Reflective Bible Study

As we continue through the gospels looking at Jesus’ miracles, we come to a miracle that comes with an object lesson, and while this object lesson is not pleasant to thinking about, it is something that is very relevant to our mission in the world today.

During the first century, the culture had developed the belief that those who were sick, injured, disabled, or hurting was because of their sin, or the sin of their parents. Those holding to this belief had several Old Testament texts that they used to support this idea, but while the texts are accurate, as we will soon discover, the error of those holding this belief was thinking that this belief covered every situation.

Let’s read what happened, and discover what Jesus wanted to teach His disciples. Our miracle for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read it from the New Living Translation of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. ² “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

³ “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. ⁴ We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. ⁵ But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. ⁷ He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!

⁸ His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!”

But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”

¹⁰ They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”

¹¹ He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”

While the event continues for a good portion of the rest of the chapter, this is a good place to jump out of it. Evidently, this miracle happened on the Sabbath, and while we could continue reading and focus on that big theme, we’d run out of time before being able to focus on a few verses near the beginning of this event that stand out even more in my mind.

It is possible Jesus wanted to do this miracle to tick the religious leaders off because it was the Sabbath, but that thought doesn’t match how this event opens. Instead, this passage opens with Jesus and the disciples spotting a blind man begging on the side of the road. While it is logical to think Jesus had already decided to heal him, the question the disciples ask Jesus is very profound when we think about it.

The disciples ask Jesus why this man was born blind. The two options in their minds, which also reflected the minds of those in first century Jewish culture, was that this was because of sins that were either committed by a previous generation, such as his parents or grandparents, or because he had some serious sin present in his life. The last option doesn’t make much sense, because usually the punishment for a sin comes after the sin itself, and this punishment seemed to come before a sin could have even been committed, but this doesn’t exclude it as an option in the minds of those in the first century.

However, while the culture only allowed for two options, Jesus opens the door for a third. As we will soon see, we should openly desire a third option, because the two options present in that culture wouldn’t have allowed Jesus to work any miracles, and those two options would actually keep us from helping others while living within God’s will.

While it sounds crazy to think about, imagine for a moment that a parent is punishing a child for doing something wrong, and as a punishment, the parent takes the child’s favorite toy away. If the child had a friend with the same toy, and the child’s friend chose to give the toy to the child, how would this friend be seen in the eyes of the parent punishing the child? In essence, the parent is trying to punish, but the child’s friend is cancelling the parent’s efforts.

Let’s translate this into first century culture, and into the idea that they had about God. Those in the first century believed that injury, illness, and similar situations were God’s punishment for sin. If this was the case, then every time Jesus healed someone, He broke God’s will that that person deserved to be punished, and it makes Jesus’ ministry oppose God.

However, this is unfortunately what many Christian’s believe. Many Christians see God the Father as a mean God looking for reasons and ways to punish people for their sins, while Jesus is holding the Father back or cancelling the Father’s efforts in certain cases. This doesn’t sound like a unified picture of God or a pleasant picture of heaven.

Luckily, Jesus gives us a different frame of mind to view illness, injury, struggle, and disability: Jesus gives us the frame that shows us it is an opportunity to see God’s power in a person’s life. When bad happens in our lives, Jesus doesn’t say that sin is never the cause, but Jesus opens the door to the option that the bad that happens is not God’s punishment.

Jesus’ third option opens the door for us to be a blessing to others. If God is punishing someone for their sin, we would be unwise to get in the way of that punishment. However, what if the bad that happens is God sending an opportunity for His people to step in and help, and an opportunity for God to be praised through the good that happened in spite of the bad situation? If this is the case, then as Christians, when bad happens, we are to see this as God giving us an opportunity to get involved and challenging us to make a positive difference.

The same is true in our own lives. When we think about our testimony, rarely if ever do we discover our testimony comes out of our triumphs and successes. More often than not, our testimony comes out of our trials in life, and how God brought us through the trials and into a closer relationship with Him. When we let God lead us through the trials, we find that we come out the other side with a testimony. Our testimony is a blessing and it is given so we can be a light in a dark world.

