Reflective Bible Study

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!

As Jesus approaches crucifixion weekend, all four gospels seem to slow down and focus on the details of what was about to happen.

One of the first events these gospels focus in on while preparing us for the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion is a banquet that Jesus attended. Three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and John all record this event, with each one giving us a different set of details. It is worth pointing out that the gospel of Luke has a similar event that he places much earlier in Jesus’ ministry. Some scholars believe this to be another record of this same event. In my mind, while Luke may be describing the same supper event, he instead focuses on Jesus’ teaching at this supper, while the Matthew, Mark, and John focus in on how it foreshadows Jesus’ upcoming death and the gift of perfume that was given.

In John’s record of this supper, we are given more details about the specific people present. The only name that John doesn’t include is the host’s name, that both Matthew and Mark share readily as Simon, the leper, though I imagine that we should really call the host Simon, the former leper who Jesus healed earlier in His ministry.

With all this to set the stage for our event, let’s read what happened. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 12, and let’s use the New International Version of the Bible to read from. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. [sidenote: This is where Matthew and Mark say that this was Simon the Leper inviting and hosting this event.] Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴ But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” ⁶ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

⁷ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

In this event, John calls out Judas Iscariot as the disciple who would betray Jesus, and draws our attention onto Judas’ objection to Mary’s gift simply because the gift was very valuable from a monetary standpoint. While the other gospel writers simply say that there were those present who were upset and objected to Mary’s gift, John tells us who was specifically upset and why, as well as what was likely motivating Judas’ objection that made His statement not sound as sincere.

While Judas’s objection could be seen as logical and valid, because one year’s worth of income could definitely make a dent in a poor person’s life, in the face of poverty as a large-scale issue, one year’s worth of an average person’s income is not likely to have an effect on such a large-scale issue.

However, regardless of what we would have done if we were present with the disciples choosing sides over whether Mary should have given her gift as a one-time act of anointing or as large sum of money, Jesus’ response sidesteps the entire issue with a truth we might easily miss if we are not careful.

In verse 8, Jesus says, “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” Mark chapter 14 verse 7 records Jesus’ words a little differently but with the same conclusion by letting us know Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.”

While the disciples debated over priorities and how Mary “should” have used the perfume differently than she did, Jesus steps in and redefines the issue entirely. For these disciples, their time with Jesus was limited, while helping the poor would be something that that would always be available to them. It’s worth pointing out here that Jesus does not say that poverty is unsolvable. Instead, Jesus emphasizes in this statement that we should focus on our relationship with Him first, because a relationship with God is more important than anything else, and that includes helping those who are poor.

In other words, if given the exclusive choice of picking between a relationship with God or helping the poor, I believe Jesus would challenge us to pick the relationship with God. However, I also don’t believe that Jesus would have us pick between these two good things. Instead, I believe Jesus wants to teach us about having right priorities.

In the world today, there is a big push towards helping those who are poor and those who are the least in society, and helping them in socially responsible, empowering ways. This push and focus is excellent and it is one of the best ways we can be like Jesus in our world, giving God a positive name. But, if we take Jesus’ words seriously, a deeper truth becomes clear: having a relationship with Jesus is more important than helping those who are in need.

There are many great reasons for helping the poor in our world today, but only one comes with the promise of eternal life with God in the next world. Someone who hates God or who believes this life is all there is is still capable of helping the poor. They may even have selfless motives. However, without the relationship, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus, they only have half of what the Bible says is necessary for entrance into Heaven.

As I have studied the Bible, I see the dual truth that faith and belief in Jesus is what is necessary for salvation, but that this faith and belief must be active and visible to others in our lives. Our faith must mean something and our beliefs must affect our actions.

However, if someone says that faith requires a certain action or a certain set of actions to be true faith then they make that action, or actions, more important than the faith behind it, and their argument becomes indistinguishable from one emphasizing salvation coming through works.

