Reflective Bible Study

Continuing the theme we have been focusing on for the past few podcast episodes, we come to another passage where Jesus tries to warn His disciples about His upcoming death. However, this passage contains a unique detail in it which might shed light on why the disciples were so ignorant of Jesus’ repeated warnings.

Our passage for this episode is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read from the New International Version. Starting in verse 30, Mark tells us that:

³⁰ They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, ³¹ because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” ³² But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

³³ They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” ³⁴ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

³⁵ Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

³⁶ He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

In this passage, I find it interesting that Mark tells us that the disciples “did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it” when referring to Jesus teaching them and warning them about His upcoming death.

This teaches us that fear can stop us from asking the questions that God wants us to ask, and to push forward along the path God wants us to take.

However, why would the disciples be afraid to ask a simple question?

From what we have looked at so far, it seemed as though while Jesus stressed this warning and this prediction, the disciples remembered how Jesus challenged Peter when Peter challenged Jesus on this point. Jesus went so far as to call Peter Satan because of this lack of understanding. I wonder if some of the fear that the disciples had was because they didn’t want to be called out for not knowing or believing. This detail challenges us with the truth that pride in our lives can stop us from asking the questions God wants us to ask because we are afraid of what others might think of us.

We might be afraid because the question might sound inappropriate, because it reveals our ignorance or that we weren’t paying attention, or because we are simply scared of what the answer might be. Many things can stop us from asking the questions God wants us to ask, but we shouldn’t let fear control our journey with God!

This passage also hints at another reason the disciples did not understand Jesus’ clear warning about His upcoming death. When Jesus asks the disciples what they were arguing about while He was trying to teach them on the road while they were traveling earlier that day, the disciples refuse to answer because they knew they had argued about who was the greatest. While Jesus was trying to share with them what would happen soon, the disciples were too busy deciding who would take what place in the kingdom they believe Jesus would set up after overthrowing the Romans. The disciples had fame and status on their minds while Jesus was trying to teach them humility and that He would be crucified.

To help emphasize the point, Jesus called a child to Him and He uses this child as a clear visual illustration. Drawing our attention onto this point, remember that Jesus is in a home in Capernaum with His disciples. Remember also that Jesus doesn’t want everyone to know where He is because He wants more time to teach the disciples. This prompts the question: Where did this child come from?

Prior to reading this here, I had always pictured this event happening in a field, on a hill, or somewhere out in the open with crowds present. However, while there was at least one other time Jesus invited children to Him like that, in this passage and event, Jesus and the disciples were in a home with a closed door.

Two probable answers for this question come to mind. The first answer is that this child and his family had chosen to follow Jesus and they were included in the larger circle of disciples. One of the gospels mention a group of 72 followers of Jesus, and it is possible that this child was one of these followers, or that He was with his parents who were part of this larger group.

The other answer to this question about where the child came from is that the home Jesus was staying at might have had children in it. From other parts of the gospels, we can conclude that several of the disciples lived in Capernaum and we know that Peter was old enough to be married. If Jesus and the disciples were visiting Peter’s home, it is possible that this little child was Peter’s son or daughter.

However, while it may be fun to speculate about who the child is specifically, this detail is less relevant than who this child represents. While we can speculate about the details of this child, the bigger challenge is Jesus’ big idea: In order to be great in God’s eyes, we must welcome, help, and serve those who society believes are last.

While culture today seems to place an extraordinary focus on children, this was not the case in the first century. Prior to Christianity, children were seen as the lowest in society and in some cases, children were not even named until after a certain age because of high infant mortality and parents not wanting to get too attached.

Jesus’ challenge to His followers is to focus on service over status and look for ways to step down rather than step up. While many worldviews and religions stress the goals of stepping up, Jesus challenges His disciples to step down and serve. Stepping down is how we are seen as great in God’s eyes, and it is how we best represent Jesus.

When we welcome those who society has rejected, Jesus tells us we are not only welcoming Him too, but we are welcoming God, who looks down at this planet and sees all life as special and significant. Regardless of what culture tells you, in God’s eyes, you matter and regardless of what you might believe about yourself, Jesus came to redeem you from the punishment for your sins.

