Reflective Bible Study

While Jesus had the reputation for being a great teacher, and as Someone who could heal pretty much anything, early on in Jesus’ ministry, before word had spread about this, we find a powerful event in John’s gospel that when we look at the details, this event might just be an example for us to follow.

For time together in this episode, we’ll be reading from the gospel of John, chapter 4, out of the New Century Version. Starting in verse 46, John tells us that:

⁴⁶ Jesus went again to visit Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. One of the king’s important officers lived in the city of Capernaum, and his son was sick. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum and heal his son, because his son was almost dead. ⁴⁸ Jesus said to him, “You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me.”

⁴⁹ The officer said, “Sir, come before my child dies.”

⁵⁰ Jesus answered, “Go. Your son will live.”

The man believed what Jesus told him and went home. ⁵¹ On the way the man’s servants came and met him and told him, “Your son is alive.”

⁵² The man asked, “What time did my son begin to get well?”

They answered, “Yesterday at one o’clock the fever left him.”

⁵³ The father knew that one o’clock was the exact time that Jesus had said, “Your son will live.” So the man and all the people who lived in his house believed in Jesus.

⁵⁴ That was the second miracle Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.

I want to emphasize that last verse. This was only the second miracle Jesus had done after coming from Judea to Galilee. The first was turning water into wine – and though the water-wine miracle is impressive, it is nothing like healing someone who is about to die.

Perhaps Jesus had healed other people in Judea, and word had spread into Galilee about these healings and to the ears of this official. Regardless of the way news traveled, or even how this official knew to come to Jesus early on in Jesus’ ministry, the dialog between the official and Jesus is important for us to pay attention to.

John doesn’t tell us the official’s exact words, but his clear request in verse 47 was for Jesus to “come to Capernaum and heal his son, because his son was almost dead.” It is significant to note that this official came personally, instead of simply sending a servant or messenger with the request. This detail emphasizes that the official believed his request was too important to leave with a servant.

However, Jesus’ response is interesting. In verse 48, Jesus replies by saying, “You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me.” This response sounds odd in my mind. The official is asking for help with a clearly urgent need, and Jesus responds with a statement about belief. However, the reason Jesus answered the way He did was because the request was for Jesus to go to the place where the child was.

We don’t know if the officer had doubts in his mind or if he wanted to witness a miracle though this event, but with the way Jesus responds, it is logical to conclude that this may have been the case – that is, unless Jesus said what He said not for the man’s benefit, but for the disciples and those present following Jesus. Perhaps this response was aimed at pushing the crowd following Jesus and not as much at the official himself.

But in the official’s second request, we see persistence. Verse 49 tells us the official again asks Jesus, “Sir, come before my child dies.”

This persistence might be wise for us to model in our own lives. If God hasn’t appeared to answer a request the first time we ask it, perhaps we need to keep praying and pushing forward with our request moving forward.

Jesus’ second answer is powerful. While He doesn’t comply with the official’s actual request, He does challenge the official in a way that satisfies this father’s request for help. Up to this point in the requests and conversation, the emphasis has been on Jesus going personally to perform the miracle, but Jesus’ second response in verse 50 is simply, “Go. Your son will live.”

This answer satisfies the official, even if it doesn’t comply with his request, and John tells us that “The man believed what Jesus told him and went home.”

On the way, the official learns that his son has recovered, and that it happened at the exact time of his conversation with Jesus. This event concludes in verse 53 by saying, “So the man and all the people who lived in his house believed in Jesus.”

It is important to note that the official and everyone described in this last verse believed in Jesus, not because they had seen Jesus perform a miracle, but they believed in Jesus because of the promise Jesus had given the official. Someone skeptical of this event might dismiss this as a coincidence, but to everyone present in this event, Jesus’ promise about the official’s son living, which the official believed at face value, resulted in a long-distance miracle and a healed boy.

In our own lives, I wonder if John included this miracle as a way of challenging those who would read about this miracle to take Jesus’ promises at face value and believe Jesus’ words regardless of whether we see any change immediately. This may also be included as a challenge to bring our miracle requests to Jesus in prayer and believe that He will answer them even if we don’t see Him actively moving towards the situation.