Instead, saying that faith must be visible and it must affect our lives and our decisions in a public way actually enhances the faith behind the action. While each person might display their faith differently, when we maturely look at the motivations behind the actions, we discover a faith that is equally as strong, if not stronger.

However, Jesus did not call us to judge other people regarding their faith. Instead, 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!

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, continue to seek God first in your life. Don’t sacrifice your relationship with God because you are too busy helping the poor, or doing other good things. While we are called to help those in need, my challenge for you is to move forward because you are seeking God and because you have a relationship with Him. In other words, seek a relationship with God first, focus on making your relationship with Him personal, and after that, step out and help those He brings into your life.

In order to grow a great relationship with God, be sure to be regularly spending time praying and studying your Bible. Through prayer and reading your Bible, discover just how much God loves you and how valuable you are in His eyes.

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!

As we continue moving through Jesus’ life, looking at events from His ministry, we come to an event where we are almost embarrassed on behalf of those coming to Jesus in order to ask a question. While most instances where someone comes to Jesus with a question have a noble purpose, such as when someone comes asking for help or healing, or a clearly sinister purpose, like when the Pharisees ask Jesus a question to trap Him, the question we have in our passage for this episode is almost exclusively self-serving.

In our passage for this episode, two of Jesus’ disciples come to Him with a question, or should I say, with a request, and with how Jesus responded, we might almost feel bad for the way this situation turned out, if it were not for how self-serving the question itself was.

However, with this question and how Jesus responded to it, we discover a powerful picture of God and a mirror into our own human nature as well.

Let’s read what happened and then unpack some big ideas we can learn from it. Our passage for this episode is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 10, and we will read it using the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 35, Mark tells us that:

³⁵ James and John, sons of Zebedee, went to Jesus. They said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do us a favor.”

³⁶ “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked them.

³⁷ They said to him, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

³⁸ Jesus said, “You don’t realize what you’re asking. Can you drink the cup that I’m going to drink? Can you be baptized with the baptism that I’m going to receive?”

³⁹ “We can,” they told him.

Jesus told them, “You will drink the cup that I’m going to drink. You will be baptized with the baptism that I’m going to receive. ⁴⁰ But I don’t have the authority to grant you a seat at my right or left. Those positions have already been prepared for certain people.”

While we could read further to discover what happened when the other disciples found out about this request, and how they were not very pleased with James or John, let’s stop reading here because I want to draw our attention onto a couple of profound ideas present in how these disciples understood Jesus’ ministry. We’ll frame these ideas around what the disciples likely believed they were asking and contrast it with what actually happened.

First off, when these two disciples were framing their request, they likely could only see fame and glory in Jesus’ future. In their minds, like most of first century Jewish culture, they believed that after Jesus had overthrown Rome, He would set up His kingdom in its place. With a new kingdom, Jesus would need people close to Him, and the most significant, closest people would be those on the right and left hand sides of Him. These two disciples, sensing that their odds aren’t that great within a group of twelve, decide to pull Jesus aside and request the places of honor directly.

However, when we contrast this request with what actually happened, Jesus likely saw His glory as being something different from what the disciples thought. Jumping ahead in the gospels, when Jesus was praying in the garden on the night He was betrayed, He prayed for a cup to be taken away from Him if it was within God’s will. If the cup Jesus referred to in His prayer that night is the same cup Jesus references in His conversation with these two disciples, Jesus’ glory would ultimately be when He was hanging on the cross and preparing to take His last breath.

While Jesus was on the cross, those on His right and left were criminals, and neither one would have been a member of Jesus’ group of disciples.

In His conversation with these disciples, Jesus also references the concept of baptism. While baptism generally means being dipped or immersed in water, similar to what Jesus did at the beginning of His ministry with John the Baptizer, the context of Jesus’ words would be the literal act of death and resurrection that the symbolic act of baptism actually meant. Baptism represents dying, being buried, and being raised up into a new life. When we are baptized with water, being submerged in the water represents us taking part in Jesus’ death and burial, as well as His resurrection.