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 step down and serve those who society looks down on. Never believe yourself to be above another person, but instead, choose to see the world as a place God has placed you in so you can help, serve, and be a light of God’s love to those He brings your way. While everything in culture focuses on building oneself up, choose instead to focus on building others up while giving glory and credit to Jesus.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each day. While pastors, authors, speakers, or even a podcaster can share or challenge you with interesting thoughts, take everything you learn and test it against the truth in the Bible. God wants a personal relationship with us and a personal relationship is best grown through spending time together. God does not want our relationship with Him to be dependent on anyone else.

Instead, bring your questions, your concerns, and your fears directly to God and let Him help you walk through the challenges of this life with Him by your side.

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 be afraid of going where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue in the gospels looking at Jesus’ miracles, we now jump over into John’s gospel, and a miracle that only John chose to include. In this miracle, we discover something amazing about Jesus, about God, and we discover one possible reason why we may not see God’s help in our lives in a more visible way. In this unassuming but powerful passage, we can discover a clue to why we might not see many answered prayers in our lives.

Let’s read this miracle and focus in on what we can learn from what John tells us happened. Our passage is found in the gospel of John, chapter 5, and we will be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five colonnades. ³ Within these lay a large number of the sick—blind, lame, and paralyzed. [It is here that some translations add the last phrase of verse 3 and verse 4, which tells us that they were: —waiting for the moving of the water, ⁴ because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had].

After setting the stage in these first four verses, verse 5 begins sharing the details of our miracle:

⁵ One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the sick man answered, “I don’t have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk!” ^9a Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

Let’s stop reading here to focus on what we can learn from what has just happened. While we don’t know how many people were sick around the pool that day, from a simple reading of this event, we see Jesus enter this place where there was a high concentration of sick people, He heals one man, and then He leaves. We might even conclude that Jesus left every other sick person present without healing them since John doesn’t tell us Jesus healed anyone else.

When reading this event, and concluding that Jesus likely left everyone else in their sick, diseased, or disabled state, we don’t see a very “Christ-like” character. We expect Jesus and God to be loving, and isn’t the most loving thing Jesus could do in this situation was heal everyone present? Healing everyone is loving, but healing everyone does not show us an accurate picture of God.

While we don’t like to think about it, there are some times when God chooses not to heal someone instead of healing them. We cannot know all the answers to why this is, but we can trust that when we are able to see the big picture from God’s perspective, we will understand. Some people choose to discount God’s love or His existence because of this dilemma, but this dilemma only is unsolvable when we see this life as all there is to live.

As soon as we frame our world today as infected with sin, and God’s ultimate goal as saving as many people as possible from this sin while also clearly exposing sin for what it truly is so it will never reappear throughout eternity, we can begin to see why sin might be allowed to persist a little longer. God’s ultimate goal and long-term plan is to end this world that includes pain, disease, death, and sin in order to recreate it as perfect and sinless where it will be this way throughout eternity – and God wants to fill this newly recreated world with His redeemed people. If God ends history too soon, then sin may reappear later, which would be bad. Also, if God ends history too soon, then He may lose one or more people who could have been in heaven with Him. God wants as many people as possible in the new heaven and new earth, and He wants sin gone forever, never to reappear.

However, while this answers why God may not always answer our prayers, this event hints at another reason we never actually see answers to our prayers. This hint comes in the additional details setting the stage for this event, and from the formerly disabled man’s reply. In this event, we learned that periodically, and perhaps even somewhat randomly, an angel would stir the waters of this pool and the first sick person into this pool would be healed.

With how John describes this event, we can conclude that everyone at this pool was focused on getting in the water when it had been stirred. The focus of their hope was not on Jesus but on being healed by the pool. Only the man who had given up hope of ever reaching the pool experienced a visit from Jesus who came to heal him. This detail helps explain why Jesus didn’t heal everyone at this pool, and this detail also tells us why we might not see as many answers to our prayers as we would like.

