Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving through John’s gospel, we are focusing in on the details this gospel includes during the 24 hours leading up to Jesus’ death. From the start of chapter 13, all the way to the end of chapter 19, John’s gospel records the 24 hours leading up to Jesus’ death in detail. John takes 7 of the 21 chapters in his gospel to emphasize this single point in time, and looking at exclusively the chapter breaks, we could conclude that one third of John’s gospel focuses on the 24 hours between the special supper Jesus shared with His disciples, to Jesus’ corpse being removed from the cross and buried.

However, I’m jumping ahead a little. While we are most of the way through the details John includes, we are still early on in the details of what happened. In our last episode, we looked at Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus, and for this episode, we begin with Jesus’ arrest and what happened the rest of that night.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 12, John tells us:

¹² So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him, ¹³ and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. ¹⁴ Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.

¹⁵ Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, ¹⁶ but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. ¹⁷ Then the slave-girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” ¹⁸ Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.

Let’s pause reading briefly here. When reading this, I am amazed that Peter and one other disciple, after running away to avoid being arrested, followed behind the mob and were ultimately brought into the courtyard of the high priest. I suspect that this was because both disciples wanted to know what would happen to Jesus.

This means that three of Jesus’ disciples were near Jesus during this night. While our passage doesn’t mention him by name, since Judas Iscariot brought the mob, and since Judas Iscariot wanted to see Jesus escape, we can be confident that he was there. Matthew’s gospel describes Judas committing suicide when realizing that Jesus was condemned, and Judas died before Jesus did. With this information, we can conclude that Judas Iscariot was present during the trial of Jesus.

The other person this passage does not name specifically is a disciple who was known to the high priest and this disciple let Peter in. While logic might suggest that this unnamed disciple could have been Judas Iscariot, it would be unlike John to not name Judas. More than any other gospel, John shares names of people involved, and the only disciple never to be named directly is John himself. This gives weight to John being the author of this gospel, and this is why tradition describes John as the disciple who let Peter into the courtyard. I don’t know much about John’s life prior to being a disciple of Jesus, but something in John’s past made him known and recognized by those living with the high priest.

The only named disciple in this passage is Peter, and ironically enough, if Peter had not followed Jesus or been let into the courtyard, Jesus’ prediction would not have happened. In the part of our passage we just finished reading, Peter denied Jesus one time, and before John tells us about Peter’s other denials, he shifts focus to describe the pretrial questioning that took place.

Continuing in verse 19, John tells us that:

¹⁹ The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. ²⁰ Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. ²¹ Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.” ²² When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?” ²³ Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?” ²⁴ So Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Pausing our reading again, from the way John described this part of Jesus questioning, I am a little intrigued about how John frames this portion of the night.

While the first part of this passage describes Jesus being brought first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest, in verse 19, during the time Jesus was with Annas, John describes the high priest questioning Jesus: “The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching.” This is also reemphasized in verse 22, when an officer standing near Jesus struck Him and said, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?”

From the way this event is described, we can reach one of two conclusions. The first conclusion we could reach, which is more likely to be the case, is that Annas was the former high priest, and many people still saw him in this role, even if he wasn’t officially the one who held the title. With this logic, he was still considered the high priest because of his past, even though there was a new high priest serving in that role.

The second conclusion we could reach, which is less likely but interesting to consider, is that Caiaphas questioned Jesus while he was with Annas, and this questioning was to discover information that would ultimately be used to condemn Jesus. Because this wasn’t the official trial, Caiaphas would have been a significant questioner, but this happened outside of Caiaphas’ courtroom because they wanted a clear charge to bring against Jesus before they went into court where Caiaphas would sit as judge.

While the first conclusion is more likely, it is fascinating to look at the second conclusion, because it holds a strong parallel. In Jesus’ trial, the prosecuting attorney, and the judge condemning Jesus were the high priest. In our defense trial against the challenges of Satan and the sin in our lives, our Judge and defense lawyer is Jesus. Jesus was tried in a very similar way that He defends us, and with the Judge and best Attorney on our side, nothing Satan can bring our way can break through Jesus’ defense.

However, when the questioning doesn’t amount to much, they move to the official trial. Before moving to focus on the trial, John transitions back to the courtyard to tell us about Peter. Continuing in verse 25, John tells us:

²⁵ Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.” ²⁶ One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” ²⁷ Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.

At the conclusion of our passage, we find Peter’s big regret. While Peter had promised Jesus he would never deny Him, we find Jesus’ prediction happen exactly like Jesus described.

However, while this was Peter’s big failure, and one that he would likely never forget, Peter’s story is far from over. Instead, through Peter’s story, we discover a powerful truth that Jesus came to redeem us, and that even when we fail Jesus, He never gives up on or fails us.

