Reflective Bible Study

When reading the gospels, especially John’s gospel, I am amazed at the themes regarding Jesus’ life and ministry that are focused on. With John’s gospel, one event stands out above the rest as one of the most amazing things that could have ever happened. In my mind, a novelist living during that time period simply would not even think of weaving this sort of thing into their story, and I wonder if, because only John’s gospel includes it, John was given divine revelation into this closed-door event for John to see and hear what had been said.

To set the stage for what we will read, John tells us this event happened immediately following Jesus resurrecting Lazarus from the dead. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead sent a shock wave of excitement through all of Judea as this had not been seen before, and this was one more reason that supported Jesus being God’s Messiah.

Following learning about Lazarus’ resurrection, John tells us in chapter 11, reading from the Good News Translation and starting in verse 45, that:

⁴⁵ Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did, and they believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them returned to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said, “What shall we do? Look at all the miracles this man is performing! ⁴⁸ If we let him go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our Temple and our nation!”

⁴⁹ One of them, named Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said, “What fools you are! ⁵⁰ Don’t you realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?” ⁵¹ Actually, he did not say this of his own accord; rather, as he was High Priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish people, ⁵² and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.

⁵³ From that day on the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus. ⁵⁴ So Jesus did not travel openly in Judea, but left and went to a place near the desert, to a town named Ephraim, where he stayed with the disciples.

We’ll stop reading here because I don’t want you to miss the significance of what John tells us. Caiaphas, who was the High Priest that year, which is another way of saying that He was essentially the highest religious figure in the Jewish faith, made a powerfully profound statement – and one that he did not even realize had a double meaning when he spoke it.

Through his position, Caiaphas could have been Jesus’ most powerful ally, but instead, Caiaphas had aligned himself with those against Jesus because he was content with the status quo, living under Roman oppression. This made Caiaphas Jesus’ most influential and powerful opponent from a human perspective.

While there was Satan, who was also Jesus’ enemy, working actively behind the scenes, and the Roman emperor and governors, who didn’t care for or pay much attention to a single individual who showed no military interest, Caiaphas was the leader that the Jews looked to in order to give the final word regarding spiritual matters.

However, just because someone was an enemy of Jesus doesn’t mean God cannot use them. In this passage, John quotes Caiaphas silencing and uniting the religious leaders by saying to those present, “Don’t you realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?”

Before touching on the big truth John wants us to see, let’s look at another subtle angle on this phrase that deserves our attention. Throughout the Old Testament, an unbroken theme exists that says God will be with and will protect His people. Regardless of whether God’s people are living in the Promised Land, in Egypt, or exiled for their disobedience, God promised to hear them and to be with them.

Time and time again in the Old Testament, nations and evil people tried to kill off the Jewish people, but they were never successful. God always stepped in, whether divinely or through a strategically placed individual and set of circumstances, and the Jewish nation was saved.

Why I bring this detail up is that Caiaphas has just revealed his lack of trust in God by stating that the Romans would destroy their entire nation if they didn’t eliminate Jesus. Caiaphas fell into a trap we all face that minimizes God’s victories for us in the past in light of our present struggles and challenges. From the statement Caiaphas makes, he brushes aside all of God’s protection and guidance over the past 1500 years of Israel’s history in light of the current Roman threat.

Caiaphas may have not directly believed this statement, but he uses this literary comparison as a way of bringing out everyone else’s doubt in God. At the end of their meeting, these leaders who claimed to be for God had just replaced their trust in Him with fear of the Romans – and it is worth us paying attention to this because we face this temptation every single day, except for the Roman part. Every day we decide to trust in something, and every day, we are tempted to make the something we trust in not God.

But John brings out a powerful parallel meaning in Caiaphas’ statement. John draws our attention to the detail that while Caiaphas meant this statement to mean that Jesus must die for the preservation of the Jewish nation, God actually stepped in and inspired this prophecy to say that Jesus’ death was necessary for the preservation of all God’s people, wherever in the world they lived, and in whatever time of history they lived in.