This event includes a challenge for all of us about where our belief should be grounded. Jesus challenged those present on the idea that “seeing is believing”. Jesus and the official demonstrated a different approach: The official believed Jesus, and then afterwards, he saw the results of his belief. The official demonstrates a “believing before seeing” approach to faith.

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

As you are living your life, choose to believe God’s promises and Jesus’ words before you experience them personally. In some cases, you may need to obey before you see, similar to how this official had to obey Jesus on faith and start his homeward journey without Jesus with him. Choose to trust God’s promises and expect to see an answer to your prayers when God’s timing is right. He knows much more than we do about the events in our lives and what the future holds, and it makes the most sense to trust Him with the timing of our prayer answers.

Also, as you pray, read, and study the Bible personally, look for examples of events that demonstrate a believing before seeing approach to faith. There are many more examples than this one event, and as a collection, we learn how to grow spiritually with God and the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us.

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 your way out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through Jesus’ life and the events the four gospels include, we arrive at an event where a group of people hear some information that seems unbelievable. If you have ever been told something you had a difficult time believing, you might be amazed to discover what we can learn within this event.

The event we will be focusing on in this episode is the story of the Samaritan woman who came to the well. This event can be found in John 4:1-45. All throughout this event, those present have their minds stretched, and for our time together, I want to focus our attention onto three specific groups of people. If you are not familiar with this event, I suggest looking up this event the next chance you get. Unfortunately, the passage is quite long and if we were to read everything that happened, our episode would stretch out much longer than I’d like it to.

In this event, two of the three groups of people are usually focused on when reading this event, while the third group is often overlooked. Because of this, I will summarize the first two groups before we focus specifically on the last group – the one that is the most overlooked.

The first group who had their mind stretched was a group of one – the woman who came to the well. A few things to note about this event is that she was alone with Jesus, since He had sent the disciples into town, and that this was the middle of the day, which was the least desirable time to go out to get water.

From these two details mixed with what we learn about the woman later on in the conversation, I suspect this woman probably would have bailed on her water gathering trip if all the disciples had been present. In my mind’s eye, Jesus probably sat just out of view and His request startled her to the fact that anyone was even there. We might conclude that since she had gone to get water at the least ideal time, she preferred to not be around other people.

As the conversation progresses, Jesus slowly opens her mind to the truth of who He is. If Jesus introduced Himself by saying, “I am the Messiah, now would you get me a drink?” I believe the woman would have simply turned and walked away. She likely believed that the Messiah, the One who would save Israel, would never talk to her. She may have believed herself to be the most rejected person in society.

However, Jesus did want to break through her preconceived ideas, and the only way for Him to get through to her was to slowly lead the conversation further. At each step in Jesus’ conversation with her, He stretches her mind, until at the end of the conversation, Jesus reveals who He is – and it is one of the only places where Jesus directly states to anyone that He is the promised Messiah.

The next group of people who have their minds stretched are the disciples. Here is a group of Jews, outside of a town in Samaria, who Jesus asks to go and get supplies. From a cultural standpoint, the Jews hated the Samaritans, and because of this, the Samaritans didn’t really like the Jews either. The first thing that stretches the disciples’ minds is the act of going into an unknown, and perhaps even an unfriendly, town.

Next, their minds are stretched when they return and find Jesus talking with a woman. In the first century culture, this woman was the lowest on the “gender” class because she was a woman, the “ethnic” class because she was a Samaritan, and the “social” class because she was there alone in the middle of the day, which is something that only social outcasts would do. Regular people would at least bring a friend for conversation and perhaps protection.

Seeing Jesus talking to this woman, and at the point of their arrival, noting that it was a very candid conversation about her past, and specifically who He was, would have been enough to stretch their minds.

However, what happens after this woman leaves and the disciples return is what I want to focus on in this episode. Let’s read what happened after the woman left to go back into town. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 4, and we will read from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. While we have summarized the first portion of this event, jumping into the passage in verse 31, John tells us that:

³¹ In the meantime the disciples kept urging Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

³² But He said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

³³ The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought Him something to eat?”