Jesus warned His disciples that the night was coming when no one can work. Jesus tells us that while He is present, He is the light of the world. While Jesus could be saying that the night began when He returned to heaven, I have a suspicion that since we as believers are together called the “body of Christ”, we are to consider the night as still coming. While we can be a blessing to others, we should be a blessing, because the night is coming when we won’t be able to work.

Let’s together demonstrate God’s love, His power, and His compassion to a world that believes God hates them. God doesn’t hate us. Jesus came to redeem us from the curse and punishment of sin.

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

Always seek God first and place Him first in your life. Understand and recognize that God the Father loves you and that He has called you, me, and all believers to be a blessing to others. Don’t see the bad that happens as God punishing, but instead see the bad as an opportunity or a wakeup call from God to start living within His will – whether that means changing something within our lives, or whether it means stepping out and helping someone else in need.

Also, keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, discover, and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, we grow our relationship with God and we learn from Him what He wants for our lives.

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 choose a path that walks away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As the religious leaders bring Jesus a set of challenges in what appears to be a last attempt to discredit His ministry, we discover in Mark’s gospel, a strange ending to this string of questions. However, it is likely that Mark summarized the conclusion of this event while other gospel writers include more detail.

During the last challenge that Jesus was given, we find the question appear surprisingly simple when compared with the earlier challenges. However, I wonder if this question was leading somewhere, and Jesus ultimately cut this train of questioning short.

After Jesus had been challenged by the Sadducees, a religious leader who heard what Jesus was saying decides to step in with a question of his own. Let’s read about what happened and discover what we can learn from this event.

Our event and passage are found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 12, and for our time together, let’s read it from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 28, Mark tells us that:

²⁸ One of the teachers of the law came and heard the Sadducees arguing. He noticed that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer. So he asked him, “Which is the most important of all the commandments?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “Here is the most important one. Moses said, ‘Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ And here is the second one. ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ There is no commandment more important than these.”

³² “You have spoken well, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one. There is no other God but him. ³³ To love God with all your heart and mind and strength is very important. So is loving your neighbor as you love yourself. These things are more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴ Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely. He said to him, “You are not far from God’s kingdom.” From then on, no one dared to ask Jesus any more questions.

In this event, and from looking at all the trick questions Jesus had faced and avoided leading up to this point, it seems like this question was an easy one for Jesus. From looking at the other gospels and how they paint the big picture of Jesus’ life and ministry, I don’t believe this was the first time Jesus had been asked this question.

However, in this brief conversation, Jesus hints at something significant being necessary in order to gain entrance into God’s kingdom. In the summary that the religious leader shares with Jesus, he gives a compliment to Jesus for a well-summarized response. This religious leader also rightly concludes that loving God with all your heart, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as you love yourself are more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. From this summary, we see that this religious leader believed love and dedication to God and love and kindness to his neighbor are more important than the entire sacrificial system that was set up.

Seeing that this leader had also responded well, Jesus compliments him by telling him, “You are not far from God’s kingdom.”

In Jesus’ response to this religious leader, we discover something fascinating. Loving God with all our heart is one piece of the key needed to enter God’s kingdom. Another piece of this key is loving our neighbors as ourselves. However, being “not far from God’s kingdom” implies that you are close but still not in it.

With all the laws being summarized in these two commands related to love, what piece of the key into God’s kingdom is missing in this man’s response, in this idea, or in this man’s life that He still needs to discover?

As I look at what Jesus hints at in this conversation, the only thing I can see missing in this summary is a Savior.

This religious leader had rightly concluded that love is at the heart of God’s law, and loving God and loving others is the filter that we must view God’s law through. However, in this leader’s conclusion, there wasn’t any room for those who had broken the law. While this summary of the law is amazing, no-one alive at that point in time, or at any point in history other than Jesus fully exemplified this understanding of the law 100% of the time.

The punishment for breaking the law is death. We could logically understand then that the punishment for not loving God with all our heart and for not loving our neighbors is death. Everyone fails at this standard, and because of this, the closest we can come to God’s kingdom on our own is about as close as this religious leader, which happens to be close to God’s kingdom, but not actually in it.

Verse 34 records Jesus’ response to this religious leader: “Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely. He said to him, ‘You are not far from God’s kingdom.’”