I strongly suspect that the disciples making their request did not understand the baptism Jesus was referring to as being a baptism that would take them through death, though it is possible that following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, these disciples then understood Jesus’ words from this earlier conversation.

When making their request, I suspect these disciples only saw fame, status, and position as the outcome of their request. I doubt they had any idea Jesus was actively moving towards the cross as His goal.

However, what about when we look past Jesus’ ministry on earth and to the celebration that God’s people will experience in heaven following Jesus’ return to take us home. When we are all seated for the great wedding feast of the Lamb, wherever Jesus happens to be seated, there will be a position on His right and on His left.

Looking forward at this event, which may be what the disciples have in their minds when making their request, we discover another big idea within Jesus’ response: Jesus tells these disciples that there are some things Jesus does not have authority over.

While it would be easy to skim over or minimize this point, let’s not do that because this is significant. Jesus never focused His ministry on increasing His power or His authority. Jesus appeared to always be content being under the authority of someone else. We could compare this to the centurion Jesus helped who was under the authority of others and who also had people who he had authority over.

After the other disciples find out about James and John’s request, Jesus called the disciples together to tell them that God’s kingdom works differently than human kingdoms. In God’s kingdom, power is displayed through humility and service. Jesus describes God’s kingdom, not as a hierarchy where those on the top are over the others, but as an upside down ladder where the goal is service and sacrifice over self-exaltation.

While Jesus didn’t grant these disciples’ their initial request, we discover that through the discussion Jesus has surrounding their request, Jesus’ followers throughout history have been able to learn a little more about God’s character, His kingdom, and His humility. Jesus came to serve, and Jesus has called us to serve and help others and to show God’s love to those He brings into our lives.

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 to you, continue to intentionally place God first in your life. Also, as we talked about in this episode, intentionally put other people ahead of yourself as well. When focusing on how to balance our lives, look no further than Jesus and model your life after His in this regard.

In order to know what Jesus did and what He is like, be sure to also pray and study the Bible for yourself. Though praying and studying your Bible, discover who Jesus is, what He is like, and just how much He love you. Jesus is the best model we have for what it means to be a servant.

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

As we have been moving through events found within Jesus’ life and ministry, we come to an event where Jesus turned the cultural norms upside down. In many ways, what Jesus chose to do in the event we are about to read might be one of the most counter-culturally bold moves Jesus ever did. However, while being counter-cultural to those living in the first century, Jesus demonstrates an amazing picture of God’s love for all humanity.

The event found in our passage can be found in three of the four gospels. However, as I shared in the introduction, we will read this event from the gospel of Luke because Luke’s gospel has a slightly different angle than Matthew and Mark record, and Luke’s angle is worth paying attention to when unpacking just how profound and counter-cultural event this was.

With that said, our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will read it using the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 15, Luke tells us that:

¹⁵ Some people brought infants to Jesus to have him hold them. When the disciples saw this, they told the people not to do that.

¹⁶ But Jesus called the infants to him and said, “Don’t stop the children from coming to me! Children like these are part of God’s kingdom. ¹⁷ I can guarantee this truth: Whoever doesn’t receive God’s kingdom as a little child receives it will never enter it.”

I will be the first to say that when thinking about this event, I initially picture young children being welcomed by Jesus. Without Luke’s gospel describing these children differently, I would imagine kids somewhere in the 5-8 year-old range.

However, when reading Luke’s gospel, we get the description that the parents bringing their children to Jesus are bringing Jesus infants to hold. The picture I see Luke describe is that a mother or father bring their baby to Jesus because they want Jesus to hold their child for a period of time.