³⁴ “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work,” Jesus told them. ³⁵ “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest. ³⁶ The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so the sower and reaper can rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.”

³⁹ Now many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹ Many more believed because of what He said. ⁴² And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”

⁴³ After two days He left there for Galilee.

In this conclusion to our passage, we read that the disciples’ minds were not done being stretched. Jesus then tells them that He has food that they don’t know of. Jesus is talking of spiritual food, and the satisfaction that comes from doing God’s will.

Jesus then continues stretching their minds by talking about a spiritual harvest. The temptation we all face is thinking that there must be a great season of “sowing” before we can eventually “reap” or harvest. Jesus counters this mindset by stating that spiritually, there is sowing and reaping happening simultaneously. Each person might fill a different role in the process of leading someone to Christ, but we must not assume there will be a delay. This teaching at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, which He shared while traveling through the land of Samaria, leads into the biggest mind-stretching event for the disciples: The whole town comes out to see Jesus.

The big mind stretch in this passage comes in the third group of people – those living in the town who came out to see Jesus.

Their story begins with the transformed life and character of the woman who they all knew, and who was acting significantly differently than at the beginning of this event. At the beginning, she was shy, timid, and quiet – wanting to be hidden from sight – while now she is bold and telling everyone about this odd person, and sharing the idea that the Messiah might have come.

The townspeople seemed interested enough in Jesus that they ask Him to stay with them for a few days. John doesn’t tell us what Jesus shared during those few days, but we do see the final result: Many of the people in the down put their faith and trust in Jesus. At the end of this passage, John writes that they tell the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”

The townspeople have their mind stretched personally by Jesus and then proclaim along with the woman that Jesus really is the Savior of the world.

Jesus stretched the minds of three very unique and distinct groups of people, and each person in this event would never be the same. When Jesus has stretched your mind, it can never shrink back to its original size.

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. Let God stretch your mind to the size He wants it to be, and don’t be afraid of going into the places and situations God tells you to go into. Also, never discount anyone else’s experience with God. God wants a personal relationship with everyone, and that includes you and every other person alive today!

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself in order to grow your personal relationship with God. God wants a personal relationship with you, and the best way to grow a relationship with God is through prayer and studying His Word.

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!

During one of Jesus’ earlier visits to Jerusalem after starting His ministry, John’s gospel describes a fascinating secret meeting Jesus has during the night with a leading Pharisee. In this secret meeting is found one of the most famous verses in the entire Bible, and one of the most concise summaries of God the Father’s view of humanity.

However, while this summary is at the heart of Jesus’ response to the man named Nicodemus, in many ways, it is simply the starting point for our understanding of God the Father. Let’s read Nicodemus’ secret conversation with Jesus and discover what else we can learn from this discussion.

Our passage for this episode is found in the gospel of John, chapter 3, and we will read it using the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ There was a man named Nicodemus who was one of the Pharisees and an important Jewish leader. ² One night Nicodemus came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we know you are a teacher sent from God, because no one can do the miracles you do unless God is with him.”

³ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s kingdom.”

⁴ Nicodemus said, “But if a person is already old, how can he be born again? He cannot enter his mother’s womb again. So how can a person be born a second time?”

⁵ But Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born from water and the Spirit, you cannot enter God’s kingdom. ⁶ Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit. ⁷ Don’t be surprised when I tell you, ‘You must all be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wants to and you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus asked, “How can this happen?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “You are an important teacher in Israel, and you don’t understand these things? ¹¹ I tell you the truth, we talk about what we know, and we tell about what we have seen, but you don’t accept what we tell you. ¹² I have told you about things here on earth, and you do not believe me. So you will not believe me if I tell you about things of heaven. ¹³ The only one who has ever gone up to heaven is the One who came down from heaven—the Son of Man.

¹⁴ “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the Son of Man must also be lifted up. ¹⁵ So that everyone who believes can have eternal life in him.