This religious leader needed a Savior. This leader, like all of us living throughout history, needs a Savior because we all have failed Jesus’ standard of love for God and love for our neighbor. Jesus came to be that Savior. In the context of the pieces of the key needed for entrance into God’s kingdom, the missing piece is Jesus as our Savior. With love for God, love for our neighbor, and Jesus as our Savior, we are able to step into God’s kingdom and into the life He created us to live!

While Jesus doesn’t emphasize the need for a Savior to this religious leader, Jesus’ disciples make it very clear after Jesus was resurrected and returned to heaven that Jesus was the Messiah that the Old Testament prophets told them about. Jesus’ disciples take the message of Jesus and they emphasize that we are to love God with all our hearts and our minds, that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and that we are to place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for our sins!

Without Jesus, our faith is meaningless. With Jesus, our faith leads us into 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 place your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for your sins. Choose to accept the gift Jesus offers you and accept the eternal life He deserved while He paid the debt that we owed.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Discover in the pages of the Bible a God who is deeply in love with you and who is passionate about saving you for eternity. Don’t let anyone get in the way of you discovering this God for yourself and for growing a personal relationship with Him!

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

As we move through this year looking at the miracles of Jesus, we come to a very unique, one of a kind, miracle. This miracle is the only one that Jesus ever did that holds this specific characteristic. While many of Jesus’ miracles are included in multiple gospels, and while some of the miracles are reserved for only John’s gospel, Matthew’s gospel, or Luke’s gospel, only one miracle is exclusive to Mark’s gospel. I don’t know why Matthew and/or Luke chose not to include this miracle, while Mark did, but when we read about what happened, we discover something powerful about Jesus’ miracle working ability, and through this miracle, we learn about faith in Jesus.

Let’s read this miracle, then dive into what we can learn from what happened. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 8, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 22, Mark tells us that:

²² They came to Bethsaida, where some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch him. ²³ Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. After spitting on the man’s eyes, Jesus placed his hands on him and asked him, “Can you see anything?”

²⁴ The man looked up and said, “Yes, I can see people, but they look like trees walking around.”

²⁵ Jesus again placed his hands on the man’s eyes. This time the man looked intently, his eyesight returned, and he saw everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus then sent him home with the order, “Don’t go back into the village.”

On the surface, this passage contains a pretty routine miracle, except for the detail that it appeared as though Jesus did not get the healing right the first time. In a strange turn of events, Jesus has to redo the miracle for it to work fully.

Why might this have been? In my own mind, we can discover the answer by stepping back through this miracle and the details that were shared leading up to Jesus being alone with this man. We discover the answer and a powerful insight when we ask the question: Where is faith displayed in this event?

The first place we see faith in this passage is with the people in the village. While these people probably want the blind man to be healed, they are probably more interested in simply seeing a miracle than they are in the actual wellbeing of the man himself. Those present likely wanted one more reason to praise Jesus as a person, and it is less likely they were the sort of people who would have praised God. It may even be possible that these people disliked God, because of what they saw displayed in the lives and attitudes of the religious leaders, but they liked Jesus.

However, Jesus came to give praise and glory to God, and Jesus came to show us what God the Father is like. Jesus is not interested in receiving the praise of these people. So Jesus takes the man outside of town, and away from the faith of this group of people.

At this point in the event, we have Jesus, the blind man, and perhaps the disciples outside of the village. We only can assume the disciples are present because we know the details of what happened, but other than this, we are given a picture that contains simply Jesus and the blind man.

With these two people present, where is faith displayed?

In Jesus’ case, He has all the faith He needs, but He also doesn’t want to force His will on people. Jesus loves each of us and while He wants to save us, He is also mature enough to know that there will be those who reject Him. Because of this, it is unlikely that Jesus uses His measure of faith in this miracle.

This leaves us with the blind man and his faith. We don’t know much about this man but since the man had an idea of what trees looked like, it is possible that he wasn’t born blind, but instead became blind through some injury, illness, or situation. It is also possible that this man had tried anything and everything he could to heal his blindness.

When Jesus steps onto the scene, and rumors spread about His ability to heal people, this man likely gets a sliver of hope, but he has experienced getting his hopes dashed enough times that he doesn’t want to put too much faith in Jesus’ ability.