But this is jumping ahead in the story. Jesus is our Redeemer, and in a future episode, we will focus on how Peter is personally redeemed from this monumental failure.

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 let Jesus be your Judge, your Defense Attorney, and especially your Redeemer.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to intentionally and purposefully grow closer to God each and every day. Through a personal relationship with God that is built on prayer and Bible study, discover who God is, what He is like, and the redemption and future He has promised for all of His people!

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!

When we look at the illustrations Jesus shared with those in the crowds that followed Him, we discover that Jesus regularly challenged people through His parables in exactly the way they needed to be challenged. Only in some occasions do we actually read how those Jesus spoke to responded to these challenges.

In our passage and parable for this episode, Luke describes exactly who Jesus spoke this message to before sharing the parable, and Jesus’ concluding words give the big theme that is just as significant for our lives today as it was for those living in the first century.

Our passage and parable are found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will read from the New International Version. Starting in verse 9, Luke writes:

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

In this passage, Luke makes it clear exactly who Jesus was talking to with how he sets up Jesus’ parable. Luke describes those Jesus was speaking to as “some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else”. This statement describes something that is blatantly obvious in other people, but almost impossible to see in the mirror. It is easy to see the arrogance in others and almost impossible to see it in ourselves.

Jesus’ parable in our passage describes two of the most opposite people imaginable in first century culture. About the only similarities present between these two people is that they were both men and that they were both in the temple praying. After these two details, almost everything else is different about them. It is interesting to note that the Pharisee’s prayer does not focus on anything the Pharisee needs help with, but the tax collector’s prayer only includes the request for help.

Each man’s prayer is significant in its own right. While I don’t think that giving thanks to God is wrong in prayer, or that prayers need to always include more things than simply requests for help, I see the biggest difference in these prayers in the attitudes that each man had towards God. The Pharisee’s attitude towards God was one expecting admiration. In contrast, the tax collector’s attitude towards God was one hoping for mercy. The Pharisee elevated himself by comparing himself to others worse than he was, while the tax collector simply acknowledges his sinful state while requesting help.

Both men in Jesus’ example were sinners, but only one recognized his sin and his need for help.

This leads into Jesus’ big concluding theme that the tax collector “went home justified before God”. While those in the culture wouldn’t have faulted either of these men for their prayer or their attitude towards God, Jesus challenges the cultural norms in that society by saying that the self-righteous, self-exalted man did not receive what he had hoped.

Actually, the Pharisee in Jesus’ illustration had no need of prayer. There was no request for help and there wasn’t anything shared that God would not have already known. The Pharisee’s prayer wasn’t aimed at opening his heart to God but instead it was aimed at reminding God of how good he was.

After sharing that it was the tax collector who was justified, Jesus tells us why. Jesus tells us in the last portion of verse 14 that: “all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The big truth we would be wise to remember is that exalting ourselves before God will never result in God’s favor being poured down onto us. If we come before God like the Pharisee came to God, and we spend all our time sharing with God our list of accomplishments and the things we do well, we are basically telling God that we don’t need Him. Looking at the Pharisee’s prayer, the Pharisee had no need of God. The Pharisee was stuck, trapped in a works-based theology that is the opposite of true Christianity.

Most belief systems set standards that we must reach in order to be saved. True Christianity teaches that God’s standard is so high that there is nothing we can do to actually reach His standard, but that God sent Jesus to stand in our place and to reach that standard for us.

Our response in Christianity says that we obey Christ because we are thankful for what He has done for us. Obedience in true Christianity doesn’t mean we are working to gain our salvation, but that we live for God as our way of saying “thank you” to God for the gift we do not deserve. God has asked us to obey because God knows obedience leads to life, love, and peace.

Satan is the one who teaches that obedience neglects the gospel message and that anything in our lives that resembles obedience falls into a works-based religion. Jesus teaches that obedience to God’s truth, when understood in light of His sacrifice for us on the cross, is what sets us free.

When we come before God in prayer, we would be better served by modeling the tax collector’s attitude. The tax collector recognized that he is a sinner who needed a Savior, and the tax collector asked God for mercy. The tax collector humbled himself before God and Jesus tells us that God accepted his prayer.

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

As always, intentionally seek God first in your life. When you pray, be sure you intentionally humble yourself, that you glorify God, and that you seek His will for your life. I doubt God would ever reject a prayer acknowledging our need and desire for a Savior to help us with our sins.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even podcasters can give you ideas to think about, be sure to filter everything you learn through the pages of God’s Word and let His Holy Spirit guide you into the truth He wants you to learn and know.