If we choose to pray as a last resort, or if we choose to pray and then look for resolution for our prayers from sources other than God, we shouldn’t be surprised when we don’t see God answer our prayers. If we constantly look for help from places other than God, it’s only logical that we won’t see God helping much in our lives. However, if we pray and we know that God oftentimes works behind the scenes through the lives of other people and through what we might call coincidences, then we are able to see His hand moving in many more places than we first are able to realize. This is why it is easier to look back on our lives and see how God has lead us in the past than it is to recognize how He is leading us in the present.

God wants to answer our prayers, but He also wants us to give Him gratitude, thanks, and love for being our Provider. When we are grateful to God for everything He has done for us, and when we open our eyes to how He often works, we will begin to see answered prayers, blessings, and evidence for His existence everywhere.

While there’s more we could talk about in this event, let’s wait until our next episode to focus in on it. Until then, as we come to the end of this podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and decide today to live a life that is grateful towards God for everything that He is doing. If you struggle with how God could let evil persist in the world today, take this question to Him and let Him lead you to an answer. While I’ve shared some of what I’ve learned in this episode, I’m sure there is more to this answer than what we would have time to cover.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to personally grow closer to God each and every day. The closer you grow towards God, the more His character will rub off on your life and the better you will be at reflecting His love to the world around you. When we are reflecting God’s love in our world, we are living the best lives we can live in spite of the pain, sin, hurt, and hate that rages around us.

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

As we near the halfway point in our year focusing in on Mark’s gospel, we come to an event that leaves a significant impression on Jesus’ inner circle of disciples. I suspect that Peter, James, and John would remember this trip up the mountain with Jesus for the rest of their lives. It was on this short trip away from the rest of the disciples that Jesus showed them something really special.

Let’s read this passage and discover what happened. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 2, Mark tells us that:

² After six days Jesus took only Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone.

Jesus’ appearance changed in front of them. ³ His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them. ⁴ Then Elijah and Moses appeared to them and were talking with Jesus.

⁵ Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s put up three tents—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ (Peter didn’t know how to respond. He and the others were terrified.)

⁷ Then a cloud overshadowed them. A voice came out of the cloud and said, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

⁸ Suddenly, as they looked around, they saw no one with them but Jesus.

Pausing reading our passage for a moment, I feel a little sorry for Peter. Mark tells us that Peter spoke because it felt like the right thing to do but also that he really didn’t know how to respond. Reading this detail prompts me to think that Peter talked when he was nervous or scared, while James and John simply stayed quiet.

Reading this event and the reactions of these three disciples also prompts me to wonder what I would have done. Would I have said something, even though I had no idea what to say, or would I have remained speechless?

Knowing a little about myself, I probably would have remained speechless. I might have also paid close attention to what was being said. It is interesting in my mind that the two men who came to visit Jesus were two people who likely had become great friends with Jesus in heaven. Both Moses and Elijah would have spent hundreds of years in heaven with Jesus prior to Jesus’ coming to earth, and I wonder if they had been allowed to come visit one time to help encourage Jesus that He was on the right path.

This trip would have also been special for Moses, since this might have easily been the first time he set foot in the Promised Land. When we look at the Old Testament, Moses passed the leadership over to Joshua prior to his death and Moses did not get to enter the Promised Land. Instead, he only got to look at it from a distance. On this trip to visit Jesus, Moses would have been able to finally set foot in the land that God had promised Israel over a thousand years earlier.

It is also interesting that Elijah came to visit, and I wonder if Elijah’s presence is what prompted the disciples’ question we see on the trip down the mountain. Continuing in verse 9, Mark tells us:

⁹ On their way down the mountain, Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen. They were to wait until the Son of Man had come back to life. ¹⁰ They kept in mind what he said but argued among themselves what he meant by “come back to life.” ¹¹ So they asked him, “Don’t the experts in Moses’ Teachings say that Elijah must come first?”