¹⁶ “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. Those who do not believe have already been judged guilty, because they have not believed in God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ They are judged by this fact: The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. ²⁰ All who do evil hate the light and will not come to the light, because it will show all the evil things they do. ²¹ But those who follow the true way come to the light, and it shows that the things they do were done through God.”

²² After this, Jesus and his followers went into the area of Judea, where he stayed with his followers and baptized people.

In this secret discussion, we find a number of interesting topics we could focus in on. As I was preparing this episode, I had planned to focus in on talking about how Jesus had used the phrase “Son of Man” in this conversation, and that this phrase would foreshadow how Jesus would often refer to Himself during the gospels.

But just now, as I read this to you, I don’t think I had ever noticed a different phrase. Before Jesus lets Nicodemus in on a secret, verse 13 says, “The only one who has ever gone up to heaven is the One who came down from heaven”.

Even as I quote this, I am reminded of Enoch, who walked with God and according to Genesis 5:24, was taken by God, supposedly to Heaven, as tradition would tell us. This is later restated in the book of Hebrews, chapter 5, verse 11.

I am also reminded of Moses, who even though he died before entering the Promised Land with the children of Israel, was resurrected and taken to Heaven, and Elijah, who was one of the more famous Old Testament prophets. Both Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus later on in His ministry known in the event called “The Transfiguration of Jesus”, and this event is recorded in three of the four gospels.

I am challenged by Jesus’ description of the Son of Man in this regard, because we have three clear other individuals who appeared to go up to heaven prior to Jesus having come down. However, while this might be a reason for some to doubt Jesus’ words here, in the three cases we have before us that seem to contradict Jesus’ words, every one of these individuals was “taken” to heaven rather than ascending on their own.

This is a key distinction, because this also means that no one is able to ascend to heaven on their own. Jesus is the only one capable of taking people to heaven. While it is not politically correct to state this, Jesus is the only road that leads to Heaven. This is confirmed by our pair of famous verses, John, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17 which tell us: “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him.”

This is simply a starting point, because Jesus hasn’t stopped talking. He goes on to describe in verse 18 and 19 that “People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. Those who do not believe have already been judged guilty, because they have not believed in God’s one and only Son. They are judged by this fact: The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things.”

In our passage, like bookends on the famous set of verses, are a set of challenges for all of us.

The opening bookend challenges us to always depend on and believe in Jesus Christ, who is the Son of Man. While we might be tempted to think that we can earn salvation through something we do, we are unable and incapable of taking ourselves to heaven. Ascending to heaven is only something Jesus can do, and He promises to take us to heaven if we believe in Him, which is another way of saying that we depend on and trust Him.

The closing bookend tells us that belief in Jesus is the key to avoiding judgment. However, belief is not the only condition, because Jesus describes those who do not believe as people who did not want light, because they were doing evil things. Belief in Jesus is connected with living like Jesus, which means that we are living a life that represents God as best as we can, and when we combine faith with a life that is surrendered to Jesus, we avoid facing the judgment.

With all this said, here are the “official” challenges I am leaving you with at the end of this podcast episode:

As I always open these challenges by saying in one way or another, intentionally put God first in your life. Choose to depend daily on Jesus for strength to face each day, and trust that He is the only One who saves. While those living in the Old Testament had the lamb as a symbol pointing forward to Jesus, through the gospels, we actually have the record of Jesus’ life and what He was like.

Also, choose to study this record of Jesus’ life personally and prayerfully for yourself. By prayerfully reading the gospels with the goal of learning what Jesus was like, you will let the Holy Spirit into your life and begin to let Him change you into the person that God created you to be.

And when this happens, 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 continue moving through events in Jesus’ life, we come to an event that not only displays an incredible amount of faith, but this event also hints at what Jesus was like as a young man. While the Bible only includes one short event between Jesus’ birth and Jesus’ baptism, this event primarily shares Jesus’ focus, and it hints at Jesus’ knowledge, but in this event, we don’t yet see Jesus’ ability or Jesus’ mission.