This powerful truth tells me 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. Even though Caiaphas opened the door in his statement and rhetorical question to unite the leaders against Jesus and undermine their trust in God, God still used them in a powerful way to open the way for salvation as an option for all people, and to guarantee salvation for all of God’s people throughout history.

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

Pay careful attention to where you place your trust each day. If you sense the temptation to trust in someone or something other than God, then resist the temptation. The best way I know how to orient each day for God is by intentionally placing Him first as the first thing I do when I wake up each morning. In my morning routine on most mornings, part of the time is spent reading a passage or two out of the Bible and praying for guidance.

Speaking of studying the Bible, be sure that you are doing that as well. While you may enjoy learning everything I have learned from my Bible study time, there is nothing to say that God doesn’t have something He wants to share with you directly. This is why I always encourage you to prayerfully study the Bible for yourself, because through personal prayer and personal Bible study, you are able to grow a personal relationship with God. And with a personal relationship, He will grow you into the person He created you to be!

And speaking of growing into the person God created you to be, 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 ally yourself against where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue our walk through Jesus’ life and ministry, we come to a passage where Luke’s gospel describes Jesus challenging His audience, as well as a very specific group of people who was most certainly represented within those who were listening to Him.

Within this passage, we also discover Jesus connecting three different ideas that are usually dealt with individually. These three ideas are forgiveness, hostility, and faith. I’ll be the first to say that hostility and forgiveness are sometimes linked together. However, rarely if ever do I hear people talk about linking hostility and faith, and only slightly more common are the ideas of forgiveness and faith.

As I think about these ideas, it is interesting in my mind that each of these ideas lives within a different dimension of life. When looking at the idea of hostility, or specifically how others treat or mistreat us, this idea lives and blends the physical world with our social and emotional worlds. Looking at the idea of forgiveness helps us blend the social and emotional worlds with our spiritual world. And last, but certainly not least by any measure, the idea of faith lives primarily in the spiritual world, but for faith to be valuable, it much reach back into the physical world and affect how we physically live out our lives.

While each of these three ideas are different, they are all connected, and Jesus seems to touch on this truth in the passage we are focusing on in this podcast episode.

Our passage for this episode comes from the gospel of Luke, chapter 17, and we will read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us that:

¹ Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. ² It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. ³ So watch yourselves.

“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. ⁴ Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

⁶ He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

⁷ “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? ⁸ Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

Looking at the broad outline from what we just read, our passage opens by talking about things that will come that will cause us to stumble, and it warns us not to be a source of stumbling to someone else.

This leads nicely into the topic of forgiveness, and how we should respond with forgiveness when those who have hurt us repent, regardless of the number of times they sin against us. That in itself it a major challenge.

In part of my mind, I imagine some of the disciples being a little uncomfortable with this blanket idea of always forgiving, and they want to redirect the discussion by shifting it over to talking about faith – which is a much safer, more pleasant topic than forgiveness. Another part of my mind imagines other disciples hearing Jesus’ words and saying to themselves, “It would take way more faith than I have right now to be that forgiving. I wonder how to increase my faith.”

Whichever way my imagination takes me, we come to the question of faith, and Jesus’ response is fascinating. On one hand, Jesus minimizes faith’s significance, talking about how almost none of it is needed – only the size of a mustard seed, which is one of the smallest seeds visible to the naked eye. On another hand, Jesus takes the idea of faith, and makes it limitless, because His example takes the smallest fraction of an ounce and gives it amazing power.

However, within Jesus’ response we find a challenging question: How does one measure faith?

While we can literally see the size of a mustard seed, even if it is small, how can we “see” the size of someone else’s faith?

If faith was a solid, tangible object, it would be easy to measure. If faith was a liquid, it might be a little harder to measure, but still very doable. However, it is as though faith is most similar to an invisible, gaseous substance making it one of the hardest things in life to measure. We could make the comparison to faith being similar to the wind, which is only really measured by what it moves.

Just like the wind, only by seeing what faith moves can we truly know how strong it is.

Jesus then transitions away from faith and back into relationships. However, instead of looking at hostile relationships specifically, like what happens when someone is trying to cause you to stumble, Jesus focuses on the relational dynamic of a master and servant relationship. I will note here that some translations use the word slave here instead of servant, and while slaves are distinctly different from servants by definition, for the purposes of our discussion, either word fits well. Either direction we choose to translate the original language, the point is clear: we work for someone else, and as their servants/slaves, we should place them above us – regardless of how they treat or mistreat us.

