Reflective Bible Study

If you have ever wondered whether the gospel accounts are accurate or if the story of Jesus has been exaggerated as time progressed, then you might be fascinated to discover how Luke opens his gospel.

While many of us might face questions or doubts about Jesus at some point in our lives, how we wrestle through our doubts ultimately decides the direction we will conclude regarding the events shared in the gospels.

One possible conclusion we can reach is to scrap the whole idea of Jesus, or perhaps to heavily discount it into being more legend than reality.

Another conclusion we could reach is to dismiss our doubts and our questions as irrelevant, and simply blaze forward with blind faith. Some people understand faith and doubt to be connected, and that means that faith requires the option, or presence, of doubt. If there is no option or presence of doubt, it must be fact, and facts don’t require faith.

A third conclusion we could arrive at is actually wrestling through the questions and the doubts. Most questions do have answers, and instead of ignoring or dismissing our doubts, we face them head on and use them as opportunities to grow our faith. Many people who walk down this path see doubts as opportunities for growth, and not as things we should be worried by or concerned with.

At some point, everyone who has been presented with Jesus and the gospels has had to face the question: “What do I do with what the biblical gospels say about Jesus?” And many people have set up camps among these three very different conclusions.

This question about what to do with what the Bible tells us about Jesus is not a new question. This question has challenged people for over two thousand years. From the moment Jesus was in the temple asking questions, I suspect He was feeling out the state of the Jewish religion and the first century culture about their receptivity towards the Messiah.

As we move through the gospels over the next few years, discover how this question is present in almost every encounter Jesus has with someone, and it is a question that all four gospel writers face head on.

What do we do with Jesus?

If you are wondering about who Jesus is and/or what He did while on earth, then you may want to pay attention to how Luke, one of the members of the early church, introduces us to his account of Jesus’ life. In this introduction, we find many things that we can learn about both the early church, and about what people thought about Jesus shortly after He returned to heaven.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 1, and we will read it using the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Luke opens his gospel by saying:

¹ Many have tried to report on the things that happened among us. ² They have written the same things that we learned from others—the people who saw those things from the beginning and served God by telling people his message. ³ Since I myself have studied everything carefully from the beginning, most excellent Theophilus, it seemed good for me to write it out for you. I arranged it in order, ⁴ to help you know that what you have been taught is true.

The first thing that really stands out to me as I read this introduction, is that it is written with more of an editorial, researcher focus, rather than from a “theological” angle.

This is important, because as someone reads through Luke’s account of Jesus’ life, Luke is not interested in creating any theology. Instead, he is more interested in simply clearing up confusion over who Jesus was and what He did.

Why might there be confusion?

If you read any of the gospel writers, or even look at your circle of friends and/or colleagues, you can see that it is very easy for rumors to start, and then grow. Like the childhood game of “telephone” where a line of children whisper a message into the next child’s ear only to realize that the message has been horribly distorted at the end of the line, this same thing was happening following Jesus’ return to heaven – rumors were circulating and growing, and it was beginning to be hard to tell the fact from the fiction.

Note that this was happening not hundreds of years later, but just decades – while eyewitnesses were still alive.

It would appear that the recipient of Luke’s narrative, Theophilus, may have commissioned Luke to sort out the details, or he may have known about Luke’s project, and simply requested a letter summarizing his findings.

Either way, we can see in these short four verses that Luke’s focus is to clear out the clutter, and to write an accurate, historical version of Jesus’ life – using eyewitness accounts as his source.

This is very important to us today because when we read the rest of Luke’s account of Jesus’ life, he is not trying to make theology – instead he is trying to support it by researching the truth about Jesus.

If we look a little closer at verse four, we see Luke’s number one goal, which is: “to help you know that what you have been taught is true”

Luke wants to support the truth that has been taught about Jesus, and clear up the confusion regarding His life, His focus, and His mission.

So where does that leave us today?

What else can we learn from Luke’s method of writing out his gospel?

Verses 1-3 tells us that even though other people had written about Jesus prior to this point, Luke still made it a priority to study Jesus’ life and to write out his findings. Just like many of the other previous writers, Luke heads to the eyewitnesses who were still alive and pieces all the details together.

