Reflective Bible Study

Our passage in this post discusses how Jesus separates humanity into the two groups at the judgment. As I read this passage and what Jesus shares, the big idea for this entry is that the key distinction between these two groups is clearly defined.

The key distinction, and really the way we are able to show love to God is by showing love and compassion towards people who are unable to help us in return. Helping others who cannot help us in return is like us helping God.

The fascinating thing about this is that it is so simple. Helping a beggar or homeless person at the intersection, volunteering at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen, and/or sponsoring a child in a third-world country are all ways that we are able to “help God”.

Typical “religion” never seems to make things this simple – but Jesus does. It’s also so attainable, because wherever we are in life, we can find people who we can help who cannot help us in return. It just takes open eyes and a willing spirit.

The skeptical part of me wants to push back on help because I may be “enabling” the individual I am “helping” to not better themselves. If they conclude that it is easier to simply live off of the generosity of others instead of bouncing back into productive members of society, I have actually hurt them instead of helped them.

The big problem with the skeptic part of me is that it shifts the focus off of me. Instead of asking “What can I do to help?” I am really asking “What are the reasons I shouldn’t help?”

Jesus doesn’t call us to selectively help; He calls us to help because it’s what He would do. Jesus doesn’t call us to “size up” someone who appears to need help; He calls us to help because it’s what He did. Jesus came and helped us when we were in open rebellion towards Him – while we were still sinners – and it didn’t matter to Him whether we would accept or abuse His gift. Is my focus on being like Jesus, or on making excuses to not be like Jesus?

Sometimes I wonder if there was anything Jesus did that did not fulfill an Old Testament prophecy in some way. Scattered throughout Matthew’s gospel are dozens of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled and one of the most Messianic prophecies for Jesus to fulfill comes about one week before His crucifixion.

Matthew draws our attention to the importance of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a colt by connecting this event with one of Zechariah’s prophecies which says,

“Tell the people of Jerusalem,
    ‘Your king is coming to you.
He is gentle and riding on a donkey,
    on the colt of a donkey.’” (v. 5 [Zechariah 9:9])

Of all the prophecies included in the Old Testament, this one is among the most connected to the Messiah, and the significance of it would have been clear to almost everyone present. It probably was also noticed by the religious leaders, who may have taken it to mean that Jesus wanted to claim the role of Messiah even if they didn’t believe Him to be worthy of the title.

But if we look at this prophecy a little more closely, it perfectly describes Jesus. This prophecy says that Jesus is a king who is gentle. In that culture, and really in most cultures throughout history, the role of king has not been connected or associated with the characteristic of gentleness. Typically when we think of king, we think bold, dominant, formal, official, and perhaps even unapproachable.

But Jesus, while representing God, chose to come onto the scene in a way that was not bold, not dominant, not formal or official, and in about the most approachable way possible. Jesus came to demonstrate what the King of the universe truly is like and specifically that He is a different sort of King than what we might expect.

For those of us who have ever wanted a concise list of the Holy Spirit’s job description, Jesus shares some things that John records for us in several verses during a conversation Jesus has with the disciples on the night He was arrested. In this list, Jesus describes several things that the Holy Spirit will do when He comes, and some of these things may surprise you.

Jesus first gives a brief three part overview of the Holy Spirit’s role. Jesus describes what the Holy Spirit does by saying, “he will prove to the people of the world the truth about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment.” (v. 8)

However, before allowing us to be confused about any of these three tasks, Jesus explains each task briefly by saying, “He will prove to them that sin is not believing in me. He will prove to them that being right with God comes from my going to the Father and not being seen anymore. And the Helper will prove to them that judgment happened when the ruler of this world was judged.” (v. 9-11)

Each of these three descriptions is startling when we think about it. Not believing in Jesus is sin. I wonder if this may be connected with the infamous “unpardonable sin”. I don’t mean to say that unbelief at any point in our life causes us to miss out on salvation, but if we don’t believe at the point our life ends, then we ultimately end up dying in our sin. This makes unbelief the most serious sin that one could ever commit.

Jesus also describes the Holy Spirit proving to us that the only way we can be right with God is through Jesus returning to God. Other parts of the Bible describe Jesus as our “Intercessor” or our representative. Jesus is like a lawyer who is working on our behalf in the courtroom of Heaven. If He were not there, we would be defenseless against the accusations Satan would bring before God.

The third thing Jesus emphasizes about the Holy Spirit is that He will prove to God’s people that the judgment happened when the ruler of this world was judged. Jesus says this in the past tense, and this is prior to the cross. This means that either Jesus is speaking about the past from a future perspective (a little tricky to prove or wrap our minds around), or Jesus is saying that Satan was judged at some point in the past. If we are looking at history before the cross for a point when Satan could have been judged, we could see that it might be either when he was kicked out of heaven, or when God cursed him (the serpent) following the fall of humanity.

Regardless of when that judgment happened, Satan has been judged and found guilty. But before God executes Satan’s punishment, history and sin must play out to determine who else is found guilty of death. This includes everyone, but Jesus opened the way to be saved through His sacrifice, through His work as our representative in heaven, and through our accepting His gift by believing and trusting in Him.

The focus passage we are looking at today can be approached several (primarily two) different ways: we can approach this illustration as though it contains details to a much bigger theological discussion on the nature of death, or we can approach this illustration looking for the lesson only and leaving the details of the illustration as just the setting of a story. In this post, we will choose to approach the passage the second way, looking for truth and a lesson we can learn from this passage. We’ll leave the “details” side of the discussion for another time.

With that foundation laid, one really big lesson/truth stood out to me as I studied this passage. Summed up to a simple phrase it is this: A good life on earth does not guarantee a good “afterlife”.

In this illustration, Jesus flips an idea the Pharisees had upside down. The Pharisees believed that God’s favor rested on those who He had blessed with wealth. The wealthier one was to them, the closer they must be to God and His favor.

Jesus comes along and shares this illustration as a way of turning this idea around. What matters in the end, according to Jesus, is not what someone has earned, but instead how they treat others – specifically others who are not as well off as they are. God looks down on the world and He loves everyone, from those who are successful to those who are hurting as well.

The crowd who was listening was full of people who would have been much better off than a beggar with a disease. This illustration is less about the hurting man and more about the one who could help. The big problem we all face, both us today as well as those listening to Jesus, is that the “richer” and more successful we become, the less generous, compassionate, and approachable we are tempted to get. Our temptation, which is rooted in pride, says that because my balance sheet has a bigger black number on it, I must be better than you. This couldn’t be any further from the truth, but that doesn’t keep it from being a temptation.

It gets even worse than this, because mixed in with this temptation is a subtler temptation that wants to pull my trust away from Jesus/God and place it on my stuff, my success, and/or my wealth – basically on my own mind, ability, and track record of achievement. The Pharisees in Jesus time were falling for these two temptations, and these temptations were keeping them from being open to Jesus speaking truth in their lives.

Pride keeps people from being open to learning new things. Pride closes people’s minds to God’s truth. Pride kept the Pharisees in Jesus’ day from seeing the deeper truth that their success and status in this life was no indication of their status in the next one. Jesus kept sharing illustrations to try to wake up the religious leaders that they were headed for disaster, but they were closed to Jesus, being blinded by their pride and present circumstances.

It is a sobering thought that I can relate more with the rich man than with Lazarus. This means, at least to me, that I must learn generosity and show kindness towards everyone – especially those who are unable to “repay” me. This seems to be the biggest lesson I can take from this illustration, because “A good life on earth does not guarantee a good ‘afterlife’.”