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

After John describes Jesus’ teaching and prayer on the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, He shifts focus onto Judas coming with the mob to betray Jesus. However, while John includes a detail that most, if not all, of the other gospel writers include, John also includes an amazing detail that is unique to his gospel account of this event. Through these two details, we discover something powerful about Jesus, and how facing the cross was His choice.

Our passage for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will read it using the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees. ² Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, because Jesus had often gone there with his disciples.

³ The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.

⁴ Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.

⁵ “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) ⁶ As Jesus said “I am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! ⁷ Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

⁸ “I told you that I am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” ⁹ He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”

¹⁰ Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. ¹¹ But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”

In this event, while the other three gospel writers include the detail about someone slashing off the ear of the high priest’s slave, John gives both the name of the slave and the name of the disciple who did the slashing. Part of me wonders if following this event, this slave joins the early church, because Luke’s gospel includes the detail about Jesus healing his ear, and John knows this slave’s name.

However, while this last detail is powerful, what John describes happened earlier is even more amazing. Several of the other gospels describe Judas Iscariot taking the lead and greeting Jesus with a kiss to let the mob know which one was Jesus. However, John’s gospel prompts us with the powerful truth that Jesus steps forward willingly to meet the mob.

Not only does Jesus step forward, but He also takes the lead, perhaps even before Judas Iscariot can come forward. Jesus asks the mob directly who they are looking for, and after the mob has responded, Jesus replies that He is the One they were looking for. Verses 5 and 6 describe Jesus’ response and what happened by saying, “‘I am he,’ Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) 6 As Jesus said ‘I am he,’ they all drew back and fell to the ground!”

While Jesus then repeats His question and they reply, I am amazed by John’s detail that one short but powerful declaration from Jesus knocks the entire mob to the ground. While Jesus may have momentarily let His divinity shine through His humanity at that moment, the detail that the mob was knocked off their feet is not as amazing as the conclusion we can draw from this detail.

Through one simple declaration, Jesus knocked the mob off their feet, which one might think would be enough to wake up this mob that arresting Jesus might be futile. However, they are unconvinced, and follow through with their plans for arrest.

While this might appear like a success on the part of the mob, this entire event was clearly within Jesus’ control. If Jesus could knock the mob down with a simple three-word declaration, nothing the mob could do would overpower Jesus if He was unwilling to surrender. The voice that calmed the storm, that cast out demons, and that taught God’s love was able to knock down this band of hired enemies, but it wasn’t enough to break through the mob’s hard hearts.

Jesus was fully capable of stopping the mob, but He chose not to. When seeing that Jesus could but wouldn’t defend Himself, Peter jumps up to defend Jesus. While Peter’s actions may have been prompted in part by Jesus’ earlier challenge to Peter about denying Him, and Peter assuring Jesus that he would be willing to die for Him, I suspect that this defense also prompted Peter to stand out in the minds’ of those in the mob. This is relevant because many of those in the courtyard we will look at in our next episode likely were also in the mob that arrested Jesus. 

Peter in this passage displays a similar belief as Judas Iscariot, even though both men were very different. It is likely that both Peter and Judas Iscariot believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and it is also likely that both Peter and Judas Iscariot believed the Messiah would last forever.

Where these two disciples differed the most was Judas likely believed Jesus would not let Himself be arrested, or at least condemned, while Peter understood that Jesus likely would be crucified because of this. Neither one of these disciples understood the resurrection Jesus had repeatedly predicted; and neither one of these disciples believed Jesus would return from the dead to then last forever. Both men did not understand the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah’s sacrifice, because that culture had discounted or ignored all passages suggesting a suffering Messiah.

However, the huge conclusion we find in this event is again shared when Jesus challenges Peter about defending Jesus with violence. Our passage concludes with Jesus’ words in verse 11, “Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”

Jesus willingly chose the cross for you and for me, and because of this, we are able to see God’s love for us. Jesus was not forced to face the cross, but He was willing to face suffering, pain, ridicule, and death in order to show us God’s love and just how far God would go to redeem humanity.

Jesus loves each of us more than we can even imagine, and God’s love for us led Jesus to face the worst, most painful, and most humiliating death imaginable. The sin in our lives and our past deserves this death, but Jesus was willing to pay for our debt in order to show us God’s love for us and to give us a way to be saved and redeemed for eternity.

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 accept the gift Jesus offers to us through the death He chose. Everything in our passage pointed to Jesus willingly choosing to be arrested, and as we move through this event, we’ll see more examples of Jesus humbly following the path towards death when He clearly did not deserve death and could have easily given up.

With that said, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself in order to grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, we can grow a personal relationship with God, and through a personal relationship with God, discover for yourself just how much God loves you and me!

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

As we continue our walk through the parables of Jesus, we come to a parable that doesn’t make a lot of sense on the surface, but this is because we may easily miss Jesus’ key opening statement that frames the purpose of this parable, and with this frame in mind, we are better able to trust God with the details.