In this passage, we discover that other people bring the man to Jesus, and this could be because he had reservations about going to Jesus himself. When Jesus pulls him away from the crowd, the man may have even thought that Jesus wanted to let him know privately that He could not heal him, while saving face with those who believed Him to be a miracle worker.

There is a lot in this passage to suggest that the man did not have much faith in Jesus’ miracle working ability, but there was a sliver of hope present. After spitting on the man’s eyes, Jesus asks him in verse 23, “Can you see anything?”

Verse 24 tells us that “The man looked up and said, ‘Yes, I can see people, but they look like trees walking around.’”

In this verse, we see the man look up, but not much had improved. Perhaps the man was so doubtful that he hadn’t expected anything to happen because he was afraid of getting his hopes dashed again. But with Jesus, a small sliver of hope and faith broke through in this partial miracle. The man experienced a change greater than what he had expected. Jesus had taken the tiny, mustard-seed-sized faith the man had and turned it into more than the man thought possible.

But Jesus wasn’t finished yet, Jesus wanted the man to regain all his eyesight. So Jesus repeats the miracle, but this second time, we see a different response from the man. Verse 25 tells us that, “This time the man looked intently, his eyesight returned, and he saw everything clearly”.

With the second miracle, we see the man displaying greater faith. After seeing a sliver of improvement, the man is ready to let his hope and faith loose. After the second time Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, Mark tells us that the man “looked intently”. This was the look of faith, and it was the look of expectation. With this second take of the miracle, the man wanted and believed that healing was possible – and his faith in Jesus healed him.

While Jesus could have brought the man back into the village, Jesus knew the man did not live there. So Jesus sends the man home, telling him to go a different way, because Jesus knows the man will praise and give God thanks, and Jesus isn’t interested and He doesn’t need the crowd’s praise.

In this unique-to-Mark’s gospel miracle, we see the amazing truth that our answers to prayer will likely be relative to the faith we have. If we have a visible faith that actively moves towards our prayers, it is likely that we will ultimately receive answers. But if our faith is weak or non-existent, and we pray without any visible movement, then it is possible our prayers will be weak and/or remain unanswered.

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

Always seek God first and intentionally make your faith in God visible. Don’t shy away from sharing why you have hope in a world full of chaos, and give God the credit for everything He has done for you leading you towards salvation and eternal life.

Also, be sure to intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself, learning from the best source we have about what God is like. I once heard someone say that God is good but He isn’t safe. I can understand this idea, but is it in the Bible? When faced with challenges, ideas, or thoughts to ponder, take these thoughts to the Bible and let God’s Holy Spirit help you discover the answers for yourself.

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 continue reading Mark’s gospel, and while we are looking at how Mark leads up to Jesus facing the cross, we come to a parable Mark includes that challenged the religious leaders in a very clear way. However, before thinking that we are off the hook with this parable being given back then, this parable also has a strong challenge for us living today as well.

Let’s read what happened, before unpacking why I believe this parable is just as relevant today as it was in the first century. This parable and our passage are found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 12, and for our time together, we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1:

¹ Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: “Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip. ² When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. ³ The tenants grabbed the slave, beat him, and sent him back without a thing. ⁴ Then the owner sent another slave; the tenants beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ The owner sent another slave, and they killed him; and they treated many others the same way, beating some and killing others. ⁶ The only one left to send was the man’s own dear son. Last of all, then, he sent his son to the tenants. ‘I am sure they will respect my son,’ he said. ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the owner’s son. Come on, let’s kill him, and his property will be ours!’ ⁸ So they grabbed the son and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?” asked Jesus. “He will come and kill those tenants and turn the vineyard over to others. ¹⁰ Surely you have read this scripture?

‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
    turned out to be the most important of all.
¹¹ This was done by the Lord;
    what a wonderful sight it is!’”

¹² The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

In this parable, Jesus gives a strong message against those living in the first century. In this parable, we see messenger after messenger coming to ask for the owner’s share of the harvest, but the tenants outright refuse all requests. The owner lastly sends his own son hoping and believing that the tenants would accept him. However, the tenants believe that killing the owner’s son would then mean that the property would become theirs.

