In this subtle detail, we see a clue into a big truth that is just as applicable to western, non-agriculture societies as well as the culture Jesus lived in. When a tenant mistakenly believes himself or herself to be an owner, they risk becoming greedy and resentful towards the true Owner. While God isn’t making a statement against the concept of land ownership in this parable, He is instead pointing our attention to the truth that no one truly owns anything in this universe aside from the One who created it.

While we have been gifted with the freedom of choice, and the responsibility of managing various amounts of time, talent, money, stuff, and in some cases, even property, the truth is that we don’t truly own anything the government might claim we own. When we shift our focus onto thinking we are managers instead of CEOs, we have a better frame of reference for handling the times when God asks us to return His portion to Him.

The religious leaders during the generation Jesus walked on the earth might have verbally claimed to serve God. However, the way they acted and the organization they developed themselves into was one that acted like a CEO on spiritual (and non-spiritual) matters, rather than one that acted like a spiritual aid with the aim of helping others. With this mindset, it’s no wonder why God couldn’t step in with the truth that He was still the rightful landowner – the tenants had tricked themselves into believing a lie.

When a tenant mistakenly believes himself or herself to be an owner, they risk becoming greedy and resentful towards the true Owner. But when we shift our focus onto thinking we are managers instead of CEOs, we have a better frame of reference for handling the times when God comes and asks us to return His portion to Him.

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

Continue seeking God first in your life. Choose to see yourself as a manager who has been entrusted with things God values – things such as your time, talent, wealth, and property, as well as your spouse and children if you have them, and even your attitude. All of these things are things that God has entrusted you with. The challenge is to see yourself as a manager, and be open to God’s leading, guiding, and suggestions where He chooses to insert them.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself so you can better recognize who God is and what He is like. By focusing on learning from God through the Bible, you will be equipped to handle times when the voices of culture try to speak their opinions onto what God has entrusted you to manage, and you will be able to discern the wise suggestions from the foolish speculation. Remember, God is the true Owner, and we are to defer to Him for the best way to manage what we have been blessed with.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never believe yourself to be more or less than the person God created you to be and 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!

As we continue looking at events within Jesus’ life and ministry, and specifically events Jesus faced during the week leading up to His crucifixion, we discover a challenge Jesus receives that has an unexpected outcome. While Jesus usually had a very intelligent response to challenges that He received, in the event we are focusing on for this episode, Jesus chooses a different style of response – one that the religious leaders had not anticipated.

Let’s read the passage and then uncover some things we can learn from what happened.

Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 21, and we will read it using the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 23, Matthew tells us that:

²³ Jesus had gone into the temple and was teaching when the chief priests and the leaders of the people came up to him. They asked, “What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁴ Jesus answered, “I have just one question to ask you. If you answer it, I will tell you where I got the right to do these things. ²⁵ Who gave John the right to baptize? Was it God in heaven or merely some human being?”

They thought it over and said to each other, “We can’t say that God gave John this right. Jesus will ask us why we didn’t believe John. ²⁶ On the other hand, these people think that John was a prophet, and we are afraid of what they might do to us. That’s why we can’t say that it was merely some human who gave John the right to baptize.” ²⁷ So they told Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said, “Then I won’t tell you who gave me the right to do what I do.”

I really like reading about this event. When the chief priests and leaders challenge Jesus with an unanswerable question, Jesus responds with an equally unanswerable question.

What is brilliant about the way Jesus responded is that He leaves the outcome in the hands of the chief priests. Jesus knew these religious leaders didn’t believe John the Baptist was a prophet who spoke for God, while Jesus also knew that the crowd did believe John the Baptist was God-sent.

While pondering possible responses Jesus could have given to this question, I wonder if Jesus could have simply answered that He received authority from the same place John the Baptist received it. An answer like this would amplify the belief of the crowd in Him, since this passage describes this crowd as believing that God was behind John the Baptist’s ministry. However, I suspect Jesus did not choose this response because it would also negatively affect Jesus’ status among the leaders who did not believe John the Baptist was special or significant.

A different answer Jesus gave could have been simply the truth that God gave Him this right. However, the outcomes for this type of response would descend into either arguing or debating reasons, or it would result in Jesus being stoned by those claiming He spoke blasphemy. While Jesus did come to die, He came to die on a cross, not by being stoned inside the temple.

In many ways, Jesus’ response is perfect for this occasion. Instead of answering in a simple way, Jesus responded with an equally unanswerable question directed towards the religious leaders. The counter question, which has two easy sounding answers, is a question that these leaders cannot answer without also losing status and favor with those present. Either they give Jesus the upper hand because they did not believe John, or they lose status with the crowd who believed John was a prophet.

