Reflective Bible Study

In our last episode, we began focusing on the final official miracle the gospel writers include, and we discovered that in Jesus’ repeated miracle of fish multiplication, each of these disciples received a subtle second chance and a second invitation. However, Peter, in addition to this subtle invitation, gets an extra special chance to talk with Jesus, and the first portion of this conversation will be where we discover God’s greatest miracle that we can be a part of.

While salvation may be the greatest miracle in the history of the world, salvation isn’t something we step into. Jesus did everything necessary for salvation, and then He offers His salvation to us as a gift. The not-often-thought-of-as-a-miracle we will focus in on in this episode is a miracle we can step into.

Let’s start by jumping back into our event and reading Jesus’ conversation with Peter. Our passage is found in the gospel of John, chapter 21, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 15, John tells us that:

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

In this conversation, we discover an amazing truth that comes with our gift of a second chance. Similar to how Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. There is an interesting wordplay involved in this passage with the Greek word that is used for love here, but we won’t focus on that in this episode.

Instead, we’ll look at the response Jesus gives to Peter after each time Peter tells Jesus that he loves Him. In each of Jesus’ three responses, we discover a unique angle on a similar topic. Feeding lambs, taking care of sheep, and feeding sheep are all similar activities, but they are also distinct.

The amazing miracle in this portion of Jesus’ conversation is that with His forgiveness, Jesus trusts us with His people. Let that sink in for a minute. God could have simply forgiven us, but left the care and guidance for His people with the unfallen angels. Alternatively, God could have forgiven us, but done so conditionally, and based on us responding to Him in a certain way.

Both of these alternate ideas is understandable, but this is not Peter’s experience. Instead, Jesus forgives Peter and then challenges him to help take care of his fellow believers, both the young believers, as well as his fellow disciples. While this might be a commission just for Peter, I doubt the early church viewed it that way. Instead, every believer, when they have received forgiveness is entrusted with feeding, taking care of, and helping other believers. God trusts us with His people.

God hasn’t left us without help for this challenge. He has promised us the Holy Spirit, and as His people grew in number, we would have each other looking out for others with us. When everyone is looking out for one another, then we are all seeking each other’s best interests, and we are reflecting God’s character to the world around us.

As I describe this, it seems a little disheartening that I look out at the broad church that carries Jesus’ name and I don’t see this happening. There are plenty of positive examples of Christians looking out for each other, but all too often, we hear or read more about a Christian looking out for themselves, putting another person down, or trying to exert power or influence over another person.

Jesus stepped down into this world to lift other people up, and when we are genuinely reflecting Jesus, we will be stepping down to lift others up as well. God could have left the work of evangelism and helping others to the angels, but instead, He gives us the opportunity to join with Him and be a blessing to those He brings into our lives.

It is also significant to note that Jesus predicted Peter’s big denial. Jesus knew, and He told Peter, how Peter would deny Him three times before the morning came, and this happened exactly as Jesus described, regardless of how much Peter denied the possibility of that even occurring.

In the last portion of this conversation that we read, Jesus gives Peter another prediction about Peter’s life moving forward. Before inviting Peter to follow, Jesus tells him in verse 18, “Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” While this doesn’t sound like much of a prediction, John tells us that Jesus’ words describe how Peter would finish his life glorifying God.

Jesus knows our future, and He knows what will bring us safely into eternity. While we might not have as clear of a prediction as Peter that we will reach an age we would consider “old”, the promise we have is that Jesus knows our future and He is passionate about seeing us saved for eternity. We don’t know when our life on earth will end, or even what the circumstances surrounding our end will be, but we know that Jesus knows, and that while He has work for us to do in this world, He will keep us safe to do His work in this world.

God has called us to partner with Him to love and take care of others, and He knows our future. Jesus came to give His life to redeem us and we can trust that He is preparing a place for us to live with Him when His timing is right. Our challenge and our goal is living with and living for Jesus with every breath we are given!

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

Always seek God first in your life and trust that He will guide your steps into the life He wants you to live. Intentionally focus on lifting others up, on looking out for others, and on helping, loving, and serving where you are able to. Live a life that glorifies God by loving and helping sinners.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God. While learning from others is okay to do, never let your relationship with God be dependent on others. God wants a personal relationship with you, and a personal relationship is “personal”. Focus on growing closer to God each and every day.

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!

As we come to the end of Mark’s gospel, we will spend this episode, and the next one looking at the longer conclusion of Mark’s gospel. As I shared in our last episode, many people a lot smarter than me have significant doubts to Mark writing this conclusion. This is primarily because a different style of writing is used in this conclusion, the way this conclusion summarizes what happened using different theological content than the rest of Mark’s gospel, and because several significant early manuscripts do not include this ending. The footnotes in my New American Standard Bible conclude that “Mark’s gospel probably ends at chapter 16, verse 8, or the original ending has been lost”.