But when we logically summarize this parable, these evil tenants are not thinking rationally. These tenants have a strictly inward focus and they have lost sight of what they were hired to do. While it is possible that the vineyard would become the owner’s sons when the owner passed away, there is no guarantee that this would be the case. The owner could sell the land off and leave money for his son instead.

Part of me also wonders if the tenants believed the owner to have died already and that the son was now the rightful owner. While not accurate at all, it could explain why the tenants decide to kill the son and believe that they would then inherit the land they were actually only hired to manage.

But the thought process these tenants have is not rational or logical. It does not make sense in my mind that killing someone’s child would make them like you or want to keep you around. If jail wasn’t in the picture for someone today who murdered another person, it would be illogical for an employer to keep an employee hired after the employee had killed the employer’s child. Nothing these evil tenants do in this parable makes them worthy of staying hired.

After sharing the parable portion, Jesus attaches this parable to an Old Testament scripture that wasn’t written as a prophecy, but was turned into a prophecy that symbolized Jesus’ ministry. The stone that had been set aside as the corner stone those building Solomon’s temple believed to be worthless. However, when they reexamined their plans, they realized it was the most important stone of all.

In the exact same way, Jesus, who many of those in the first century believed was worthless and a nuisance, turned out to be the most important Person in history. Most of the religious leaders in the first century rejected Jesus and plotted His death. The first century Jews rejected Jesus and they rejected Jesus’ followers after Jesus returned to heaven. The first century Jews rejected the One who is the most important of all like the builders of Solomon’s temple rejected the stone that had been cut as the cornerstone.

When we look at Jesus’ parable, it is easy for us to look back and conclude that this parable represents the Jewish nation over the generations. God had sent prophet after prophet and messenger after messenger to help lead the people back to Him, but these prophets and messengers were killed, abused, and rejected by the Jewish leaders at the time God sent them. Since this parable concludes with the owner sending his own son, it is tempting to conclude that this parable was only for the Jews. However, this would be a mistake.

The big conclusion in this parable and the transition statement Jesus makes emphasizes a more lasting truth. In verse 9, Jesus asks and answers the question: “What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?” He will come and kill those tenants and turn the vineyard over to others.” This is because the tenants refused to return His portion of the harvest to Him.

In this parable, there is no indication that the next tenants would be any better. All it says is that the current tenants were evil. It is very reasonable in my mind to conclude that another set of tenants, if they turned out to be evil as well would be rejected and a third, forth, or even fifth set of tenants would be chosen. I suspect that this could continue forward until the owner actually found tenants who were both responsible and mature.

While I’d hope the owner of the vineyard ultimately finds tenants that are not evil and tenants who return His portion of the harvest to Him, looking at the history of the Christian church doesn’t paint a great looking picture.

However, the key in this parable and in the prophecy Jesus points back to, is how we respond to the messengers God sends our way and what we do with God’s Son Jesus. Will we stay focused on Jesus and pay attention to the messengers God sends? Will we return God a portion of what He has blessed us with? This is what we are challenged to do in this parable, prophecy, and promise.

While the first century religious leaders rejected the owner’s Son Jesus, we don’t have to. While the Jewish people rejected God’s messengers throughout the years leading up to Jesus, we don’t have to reject those messengers or any current messenger God sends our way. The messengers that God sends our way today will all have one set of things in common: The messengers God sends will point people back to what Jesus did on the cross for us, they will amplify what the Bible teaches us about God, they will call us to repent and rededicate our lives to God, and they will remind us to look forward to Jesus’ return.

This is the role of God’s messengers today. God’s messengers lift God up and they don’t seek their own fame or glory. God’s messengers give God the glory. God’s messengers have their focus fixed on living 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 pay attention to what He is doing in the world today. When God sends us messengers, pay attention and let the presence of a messenger prompt us to return to God. Even if false messengers come, take the opportunity to open your Bible and rediscover what God teaches us in and through His Word.

This is why I always also challenge you to pray and study the Bible for yourself. Only by praying and studying the Bible for yourself will you discover what the Bible really teaches. When eternity is at stake, the most dangerous thing you can do is assume truth based on what someone else has said or done. Don’t let anyone else filter the Bible for you. Study the Bible in prayer personally and discover what God wants to teach you about Himself in your life today!

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