¹² Jesus said to them, “Elijah is coming first and will put everything in order again. But in what sense was it written that the Son of Man must suffer a lot and be treated shamefully? ¹³ Indeed, I can guarantee that Elijah has come. Yet, people treated him as they pleased, as Scripture says about him.”

On this trip down the mountain, two things stood out to me in how Mark described this event. The first of these things is how Jesus tells these disciples to keep what they had seen a secret until after He had come back to life. It would seem that the three closest disciples didn’t fully grasp this simple message because Mark describes them arguing among themselves about what He meant by the phrase “come back to life”.

Remember that Mark describes this event happening after Peter had declared to Jesus and all the disciples his belief that Jesus was God’s Messiah, and also after Peter had openly challenged Jesus about the Messiah’s upcoming death. From this passage and some of the earlier passages we have focused in on, it seems like Peter was more set in his understanding the Messiah from the traditional, cultural view, and that he had a harder time breaking free from the preconceived ideas he had already formed in his mind about the role the Messiah would take. I wonder if some of this arguing was between Peter wondering if Jesus was being symbolic about His death, while James and/or John were seeing Jesus speaking more literally.

The other thing in this trip down the mountain that stood out in my mind is Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question about Elijah. First, Jesus restates the prophecy about Elijah’s coming, but before moving to tell them that Elijah already came, which other gospel writers who include this event allude to referring to John the Baptist, Mark includes a statement about Jesus suffering and being treated shamefully.

From the details in this passage, I suspect Jesus really wanted these closest disciples to ask for more details about His upcoming crucifixion. It would appear that since we don’t have a record of it here, and because the disciples, Peter especially, are shocked and scared when Jesus is arrested and ultimately crucified, that these three disciples missed the perfect opportunity to ask Jesus about what would happen the weekend of His death.

Jesus gives these disciples more openings than they could count to ask Him about what they saw and specifically about Jesus’ repeated warnings about His death and future resurrection. This is likely the same with us. Too often we are scared, timid, or overly cautious when sharing Jesus. While sometimes our fear is warranted, other times our fear is simply false evidence that our minds trick us into believing is very significant and very real.

Nowhere does Jesus promise His people an easy life free of problems here on this earth. Instead, Jesus tells us that we might add to our problems when we choose Him, but that choosing Him is the only way to survive past the problems of this life and past the sin in this world!

Jesus subtly reminds these disciples that He would suffer a lot and be treated shamefully, which are both subtle hints foreshadowing Jesus’ path to the cross, and as followers of Jesus, we shouldn’t be surprised if we are treated like Jesus was treated. However, when we side with Jesus, we get to experience Jesus’ resurrection, and accept the promise and gift of a new life with Him!

As we come to the end of this 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 side with Jesus regardless of what the world and culture thinks. Choose to push past your fear and ask the questions that need to be asked, listen when it is time to listen, and stand up for God when the world challenges your faith!

Also, build your faith on the truth about Jesus. Pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow personally closer to God each and every day, and never let your faith or spirituality be dependent on someone else.

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!

Coming immediately on the tail end of the miracle we read about in the last episode, we learn about another miracle that Jesus did, and this miracle both prompts the praise of those present, as well as the ridicule of the religious leaders. In three short verses, we discover an amazing miracle, the people taking notice, and the religious leaders immediately discounting the divine nature of Jesus’ power.

Let’s read what happened then dive into what we can learn that is both interesting and applicable for our lives today. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will be reading from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 32, Matthew tells us that:

³² As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. ³³ After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

When reading this miracle, one of the first things that stand out in my mind was that in most of the previous demon-possessed miracles, the evil spirits scream or cry out about Jesus being God’s Son or that they know who He is. However, this miracle is different, because this demon apparently caused muteness.

Perhaps the Pharisees saw this as an opportunity to claim what they decided to claim, namely that Jesus is simply one demon casting out another demon using Satan’s own power. After all, this claim only works if there isn’t a counterclaim being made. Imagine for a moment that the demon coming out of the man claims that Jesus is God’s Son, as many of the other ones had done, and the Pharisees respond by claiming Jesus is just another demon. In an odd twist, we’d be forced to logically side with the demons in their claim because the Pharisees claim would be less believable.