In this way, Jesus’ counter question is perfect, because the leaders ultimately give a non-answer of “We don’t know” which allows Jesus to leave the question they asked Him as unanswered.

Jesus left this challenge unanswered because answering it would close off discussion. If Jesus directly said that His authority came from God, then it would instantly polarize people – but it would also do something else: something Jesus was not willing to do in His whole ministry.

Throughout the gospel record, one theme that surfaces repeatedly is that Jesus always did things that minimized Himself while pointing glory to God. God, through the Holy Spirit, gave Jesus the ability to perform miracles. While this would logically draw attention to Jesus, we discover that Jesus almost always appeared to prefer doing miracles where God would get the glory.

If Jesus stated directly that He received His authority from God, that would deviate from what He had done throughout His ministry prior to this because instead of building God up, He would be using everything God had given Him to build Himself up. It isn’t surprising to say that this is exactly what the chief priests had done. The chief priests and leaders had built themselves up on the position God had entrusted to them. These leaders were using God as a platform for their own motives – and Jesus did everything He could to distance Himself from using God as a platform.

Jesus came to build God up, and that isn’t done by using God as a platform.

However, with that said, what should we learn from this event?

In my mind, while Jesus left the question unanswered in a public way, the question the religious leaders asked Jesus is a question everyone must ultimately take a side on. Each of us must answer the question: Who gave Jesus the authority, power, wisdom, and ability to do what He did?

If Jesus’ authority, power, wisdom, and ability came from Himself, then it is easy to discredit what He said and did as self-motivated. However, if God gave Jesus the authority, power, wisdom, and ability, then we need to see Jesus differently. If God was and is behind Jesus, then it would be wise for us to align with Jesus too, unless we want to align our lives against God, which doesn’t really seem all that wise.

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.

It is interesting in my mind that if God chose to support anyone, it would be the person who is actively seeking to build Him up. Jesus modeled a life where God was placed 100% first, ahead of anything, everything, anyone, and everyone else. As followers and disciples of Jesus, we are called by Jesus to do the same.

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. If we are going to be like Jesus, then God should come first in our lives – period. Both the glory and the credit should always be directed up to Him.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, because prayer and Bible study are the best ways to grow a personal relationship with God. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even podcasters can give you ideas to think about, never let your relationship with God rest on someone else’s relationship. God wants a personal relationship with you, and He doesn’t want anyone else getting in the middle.

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!

One of the more perplexing things Jesus ever did or said can be found during the week of His crucifixion. During this week, as Jesus was staying with friends in the town of Bethany and traveling into Jerusalem during the day, we read in two of the gospels about a time when Jesus passes by a fig tree and curses it for not having figs.

While this seems like an ungodly thing to do, the only reason for Jesus to have done this would be because He wanted to teach us something. Let’s read what happens from Mark’s gospel, chapter 11, using the New Century Version. Starting in verse 12, Mark tells us that:

¹² The next day as Jesus was leaving Bethany, he became hungry. ¹³ Seeing a fig tree in leaf from far away, he went to see if it had any figs on it. But he found no figs, only leaves, because it was not the right season for figs. ¹⁴ So Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And Jesus’ followers heard him say this.

In my mind, it would be one thing for Jesus to curse the fig tree if it should have had figs on it, but Mark clearly tells us that this was not the season for figs. This would mean that no fig tree in the area would have had fruit on it. In my mind, Jesus’ statement was in many ways unrealistic because the fig tree was simply doing what God had designed it to do, and that meant that there would be some times in the year that it did not have figs – including the time when Jesus spoke these words.

However, with the way that Mark describes Jesus’ sudden hunger, I wonder if this was something that was Holy Spirit inspired, because there was no other reason for hunger. Jesus and the disciples probably had recently finished eating their breakfast before starting their journey to Jerusalem that day.

But regardless of the cause of Jesus’ hunger and regardless of the fact that this was not the season for figs, Jesus seems to do something in these verses that conflict with a loving God. Most people would agree that a loving God would not sentence a tree to death for no reason.

Mark continues in the verses that follow describing what Jesus and the disciples did while in Jerusalem. It is as though this strange event during their morning trip gets swept under the rug. It is like Jesus minimizes this outburst against the tree.

However, what Jesus appears to minimize, the disciples are paying attention to. Mark tells us later in the chapter what happened the following morning. Skipping down to verse 20, we learn that:

²⁰ The next morning as Jesus was passing by with his followers, they saw the fig tree dry and dead, even to the roots. ²¹ Peter remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “Teacher, look! The fig tree you cursed is dry and dead!”

²² Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. ²³ I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, God will do it for you. ²⁴ So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you. ²⁵ When you are praying, if you are angry with someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins. [ ²⁶ But if you don’t forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.]”

What the disciples may have been confused about the day before becomes an object lesson for them from that point forward. In these verses, we get one of the most powerful promises related to prayer that is found in the entire Bible. This promise seems to imply that if we truly believe with no doubt that God will do something for us when we prayerfully ask for it, He will do it – regardless of what the request is.

A number of Christian groups have rallied around this idea by saying that we can “Ask God for something”, “Believe that He will give it to us”, then “Claim this promise” in order to ultimately receive it. I will say that there is tremendous power in this promise and this belief, but in some ways, by framing God in this way, we cheapen His existence into being just a genie in a bottle – or in other words, Someone who is simply standing by to give us whatever we want to ask on a whim.

The verses that surround this promise are powerful in that they give context to Jesus’ words. Immediately prior to Jesus beginning this promise, we get the context of seeing an answered prayer, and the first foundational element of this promise is having faith in God. Faith in God is another way of saying trusting in God, and the only way we can really trust God is if we are actively moving towards Him.

After the part of Jesus’ words that most people focus on we read a challenge regarding anger, and the challenge is that if we realize during prayer that we are angry with someone, we should stop the prayer and forgive that individual. Forgiveness doesn’t have to be done in person, and in some cases, forgiving someone to their face is not possible.

Instead, forgiveness is releasing someone from a debt that you feel they owe. It might not be a payable debt, but it is something that you are holding them accountable for. Jesus tells us that we must forgive others in order to be forgiven ourselves, and this should be at the heart of our prayers because this is at the heart of Jesus’ promise.

While God can answer any prayer He wants to, it appears when we look at this event in context, the focus points towards our forgiving nature mixed with our belief in God and lack of doubt that together unlock the true power of this promise. The implication, at least with how I read these verses, is that someone who doesn’t trust in God, and someone who may trust in Him but who is not forgiving others will have limited their prayer lives and will have stopped short of where God wanted them to be.

Jesus has challenged us to trust God with everything, He has challenged us to live a life without doubt, and He has challenged us to forgive everyone, regardless of the circumstances. While these are not easy challenges, accepting each of these challenges, and living a life that aligns with these characteristics will transform our prayer lives and allow us to claim Jesus’ promise for ourselves.

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 attitude towards us.

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

Continue to seek God first in your life and place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him and in His promises. If you ever find yourself in a place where you feel someone else owes you something, choose to forgive that person so you can claim Jesus’ promise that God has forgiven you. Jesus says that God’s forgiveness towards us is based on how forgiving we are towards others, and while I don’t know about you, I want God to be overwhelmingly generous when it comes to forgiving me – and according to Jesus, this can only happen when I am overwhelmingly generous when forgiving others.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself, to learn more about God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and to grow closer to each of them. When we are living lives within His will, and reflecting His character, we will be able to claim His promises related to prayer and ask for powerful things to happen.

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 first chronological year looking at events within Jesus’ life and ministry, we come to events found within the week leading up to the cross. One common trait that all four gospel writers share is that once their narratives of Jesus’ life and ministry reach the week leading up to the cross, each one slows down to include more details and each gospel dedicates a disproportionate amount of space to this final week. This common trait allows us to also slow down and uncover additional insights we might not have otherwise noticed.

While it is easy for us looking back on what happened to look down on the disciples for not understanding what Jesus was trying to teach them leading up to crucifixion weekend, I doubt we would have been much better than the disciples at figuring out Jesus’ goal for His ministry. I suspect that if we think the disciples were slow when we would have understood Jesus if we were in the disciples’ shoes, ask yourself how God is moving in your life right now.

Some of you may have a clear answer for this hypothetical question. However, for most people, it is significantly easier to see how God has moved in your past than recognizing how He is moving in your present. I’m sure all the disciples who made it through crucifixion weekend ultimately realized what Jesus was trying to teach them, but it was only after they passed the events and then looked back on what had happened.

However, while the disciples misunderstood a lot of what Jesus was trying to share with them about crucifixion weekend, the disciples do understand correctly that Jesus’ ministry is coming to a significant point. While our episode’s passage happens early on in crucifixion week while Jesus is teaching in the temple, it gives us a great glimpse of how everyone present could see Jesus’ ministry approaching a climax, but not everyone fully understanding what that climax would be.