In our modern culture, with the workday separated from non-work time, we don’t get a clear picture of this idea like those in the first century may have. In my own mind, the closest modern equivalent to this idea can be seen in a parent-child dynamic.

Being a parent is a 24/7 role, and unless the child is taught to do so, not many thanks are given from the child to the parent – especially during the first year or two of life. However, by most measures of success, parents who are succeeding in their role of parent do so by strategically placing their child’s needs ahead of themselves and they serve their child. At the most basic level, providing food, shelter, and stability to a child is serving the child because on their own, an infant or toddler would be unable to provide any of these things for themselves.

In a similar way, we can view our relationship with God within a parent-child framework. While most human parent-child relationships leave much to be desired, picturing God as a loving parent who does not have the faults of our human parents brings much more good than harm. God loves each of us, and even though culture has tried to turn God into a villain, the Bible draws our attention onto God’s love even in the midst of sin, pain, and death.

However, Jesus concludes our passage by challenging us to serve God simply because God is God and because of who He is. We have been invited to be adopted into God’s family, and while this is a powerful metaphor, we shouldn’t forget that before we became sons and daughters of God, we are called to be His servants.

Being a part of God’s family means that we have a part to play, and like a servant who willingly and cheerfully does what He is told to do, when we play our part, it should be satisfying in itself, with no thanks necessary. If God, as our Master, chooses to thank us or give us more responsibility, then these are His choices, not ours.

All parts of this passage do have one central theme: we are called and challenged to be humble and place others’ needs ahead of our own. We achieve this goal when we avoid being a stumbling block to others; when we choose to forgive, regardless of how often history repeats itself; when we focus our faith in a powerful way; and when we choose to serve because of who God, our Master, is in relation to who we are as servants.

Jesus has called and challenged us to place others ahead of ourselves, and to look to God for the strength to press forward with Him.

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

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally place God first in your life. Choose to see God as our Master and understand our role as voluntary servants to God. Humbly submit to God and let Him lead and guide you along the path He has created and called you to walk.

Also continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn just what God is like. Through the pages of the Bible, discover just how much God loves you and what He was willing to do for us to redeem us from sin.

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!

Of all the parables and illustrations Jesus shares in the gospels, one stands out above the rest when I think about those that are overly negative. On one hand, many of Jesus’ parables are meant to challenge individuals to live more Godly lives, but what if the parable Jesus shares appears to endorse or support some pretty negative and dishonest characteristics?

For those of you listeners who are familiar with Jesus’ parables in the Bible, you may have guessed that I am describing the Parable of the Dishonest Manager, and this is a parable that bothered me until I read it with an analytical frame of mind – looking specifically for why Jesus might have shared it.

Let’s read the parable together and discover why Jesus may have shared it. This parable is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will be reading from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Luke begins by saying that:

¹ Jesus also said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man who had a manager to take care of his business. This manager was accused of cheating him. ² So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of what you have done with my money, because you can’t be my manager any longer.’ ³ The manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking my job away from me? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I’ll do so that when I lose my job people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁵ “So the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe?’ ⁶ He answered, ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write four hundred gallons.’ ⁷ Then the manager asked another one, ‘How much do you owe?’ He answered, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eight hundred bushels.’ ⁸ So, the master praised the dishonest manager for being clever. Yes, worldly people are more clever with their own kind than spiritual people are.

Let’s pause reading for a moment because it is here at the conclusion of this parable that we get a hint about why Jesus told us this parable. Along with describing how the master praised the dishonest manager, Jesus tells His followers that “worldly people are more clever with their own kind than spiritual people are”.

But while we might be tempted to stop here and think Jesus simply wants us to be cleaver and sneaky for God, He continues by telling us exactly why He shared this parable, and the lesson we should learn from it. In verse 9, Luke tells us that Jesus continued by saying:

⁹ “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches so that when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever. ¹⁰ Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot. ¹¹ If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?