On seeing this scene take place, the disciples start to push back because they feel these parents are out of line and the situation might be getting out of hand. What probably started with one or two mothers wanting their children to have some “Jesus time”, or simply to have Jesus touch their child, quickly escalated into what could only be considered a crowd of parents and exponentially more children. Half a dozen children who were well-behaved young men and women were one thing, but if we understand and use Luke’s gospel to help us frame this event in our minds, when more parents caught on and started bringing more children, we might now begin to see some unruly children and even infants. Bringing babies and/or infants probably was a little too far for the disciples.

In this event, Luke’s gospel shares something else that is unique from the other two. Luke says in verse 16 that “Jesus called the infants to Him”. While Mathew and Mark include Jesus’ challenge to His disciples to stop keeping the children away, I am amazed that Luke frames Jesus calling the infants specifically. It is very possible Luke simply worded Jesus’ challenge to His disciples in a different way that leaves more room for interpretation, however I wonder if Jesus actually called any infants to come by name.

Right after our first child was born, my wife, baby daughter, and I went to her first baby appointment together. Being brand new parents, we didn’t know what to expect. When the nurse came to call us back, she called out our daughter’s name. It was an initially odd experience. The nurse didn’t do anything wrong, but my wife and I as new parents weren’t expecting our daughter’s name to be the one called.

I wonder if Jesus, calling out to the infants and perhaps toddlers, called them by name as our nurse did for our baby daughter. If this was the case, to help illustrate the truth He wanted the disciples to learn, Jesus may have called several of the children by name. By doing this, Jesus elevated these children and infants as being important to Him.

We can relate to this as well. The people who we know by name are in almost every case the most significant to us. Perhaps they are significant in a bad way, like that annoying person at work, or perhaps they are significant in a good way like a close friend or relative. People who call us by name tell us that we are significant to them.

When Jesus called the infants to Him, He may have called some of them by name, but even if He didn’t, He did want to be close to them, and that was something that was incredibly counter-cultural. First century culture was very hierarchal, almost certainly more hierarchal than most places in the world today, with each person alive being categorized above someone and below another. Babies were among the lowest in society, perhaps even being only slightly ahead of animals.

Jesus upsets the cultural norm by calling children to Him to set up His big truth in verse 17: “Whoever doesn’t receive God’s kingdom as a little child receives it will never enter it.”

If Jesus didn’t challenge the cultural norms at the time by being with babies, He certainly did by setting up these infants and toddlers as an example for the adults. Culture says that children must learn from adults, but Jesus’ big truth in this event is that adults must learn from children regarding entrance into God’s kingdom.

Jesus teaches us that we are all equal: Babies receive God’s kingdom in the same way adults do, and this should be encouraging for us as adults. Not only is everyone equal in God’s eyes, but the standard to receive salvation is simple: trust in Jesus. Babies err on the side of trusting the adults in their lives until they are old enough to determine if the adult is trustworthy.

In the same way, we should always err on the side of trusting God, regardless of whether what is happening in our life makes sense. The point in time when we will have grown up enough to decide whether God was worthy of our trust happens at the point in time when we enter heaven. Judging God’s trustworthiness anytime before heaven is judging with only half the perspective necessary. Someone could ultimately reach a very biased and inaccurate picture of God by looking only from an earthly perspective.

Children trust adults because this is a part of their nature. In the same way, originally we all trusted God as a part of our nature, but then sin came and distorted this trust. Jesus came as a representative from Heaven to tell us that God really is trustworthy, that He loves us, and that He wants to live with us forever. We are all equal in God’s eyes, and Jesus came to save us all equally.

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. Choose to understand, accept, and trust that God loves you more than you can imagine, regardless of your background or your place within society. Jesus came and died to save you, me, and every person, regardless of our age or any other social distinction culture chooses to push our way.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and discover who God is, what He is really like, and how trustworthy He is. While pastors or podcasters can share ideas to think about, always take what you read, see, and hear and test it against the truth found within the Bible.

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 doubt yourself into leaving where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!