I had debated leaving this ending out of our podcasts, but decided against it because while there is debate over whether Mark included this conclusion in his original gospel, nothing included in it is contrary to Christianity or Christian belief. Also, I decided to include it because leaving off at the end of our last episode’s passage seems to leave Mark unfinished.

With that said, let’s read the first portion of Mark’s extended conclusion and discover what we can learn from this event. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 9, the author of this conclusion tells us:

⁹ Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.

¹² After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. ¹³ They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.

¹⁴ Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Let’s stop reading here and save the rest for our next episode. In these few verses, it is interesting that Mark does not include any “new” information. All three encounters included in this portion of the conclusion are found in other gospels. The first encounter Mark’s conclusion described was Jesus speaking to Mary first. This is interesting because only John’s gospel includes this detail. While Mark and John could include the same thing while Matthew and Luke focus on different details, it would be very abnormal since Mark shares the most content with Matthew and Luke while John is left with many unique details and many unique events.

Following describing that Jesus spoke with Mary first, this conclusion shifts focus and summarizes that Jesus then appeared to two disciples as they were walking to the country. This event is found in detail in Luke’s gospel, and while we don’t know which two disciples these were, they were traveling to the town of Emmaus.

Thirdly, this conclusion describes Jesus appearing to the eleven disciples. Since Judas Iscariot had committed suicide and the disciples had not replaced his position yet, this referenced meeting would have included Thomas. John’s gospel describes two appearances with the first appearance missing Thomas, while the second appearance Thomas is present for.

When reading the first part of this conclusion, I can understand why some scholars have doubts about what is included here. The big thing I notice is that unlike the rest of Mark’s gospel, which includes details, this conclusion seems to prompt us to read other gospels to discover the details of what happened. One theory about Mark’s gospel is that it was written first, and if this was the case, it logically wouldn’t gloss over events that should have details included. Every other event in Mark’s gospel is either included in detail or not included. Mark doesn’t summarize without giving details.

However, there is a big theme that we can discover in this first half of Mark’s extended conclusion, and this theme is worth paying attention to. In each of the sections, we see a theme repeating. After Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, she reports this to the disciples. Verse 11 describes the disciples’ response: “When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.”

Next, Jesus appeared to two unnamed disciples traveling to the country. Verse 13 describes the rest of the disciples’ response: “They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.”

Verse 14 then includes Jesus appearing to the group of eleven as they were together and we see the following challenge, “He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.”

In this first section of Mark’s extended conclusion, the big theme that we can see is the difficulty these disciples had believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead. While other gospel writers, Matthew specifically, describe the religious leaders believing but bribing the soldiers to lie about what happened, the people who should have been the ones who believed the most were the disciples, who Jesus repeatedly told He would be killed and then resurrected.

This first section of Mark’s conclusion also suggests that the disciples had a difficult time accepting that Jesus would appear to people outside of their close circle before He appeared to them as a group. While this is what happened, I can understand the difficulty they faced with this reality. If Jesus had returned to life, the first logical place for Him to appear would be to His group of followers.

However, I wonder if the disciples doubted because they realized they had failed Jesus several nights earlier. When the mob came to arrest Jesus, they all scattered and fled. I wonder if doubts were in their minds that said Jesus had given up on them because they had abandoned Jesus.

But these doubts are lies from Satan. While we fail God more frequently than many of us would want to admit, God does not give up on us. One big failure on the part of these disciples is that they were hiding away, having locked themselves in a secret room. The first followers to see Jesus were the ones who were outside of that room. I have a suspicion that Jesus had really wanted to get the disciples to come to the tomb early on the morning of His resurrection, and to witness what the guards experienced. However, instead of scattering like the guards did, the disciples would be present for one of the greatest events in history, and they would get to see Jesus resurrected and death defeated.

Instead, like we all seem to default to, the disciples doubted other people because they did not see or experience what happened first hand. We all can fall into this trap, but this trap is a lie from Satan. Jesus did step out of the grave victorious, and this means that Satan’s lies against God have been shown to be false. Jesus loved us so much that He willingly faced some of the worst torture sinful humanity has come up with in order to show us how much God loves us.

Jesus was willing to face the cross for you. Instead of doubting God’s love and Jesus’ gift, let’s place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus that His sacrifice is enough to cover our sins and give us 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 accept Him rather than doubt. When people share what Jesus has done for them, accept and celebrate their stories. Look forward with them to the day Jesus returns to take us home to be with Him forever.

Also, be sure to continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, we can open our hearts to God and we can learn to trust Him as we learn just how much He loves us. While skeptics like to point to challenging events in the Bible, God has revealed Himself to us through the Bible and the biggest theme we can find in the Bible is God’s love for us and His desire 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 doubt where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

It seems like such a long time ago since we began our year focusing on Jesus’ miracles. So much has happened, and we have discovered so much. At this point in our journey, according to most lists of miracles, we have just one miracle left to cover, and this miracle happens to be the only one that is recorded following Jesus’ resurrection and prior to His return to heaven.