However, our passage for this episode shares another key idea that teaches us about Jesus’ life as a young man. The event is called “The Wedding at Cana”, and in what happens, we discover some clues to what Jesus was like when He was younger.

Our passage and event are found in John’s gospel, chapter 2, we’ll be reading from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

⁴ “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

⁸ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, ⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

¹¹ What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

As we read this passage, a number of things stood out to me.

First off, John clearly and directly states after this miracle that it was “the first of the signs through with he revealed his glory.” While this doesn’t seem too significant on the surface, this detail actually tells us something about Jesus’ childhood. This detail tells us that this was Jesus’ first miracle, so any speculation of Jesus performing miracles when He was younger can be discarded because they don’t match John’s description of Jesus.

However, if Jesus had not performed a miracle before this wedding, then Mary’s actions and her faith in this passage is almost unbelievable. After all, Jesus discounts His own mother’s request to help out in this tricky situation – and only then does she simply instruct the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.

If Jesus had not ever done a miracle prior to this point, what might have been the reason Mary challenges Jesus to solve this social dilemma? Mary displayed a faith in Jesus that is incredible, especially with the description that Jesus had not performed any miracles before this point.

I don’t think that Jesus had ever performed a miracle while He was younger, but I wonder if He had displayed an unusual level of wisdom and skill for getting out of tricky social situations.

All through all four gospels, we see examples of Jesus’ Holy-Spirit directed wisdom for avoiding and/or countering all the intellectual traps set by the religious leaders. Also, during the one event when Jesus was young, we discover that He amazed those in the temple with His wisdom and insights – and this happened when Jesus was only 12 years old.

In my own mind, it is not a stretch to think that Mary’s faith, and her actions, were not rooted in expecting or demanding a miracle – or another miracle, since John clearly states that no miracles had happened up to that point. Instead, Mary is putting her faith in Jesus’ wisdom and who she knows Him to be. I imagine she may have told herself, “If Jesus cannot solve this problem, no one can.”

Mary’s faith was rooted in Jesus, and in His previous demonstrations of God-given wisdom.

Mary is a model for us as we move through the various stages of our belief in Jesus.

However, in this passage, Mary is not the only one who the passage says believed in Jesus following this event. While we might expect the passage to describe the servants, who were obedient to Jesus’ instructions, to have faith as well, the passage does not imply this to be the case. The servants do demonstrate faith in Jesus by obeying, but perhaps their amazement at the miracle never developed into faith. Or perhaps the servants did believe, but John wants to direct our attention elsewhere.

The passage closes by saying that the disciples believed in Jesus, but there is a clear difference between Mary and the disciples: Mary believed before the miracle, the disciples believed after.

For most of us, it is not natural to believe in Jesus – or to even consider Him as Someone special. Our first step on the path of spiritual growth is to believe in Him because of His miracles. Jesus is okay with us believing in Him because of His miracles, but He never wants us to stop there. Jesus’ miracles were given to be signs to help us take notice, and to move closer to Him as we see how He displays God’s love and God’s character to our world.

A cleaver magician can cause us to take notice, but when we do move closer and learn the secrets of what happened, we find the event was a hollow trick or a cleaver deception. If we stop short and simply believe in Jesus because He performed miracles, we will then be tempted to leave Jesus when someone else is able to do something even more spectacular.

Jesus’ miracles were God-given signs for us to take notice, but they should never form the foundation of our faith. We can start believing in Jesus by believing in His miracles, and this is clearly where many of the disciples started, but Jesus never wants us to build the foundation of our belief in Him on His miracles.

This is where Mary is a much better model for our faith: She believed in Jesus because of who He was, and not because she thought He would perform a miracle. Mary had faith in Jesus through the relationship she had with Him – a relationship that was built over having spent years 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 seek God first and intentionally choose to have a “Mary-like” faith in Jesus.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself. Discover who He is and what He did through reading the gospels, and focus on building a relationship with Jesus rather than simply spending time with Him because of what He can do for you! Build your faith in God on the foundation of who Jesus is – not on a handful of miracles He did.

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!