Let’s read our passage and then take a few minutes to uncover some amazing details found within Jesus’ teaching. While we have hinted at several of these details in earlier podcasts, our podcast and passage for this episode allow us to look a little more directly at these details and themes.

Our passage comes from the gospel of John, chapter 12, and we will read our passage using the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 23, John tells us that:

²³ Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Son of Man to receive glory. ²⁴ What I’m about to tell you is true. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it. But anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it and have eternal life. ²⁶ Anyone who serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷ “My soul is troubled. What should I say? ‘Father, keep me from having to go through with this’? No. This is the very reason I have come to this point in my life. ²⁸ Father, bring glory to your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven. It said, “I have brought glory to my name. I will bring glory to it again.” ²⁹ The crowd there heard the voice. Some said it was thunder. Others said an angel had spoken to Jesus.

Let’s stop reading here. While the next few verses are also interesting, I don’t want us to move forward and miss a key detail that John has just shared.

Oftentimes, when thinking of times when Jesus wrestled with the question of whether to go through with the plan of salvation and death on a cross, we think of Jesus’ time in the garden and the prayer He prayed shortly before being betrayed and arrested. Jesus’ time in the garden is one great example where we see Jesus wrestling with the weight of the crucifixion. However, most people don’t catch that in our passage, through what John recorded for us, that Jesus asks a very similar question early on during crucifixion week. Tucked within verse 27, Jesus asks Himself this question and then promptly answers it: “My soul is troubled. What should I say? ‘Father, keep me from having to go through with this’? No. This is the very reason I have come to this point in my life.”

In this reflective thought, is Jesus thinking about ditching His cross? Absolutely not! Jesus firmly answers His own rhetorical question that the cross is the reason Jesus came to this point in His life. However, this detail is only a clue leading towards an amazing truth that I can see clearly within this passage.

When opening our passage, John quotes Jesus saying that the time has come for the Son of Man – which is a name Jesus frequently used to refer to Himself – to receive glory. Several months ago, while reading earlier in John’s gospel, we read that Jesus chose to not accept glory or praise from humans. For those of you who are wondering the reference for this, this detail is found in John, chapter 5, verse 41. Because of what Jesus shared early on in his ministry, and combined with what Jesus shares in our passage for this episode, we must then conclude that Jesus is referring to receiving glory from somewhere that is not human.

It then comes as no surprise when framed this way that seconds later, a non-human voice speaks from heaven talking about glory. However, while we might expect the voice to give glory to Jesus, that isn’t what happened. Instead, God the Father speaks about bringing glory to His name. Jesus had just called out for God to bring glory to His name, and that is what happened. God the Father describes having done this in the past, and He promises to do it again in the future.

However, while the context of our passage focuses us on Jesus foreshadowing His death, and how He must give up His life like a grain of wheat must die to fulfill its purpose, what if Jesus’ mission was greater than simply the cross? What if Jesus’ mission in this world, while including the cross, was instead focused on bringing glory to the name of God and to God the Father?

If we looked at the gospels through the lens of glory being directed to God, would this lens simplify or confuse the rest of the gospels?

While studying and after having this realization and question, I thought I’d look back at some of the miracles and places where the gospel writers talk about the idea of glory. I’m sure it is no surprise for some of you to learn that many of Jesus’ miracles include phrases that prompt us to suspect that these miracles were done primarily because those healed and those present would praise God.

There are even a few cases where it seems like the only reason a miracle happened was because Jesus knew praise would go to God. In places where praise would not be directed towards God, we discover Jesus pulling away, or changing the scene in some way that would allow Him to help while also allowing God to receive the glory.

It definitely seems as though Jesus taught, healed, and helped for the sole purpose of bringing glory to the Father.

However, in His opening words of our passage, Jesus hints at something different: Jesus opened our passage by saying that the time has come for the Son to receive glory. This statement in many ways began the moment that God the Father spoke from Heaven, which gave confirmation to the current point Jesus was in within His ministry, and this time then clearly moves forward towards the cross, the resurrection, and the return to heaven where Jesus was crowed as King.

I am always amazed and impressed that Jesus did not seek glory from God or from others. Instead, He helped others as a way to bring glory to God. In this way, I believe Jesus served as the perfect example for each of us living today. I believe Jesus calls us to focus on serving God, and when given the opportunity to receive glory, we should do everything we can to make sure the glory points upwards to God as well!

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 and intentionally focus on pointing all the glory, praise, and honor to God. Show God you love and value what He has done for you by returning thanks, praise, and worship to Him.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself and purposefully look for events and miracles where Jesus opened the way for God to receive glory. From Jesus’ example, discover one great way we too can say thank you to 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 deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!