Pausing our reading again, it is important for us to realize that Jesus does not praise the dishonest manager, and nothing implied in what Jesus described would indicate that this manager was able to keep his job.

Jesus actually describes the opposite when He says in verse 10 that “Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot”.

In this parable and explanation, Jesus tells us that we are responsible for how we manage our lives and wealth on this earth. It is like Jesus is describing God looking down from heaven at those living on the earth, and He is specifically looking for people who are managing their lives, their money, and their gifts well and He chooses to give these people more of these blessings.

And before moving too far ahead, Jesus gives us instruction and guidance for how to use our earthly wealth in the best possible way. Jesus tells us that the best use for our wealth is to use it to make friends. However, before thinking Jesus is telling us to buy friendships, which is ironically impossible to do, Jesus describes a situation where the wealth is temporary, but the relationship lasts beyond it. The only way for this to happen is if the relationships and friendships we grow are not dependant on money.

If not money, then what is the goal of these friendships? Jesus continues by stating something that might sound completely off topic, but His words actually contain the answer to this question.

Picking back up in verse 13, Jesus continues by saying:

¹³ “No servant can serve two masters. The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.”

In this simple two-statement illustration, Jesus subtly sums up two big conflicting motivators for people. Some people are motivated by serving God; other people are motivated by money. This list is nowhere near mutually exclusive, because we all face other things that can motivate, or demotivate us, but God and money happen to be two of the biggest motivators. Looking a little deeper at the motivation for serving God, it is true that we cannot be serving money at the same time.

With that said, how does this relate to our friendships, you might ask?

When our lives are serving God, we use our earthly money to help support and enrich friendships with others here on earth with the goal of being able to share Jesus and God with them. Money makes a great tool to help with relationships in many cases, but it makes a horrible foundation for a relationship to be built on. Jesus describes money being used as a tool and nothing more, whereas our Master and focus is on God.

We are not given license to use our money in dishonest ways, but instead, Jesus challenges us to be creative with it while holding ourselves to the highest standards of integrity. Whoever is dishonest with a little will be dishonest with much, while whoever can be trusted with a little will be given more.

While Jesus does continue speaking and sharing, this seems like a good place to conclude, and with that said, here are the challenges I will leave you with at the end of this podcast episode:

Continue seeking God first and placing Him first in your life. Learn to see money as a tool and know that if you have money in your life, it is only through using it wisely that you will be blessed with more.

Remember Jesus’ words in verse 11: “If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches?” Use this as a guide to challenge yourself to live more trustworthy, with the highest standards of integrity and honesty that you can think of, because while this is a challenge Jesus shares, it is also a promise we can claim in our own lives.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself. The Bible has a lot to say about money, and one reason for this might be because God knows that money is a sensitive topic for many people. God loves you more than He loves your money and He values your heart and soul more than your net worth. With regular prayer and Bible study, we can grow a personal relationship with Him.

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!

If you have ever been confused or surprised by something Jesus did, you may be surprised to discover that you have something in common with the Pharisees and scribes in the first century. Hopefully you don’t have too much in common with them, but as we will soon discover, something Jesus regularly did prompted these religious leaders to wonder why Jesus acted the way He did.

While this event, passage, and illustration are within the most famous and well known portions of the gospels, let’s begin by reading the verses leading up to the parables Jesus shared to understand what prompted Jesus to share them.

Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 15, and let’s read it using the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us:

¹ Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. ² Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Let’s pause reading here. To set the stage for the parable Jesus is about to share with those present, Luke tells us two key details describing the scene.

First, we have Jesus attracting all the bad people in that society. We could specifically call these people those who the religious leaders looked down on. Tax collectors were considered traitors to Judaism and Israel, and sinners were people who were clearly living contrary to God’s will. These two groups liked being around Jesus and listening to Him.

It is as though these two groups enjoyed listening to Jesus because they could feel as though He liked them as people. Not once do I read that Jesus condoned their lifestyles, their occupation, or their sins, but He also didn’t condemn them either. Jesus cared for both tax collectors and sinners as real people and He spoke to their lives and hearts accordingly.