While it is good to learn from what someone else has studied and discovered, it is also vital that we learn as much as we can from as close to the source as possible. In the case of Jesus’ life and His ministry, the closest source we have is reading the gospels. When reading the gospels, in order to gain the greatest benefit, we should humble ourselves and prayerfully ask God for the Holy Spirit to help guide our study towards His truth.

While it is easy for us to drift towards reading spiritual things other than the Bible, such as devotionals or commentaries, let’s not let our connection to the Source be pushed aside. Devotionals, commentaries, verses of the day, or other things like this are useful for helping to reinforce Bible truths, but in order to stay strongly grounded on God’s truth in the Bible, never let these non-biblical writings, no matter how spiritual they may be, take the place of prayerfully studying the Bible for yourself.

God wants a personal relationship with you, and this relationship comes from leaning into God and His Word, trusting in His promises, and looking to Jesus for our salvation!

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 choose to trust that He has protected His word throughout His Story of history.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow your personal relationship with God. Through a personal relationship with God that is built on prayer and Bible study, you can know God and He will confirm the truth of His word in your life.

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

¹⁸ So I say, “My glory has faded away.
    My hope in the Lord is gone.”

¹⁹ I remember how I suffered and wandered.
    I remember how bitter my life was.
²⁰ I remember it very well.
    My spirit is very sad deep down inside me.
²¹ But here is something else I remember.
    And it gives me hope.

²² The Lord loves us very much.
    So we haven’t been completely destroyed.
    His loving concern never fails.
²³ His great love is new every morning.
    Lord, how faithful you are!
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is everything I will ever need.
    So I will put my hope in him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who put their hope in him.
    He is good to those who look to him.
²⁶ It is good when people wait quietly
    for the Lord to save them.
²⁷ It is good for a man to carry a heavy load of suffering
    while he is young.

²⁸ Let him sit alone and not say anything.
    The Lord has placed that load on him.
²⁹ Let him bury his face in the dust.
    There might still be hope for him.
³⁰ Let him turn his cheek toward those who would slap him.
    Let him be filled with shame.

³¹ The Lord doesn’t turn his back
    on people forever.
³² He might bring suffering.
    But he will also show loving concern.
    How great his faithful love is!
³³ He doesn’t want to bring pain
    or suffering to people.

Read Lamentations 3:18-33 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

¹⁸ This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David’s family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God’s Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Joseph was a good man and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding.

²⁰ While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. ²¹ Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, ²³ “A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

²⁴ After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the Lord’s angel had told him to do. ²⁵ But they did not sleep together before her baby was born. Then Joseph named him Jesus.

Read Matthew 1:18-25 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

¹ The Pharisees heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more followers than John, ² although Jesus himself did not baptize people, but his followers did. ³ Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard about him, so he left Judea and went back to Galilee. ⁴ But on the way he had to go through the country of Samaria.

⁵ In Samaria Jesus came to the town called Sychar, which is near the field Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his long trip, so he sat down beside the well. It was about twelve o’clock noon. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to the well to get some water, Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” ⁸ (This happened while Jesus’ followers were in town buying some food.)

⁹ The woman said, “I am surprised that you ask me for a drink, since you are a Jewish man and I am a Samaritan woman.” (Jewish people are not friends with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Jesus said, “If you only knew the free gift of God and who it is that is asking you for water, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ The woman said, “Sir, where will you get this living water? The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with. ¹² Are you greater than Jacob, our father, who gave us this well and drank from it himself along with his sons and flocks?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty. The water I give will become a spring of water gushing up inside that person, giving eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so I will never be thirsty again and will not have to come back here to get more water.”

¹⁶ Jesus told her, “Go get your husband and come back here.”

¹⁷ The woman answered, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You are right to say you have no husband. ¹⁸ Really you have had five husbands, and the man you live with now is not your husband. You told the truth.”

¹⁹ The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.”

²¹ Jesus said, “Believe me, woman. The time is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain will you actually worship the Father. ²² You Samaritans worship something you don’t understand. We understand what we worship, because salvation comes from the Jews. ²³ The time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, and that time is here already. You see, the Father too is actively seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming.” (Messiah is the One called Christ.) “When the Messiah comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus said, “I am he—I, the one talking to you.”

²⁷ Just then his followers came back from town and were surprised to see him talking with a woman. But none of them asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Read John 4:1-27 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!