Our parable and passage are found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will read from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us:

¹ Then Jesus used this story to teach his followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. ² “In a certain town there was a judge who did not respect God or care about people. ³ In that same town there was a widow who kept coming to this judge, saying, ‘Give me my rights against my enemy.’ ⁴ For a while the judge refused to help her. But afterwards, he thought to himself, ‘Even though I don’t respect God or care about people, ⁵ I will see that she gets her rights. Otherwise she will continue to bother me until I am worn out.’”

⁶ The Lord said, “Listen to what the unfair judge said. ⁷ God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day, and he will not be slow to answer them. ⁸ I tell you, God will help his people quickly. But when the Son of Man comes again, will he find those on earth who believe in him?”

As we read this passage just now, three parts of this passage stood out in my mind.

The first part of our passage that stood out as we read it is how Jesus frames this illustration in the first verse. Luke tells us in verse 1 that “Jesus used this story to teach his followers that they should always pray and never lose hope.” While the details in this parable can lead us to many different conclusions, we must not forget the framing that we have here, because any conclusion we have from this parable must amplify the value of persistent prayer and keeping our hope alive.

The way I understand this framing is that we should pray about anything and everything that is on our minds and trust God that He will take care of it. In some cases, if we do not see an answer or resolution right away, we should not lose hope. Instead, we should have faith and trust in God that He knows what the best timing is for answering our prayer. While we might think now is the best time for our prayers to be answered, God understands the implications of every possible way He could answer our prayer and His goal for us is eternity with Him in heaven for as many people as possible.

The second part of our passage that stood out in my mind is an interesting parallel in the thoughts of the judge. In verses 4 and 5, the judge thinks, “Even though I don’t respect God or care about people, I will see that she gets her rights. Otherwise she will continue to bother me until I am worn out.” As I read this statement, the thought entered my mind that this idea subtly parallels God’s Holy Spirit working on peoples’ hearts and minds. When we pray for someone, the Holy Spirit begins working on their hearts and lives and also on our hearts and on our lives. In an interesting twist, when we persist in our prayers and let the Holy Spirit work in the lives of those we care about, He is much more effective than if we were to try to help guide them in any other way.

In this illustration, through the unjust judge’s words, we discover a parallel in how the Holy Spirit works in peoples’ lives, and we discover how the Holy Spirit is one of the most effective ways of drawing people to God.

The third part of this passage that stood out as we read it is the two statements in the last verse. The first of these statements counters the unjust judge’s attitude. Jesus tells us in this statement that “God will help his people quickly.” When we pray, God is more than willing to give us an answer right away. However, the answer might not be the one we want or the one we expect. While we would love a fast “yes” answer for every prayer we pray, sometimes the fast answer we receive is a “no”, a “not yet”, or a “no, but here is something better instead”.

These four possible answers are the big ways God answers prayers, and Jesus tells us in this passage that God will not be slow to answer our prayers and He will be quick to help His people. God promises to help His people quickly, but I don’t believe God will help us in any way that would ultimately result in our choosing to leave Him and forfeiting our salvation. I also don’t believe God is interested in making our lives in sin so comfortable that we would prefer this life to the one He has promised us in the New Heaven and New earth.

The very last phrase in our passage is both fascinating and challenging in my mind. Jesus looks forward to the time of His return and asks the almost rhetorical question, “When the Son of Man comes again, will he find those on earth who believe in him?”

This question is fascinating, and for some of my life, I thought this was a ridiculous question to ask, especially because when Jesus returns, He is returning for His people. While many of God’s people will be resurrected at that time, the Bible talks about people being caught up in the clouds to meet Jesus who have not faced death. Everyone who is saved when Jesus returns, both dead and alive, will be saved because they placed their hope, faith, and belief in Jesus.

However, as I see the culture declining, and Christians focusing more time on things other than Jesus, I begin to see Jesus’ words here as a challenge for all of His followers to keep their faith in Him strong. In this passage and this unique parable, Jesus emphasizes the importance of persistent prayer, unwavering hope, and unyielding belief in Him. In many ways, these characteristics help define who God’s people are, and these characteristics help us grow a solid relationship with God as we prepare for eternity!

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 and to keep your belief in Him strong. Accept Jesus’ challenge in this passage to be persistent in your prayers and to never lose hope. Intentionally trust God with answering your prayers in His timing, and know that when God tells you to wait, it is because He knows something we don’t know in the big picture of eternity.

Also, keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God each and every day. Growing a strong relationship with God here on this earth simply prepares us for a strong relationship with God throughout eternity, and a strong relationship with God is the only way we will face the challenges of this life without letting our faith be shaken.

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!