While the religious leaders clearly looked down on some of the other groups of people coming to listen to Jesus, something else was beginning to take shape. Among those who considered themselves spiritual and right with God, Luke describes grumbling that took place because of what this group saw Jesus doing.

Most people who have spent any significant length of time reading the gospels understood that the Pharisees and other religious leaders in the first century had taken a very legalistic view of the law, and in many ways, they had taken their legalism farther than God had intended.

While following and obeying the law is a good thing, the religious leaders had let pride infect their lives, because they had shifted their focus onto being judgmental towards anyone and everyone who failed to keep the law. Actually, the situation was a little worse than this, because, the law that the Pharisees and other religious leaders held up as the standard was a law they created to keep people from coming anywhere close to breaking God’s actual law. It would be like the posted speed limit of a road being 80 miles per hour, and the officers handing out tickets to anyone who traveled faster than 55.

The religious leaders’ legalistic and judgmental attitude had gone on so long that there was a great divide in the first century culture, with the religious people staying in their group and ignoring or judging those outside of the group, and those outside of the religious circle wanting nothing to do with those inside of it.

When Jesus entered history and began His ministry, everyone on both sides of the spiritual divide understood that Jesus was different. Jesus walked and talked in a way that was more intelligent and informed than the most educated religious leader, but He socialized and focused on those outside of the spiritual clique. Jesus followed and obeyed all of God’s laws, though He often pushed against and broke the religious leaders’ legalistic barrier laws when someone needed help. Jesus seemed to throw all rules aside when someone needed assistance, encouragement, or healing.

Because Jesus’ ministry was unlike anything that had happened up to that point, the religious leaders had a difficult time categorizing it. Would these religious leaders categorize Jesus as a rabbi, a doctor, a revolutionary, or something else? They never considered that Jesus came for something greater than any of the roles they wanted to place Him in. The last thing on anyone’s mind in that culture was that Jesus included death on a cross as a part of His great plan.

So the Pharisees and scribes grumble about what Jesus is doing and who He has chosen to associate with.

Hearing the religious leaders’ grumbling, Jesus then shares three parables about what God is like, often called the Parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son. With the time we have left, we can focus on the first two of these parables, and we’ll leave the third one for another episode.

Continuing reading from Luke 15, starting in verse 3:

³ So He [Jesus] told them this parable, saying, ⁴ “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵ When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

⁸ “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Jesus’ point in these two parables is clear: God values people, and He rejoices when people who have fallen away or who were previously lost return to Him.

The underlying message in both these parables is that the social walls that the Pharisees, scribes, and other religious people had set up was stopping God’s mission of helping people be drawn back to Him. All the judgment and expectations placed on those who might have even considered returning to God was enough to turn off all but the most dedicated person. Unfortunately, the most dedicated person would likely end up as another judgmental Pharisee.

Jesus challenges us in these two parables as well. Jesus’ challenge for His followers at every point in history is to not put barriers or expectations in peoples’ way that keep them from returning to God. If you set up expectations or barriers between God and sinners, than you are being more like a Pharisee and less like Jesus.

Looking at the details of these parables from the opposite perspective, if you feel like you need to change before you can begin moving towards God, you are believing one of Satan’s most powerful lies. The lost sheep and lost coin never “found” the shepherd or woman. The opposite happened: The shepherd and woman, who both represent God, find that which was lost.

Imagine for a moment what would happen if all the barriers to returning to God were erased and if the only thing needed was simply “repenting” which is another way of saying that one turns away from sin.

According to this parable, the decision to repent and return to God is all that is needed for a celebration in heaven, and every moment that we keep our decision to keep God first in our lives keeps the celebration in heaven going. Repenting of sin and focusing on Jesus is all that is needed to return to God.

Being found and saved from sin doesn’t get any simpler than this – and it’s the way Jesus modeled for us as His followers.

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 place your focus on God as the first priority in your life. Choose to seek God first and stay connected with Him.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself – especially the four gospels – to learn what God is like through what we see in Jesus. While other people can give you ideas to think about, always take what you see, read, and hear and test it against the truth of the Bible. The Bible has stood as a reliable guide for life for thousands of years, and it will outlast any fad that culture wants to push for a generation or two.

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