This miracle is almost like a repeat miracle, because it is very similar to one of Jesus’ earlier miracles, though this second time around we discover some pretty amazing truths about Jesus’ character and His love for all of us.

After Jesus had been resurrected and had visited the disciples two times in the upper room, we learn that at least half of the disciples returned to Galilee, and while they were there, Jesus appeared to them again.

Let’s discover what happened, and the miracle that Jesus wanted to surprise His followers with. Our passage is found in the gospel of John, chapter 21, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: ² Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³ “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵ He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

⁶ He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

⁷ Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. ⁸ The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. ⁹ When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

In this passage and in this miracle, we remember the earlier miracle surrounding the first disciples and their official call into being disciples, or followers, of Jesus. Perhaps Peter and his fishing buddies had heard of Jesus or heard Him speak prior to their first personal encounter with Jesus as He asks to preach from their boat, but the foundation leading up to both the original miracle and this last miracle are the same. In both cases, the disciples had fished all night and caught nothing.

Following the original fishing miracle, Jesus invited Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be His disciples. From this point forward, these four men were among the closest and most well known of the group of disciples. Andrew, more than any other disciple, is portrayed as bringing individuals to Jesus, and the other three disciples formed Jesus’ inner circle of disciples.

Looking at this second fishing miracle, I wonder if these disciples were confused or discouraged. They had spent over three years with Jesus and had expected His kingdom to follow a certain path that the religious leaders had been describing the Messiah to walk for as long as they could remember. They knew Jesus was special and that Jesus was sent by God, but Jesus simply didn’t fit the role they were expecting.

Not only that, but Jesus also had died, and leading up to His death, they all had abandoned Him to the cross. According to the religious leaders, and the expectation of the disciples, the Messiah wouldn’t die and He would last forever. While they got the second part right, those in the first century missed the sacrificial portions of the scripture predicting Jesus’ death. Even the sanctuary service pointed forward to the death of the One God would send.

In this last official miracle, we discover a second chance. Part of me believes that these disciples believed they had failed God beyond what was forgivable. At the one point when Jesus needed them the most, they had run away. While things turned out well for Jesus, they likely wondered if Jesus would forgive them for what they had done. Peter was probably the most discouraged out of the group, because he had been the most vocal about staying by Jesus’ side, and he had fallen exactly like Jesus had predicted he would.

However, while the disciples may have given up hope of being the champions they believed Jesus wanted them to be, Jesus steps up with a surprise. Jesus comes to them and He repeats the miracle that prompted their first invitation. With this miracle, Jesus invites the disciples back into being His followers, and with this miracle, we discover a second chance for all of us.

When we fail God, and when we are tempted to believe that we have turned too far away from God for Him to be willing to take us back, remember that at least we didn’t reject Jesus leading up to the cross like His first followers did. And even with their rejection, Jesus invited them back. This means that no matter how far we have fallen away from God, He is willing to invite us back. No matter how badly we have messed up, while we have breath, we have been given the chance to return. Even if we think God no longer loves us, know that Jesus came to redeem sinners – and that includes whatever you feel you have done that isn’t forgivable. God wants to forgive you, and He is more than willing to invite you back into being one of His followers.

However, we have run out of time for this episode, so next week, leading up to our finale-wrap-up episodes, we’ll expand on where we have left off here, and focus in on probably the greatest miracle we have, which is a gift from God to us. Most people don’t realize the miraculous nature of this gift, and dedicating a whole episode to it seems like the best way to finish off our year of podcasting Jesus’ miracles.

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

Always remember to seek God first and when we mess up, don’t delay returning to Him. The worst thing we can do is to leave God when we feel we don’t deserve forgiveness. It is for people who don’t deserve forgiveness that Jesus came to give forgiveness to. Forgiveness is freely given to those who come back to God and acknowledge their sin and their need for a Savior.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God. While listening to others can be helpful, never let someone else’s experience or relationship with God get in the way of your personal relationship with God. A personal relationship with God is too important to let someone else into.

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

As we enter the final chapter in Mark’s gospel, we come to the biggest event in the entire Bible. However, the last chapter in Mark is significant for more reasons than simply because it describes the morning of Jesus’ resurrection and the women finding an empty tomb. Above all these things, the last chapter in Mark has controversy surrounding it because the oldest manuscripts we have don’t really conclude this gospel. Mark’s gospel is a gospel without an end.

However, this detail didn’t stop later writers from crafting an ending to Mark’s gospel, and most Bible’s today will include a long or a short ending. However, neither one of these endings are included in the oldest surviving manuscripts.