This scenario would be like a person named Bob telling you he is mortal enemies with a guy named Sam, while Bill standing in the corner counters with the claim that Bob and Sam aren’t enemies, but brothers.

In this situation, we’d be better off trusting the claim of those involved and rejecting the third party unless the third party has some strong evidence to back their claim up. In the case of Jesus verses the demons versus the Pharisees, the most logical conclusion is to accept that in this one instance, the demons may actually be truthful.

While Jesus doesn’t respond directly to the Pharisee’s challenge in this passage, they do make the claim again, and at that point Jesus does respond. While I haven’t looked ahead at our schedule yet, I’m pretty sure that event is coming up.

However, what does this mean for us living today?

In my own mind, this event challenges me to check my own motives when I want to claim someone or something is leading people towards God or away from Him. While there are clear examples of each, a gray area does exist where it is difficult to decide on. The example of a gray area is if we see someone who is believing one truth about God and one lie about God leading others to also believe the one truth and one lie. Is this person helping others, or harming them? Sure the new believer is being helped because of the truth, but the lie is not helpful, and, depending on the person and situation, if the lie is exposed as false, will that also negatively affect the close truth, leading to the newly converted person rejecting both?

I honestly don’t believe anyone aside from Jesus knows 100% of the truth, but I also know that the more certain we are about a specific belief, the more closed-minded we can become. I am very likely guilty of being closed-minded on certain subjects as well. Being closed-minded isn’t an issue if the belief is the truth, but when we cannot say we are 100% certain of all truth, then it would be better to remain open-minded, because God is more than willing to teach those who come to Him to learn His truth.

I will be the first to not judge anyone for bringing others to Jesus while believing both truths and lies. There are likely those who believe me to be an example of one such person. In this regard, I am happy to let God judge and sort out the details. However, I am also well aware that there are dangers in following anything other than the Bible. History has proved repeatedly that when the Bible is filtered through anything else, people are deceived and they give up on God’s truth. This is why I try to let the Bible teach as much as possible in these podcast episodes, and these blog posts and podcast episodes actually are ways I challenge myself to let the Bible teach me personally.

Tradition is only as good as it is grounded in scriptures. If a traditional belief or idea counters what the Bible teaches, then we must discard the tradition in favor of the Bible in order to have a clear conscience. The Pharisees were blinded to seeing who Jesus was because they had placed their traditional understanding of the scriptures ahead of a clear reading of it – and because they rejected Jesus in favor of their traditions, they couldn’t help but claim that Jesus was using Satanic forces to heal others rather than using God’s power. If they admitted Jesus was from God, then they would have incriminated themselves for rejecting Him.

The same thing can happen to us today if we filter our reading of the Bible through our tradition. If we only read the Bible looking through the lens of our tradition, we will miss, ignore, discount, or simply reject scriptures that teach the opposite. Those less trapped by tradition in this passage stood in wonder and amazement, saying in verse 33, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel”. These people were less focused on keeping tradition and more focused on paying attention to what God was doing through Jesus right in front of them.

Almost every tradition has roots in some scattered scriptural references. Many of today’s traditions began because of cultural pressure and compromise. Ultimately, traditions are never corrected because of pride. When rejecting a tradition in favor of a Biblical truth, expect pressure from others. Following tradition is easy, but tradition caused the people who should have recognized Jesus, namely the religious leaders who knew the prophecies and the scriptures the best, to reject Him instead. Tradition threatens us in the same way today when we don’t remain grounded in God’s Word!

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

Always seek God first and choose to focus on letting God’s Word be your filter for life. Intentionally push back against tradition until you are 100% certain it is Biblically centered. If there is even 1 verse or passage that does not support a tradition, then you cannot be 100% certain of it.

Also, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself in order to let the Bible be your guide and your compass. While other people can give you ideas to think about, their ideas are only as good as they align with what the Bible teaches. Ideas that run counter to the Bible are worthless from the perspective of eternity. As always, let the Bible be your guide and your filter for life.

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