With this framing in mind, as we read and conclude our passage for this episode, the way our passage ends could be considered the end of Mark’s gospel. While our next two podcast episodes will explore details included in the longer conclusion to Mark’s gospel, there is significant evidence that this ending was added later and not by Mark himself.

But what isn’t contested is what Mark describes in our passage for this episode. So without any further delay, let’s read what Mark tells us happened on the morning Jesus was resurrected. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ The day after the Sabbath day, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought some sweet-smelling spices to put on Jesus’ body. ² Very early on that day, the first day of the week, soon after sunrise, the women were on their way to the tomb. ³ They said to each other, “Who will roll away for us the stone that covers the entrance of the tomb?”

⁴ Then the women looked and saw that the stone had already been rolled away, even though it was very large. ⁵ The women entered the tomb and saw a young man wearing a white robe and sitting on the right side, and they were afraid.

⁶ But the man said, “Don’t be afraid. You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who has been crucified. He has risen from the dead; he is not here. Look, here is the place they laid him. ⁷ Now go and tell his followers and Peter, ‘Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there as he told you before.’”

⁸ The women were confused and shaking with fear, so they left the tomb and ran away. They did not tell anyone about what happened, because they were afraid.

And that’s it. Everything after this last verse in our passage has more evidence against it being written by Mark than it has for it.

However, while Mark’s gospel may have ended here, or its original ending may have been lost, in this passage, we discover at least one woman, Mary Magdalene, show up at the tomb after she watched Jesus’ body be laid there. She wasn’t alone on her trip to the tomb, and from Mark’s description of this event, these women did not expect Jesus’ body to be gone, nor did they expect soldiers to be guarding the tomb.

From the details Mark shares, it would appear that these women knew that the men on Friday were rushed when getting Jesus’ body ready for the tomb, and they may have not thought Jesus’ body was prepared for burial as well as it could have been. Another idea is that they simply wanted to pay their last respects to Jesus because they didn’t have the opportunity on Friday before sunset.

Regardless of the reasoning, the last thing anyone expected was that the tomb would be empty. If the women had suspected an empty tomb, they wouldn’t have brought spices and they wouldn’t have wondered about how they were going to open the tomb to get to Jesus.

However, they arrive at the tomb, the soldiers they were not aware had been posted were gone, and the stone had been rolled away from the opening.

When reading events where angels appeared to people in the Bible, I’m always humored that the people involved are described as being afraid and the angels always seem to begin by saying “Don’t be afraid”.

However, the angel’s message to these women has a couple of interesting details.

First, in verse 6, the angel tells them, “You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who has been crucified. He has risen from the dead; he is not here. Look, here is the place they laid him.” This messenger knows exactly why they were there, but he basically says, you’ve come to the right place, but you’re too late. It is as though this messenger knew people would be coming, and he has been commissioned to tell them what happened and to remind them that this is what Jesus had predicted.

Also, in the angel’s message to these women, he gives them a commission. In verse 7, the angel continues by telling them, “Now go and tell his followers and Peter, ‘Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there as he told you before.’”

In my mind, it is powerful that the angel singles out Peter by name. Of all the disciples who abandoned Jesus, Peter may have felt the worst because not only did he abandon Jesus, but he also had denied Jesus the three times Jesus had predicted. Singling Peter out by name gives us hope that even when we mess up and fail God, He is willing to accept us back to Him when we are willing to return. This angel-messenger doesn’t speak poorly of Peter, or Peter’s decisions. Instead, this angel’s message is given to encourage not only all the disciples, but especially Peter as well.

Mark’s last words in this passage speak to how we are prone to failing as a race. While much of the gospel record gives us numerous examples of Jesus’ disciples failing Him, here we have one example of the women who were commissioned failing the task they were challenged to do. However, the failure doesn’t last forever, since other gospels describe how the women ultimately do tell the disciples the message, and how word gets out about Jesus’ miraculous resurrection.

As we have seen in our year of podcasting through Mark’s gospel, one of Mark’s big themes is God’s love for us. Even when we fail God, He never gives up on us! If you have felt as though you have failed God, don’t give up on God because He hasn’t given up on you. Instead, return to Him, ask for forgiveness, and restart your walk with God from a place where you are a little older and a little wiser than you were before. With God, we never restart our spiritual journeys at the same place, but every restart is further ahead than the last one as we continue walking through life towards 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 bring your lives, your challenges, and your heart to God and let Him use you for His glory. When life gets scary or confusing, don’t give up on God or on the mission He has placed before you. Instead, lean into God and trust that He will equip you with everything you need to fulfill the challenges He brings your way.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and become more of the person God has created you to be. Grow your personal relationship with God and don’t let anyone or anything get between you and God. Pastors, authors, speakers, podcasters, or even close friends can have great things to say, but always take what you hear and see and test it against the truth of God’s 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!