Reflective Bible Study

During one of the conversations Jesus has, He shares something that I find incredibly profound and powerful. In verse 18, Jesus shares, “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

Jesus is talking about Himself, and how He came to glorify God to humanity. He is taking the role of an ambassador (someone who goes to a foreign country and represents the leaders in the home country) and as an ambassador, His purpose is to direct the glory to God and not on Himself.

This paints an interesting idea if we broaden the idea from being exclusively on Jesus to focusing on God’s church. If we are truly being disciples of Jesus, we will be focused on giving God the glory, because He is who sent us, just as He sent Jesus. If we are seeking our own glory, then we are speaking for ourselves and there may be unrighteousness in us.

Giving God the glory—all the glory—is what we have been called to do as ambassadors of God’s Kingdom. Giving God all the glory will guard against pride creeping into our lives. Pride comes when we seek our own glory, and according to this verse, seeking our own glory comes alongside speaking from ourselves—which is also counter to the nature of Jesus.

When we give God the glory He deserves (which is all of it if you are honest with yourself), God will hold up the closing phrase in this verse and work to cleanse you from your unrighteousness. This is what scholars call “sanctification”, and it is the work of God cleansing your life, throughout the span of your life, as you continually grow closer and closer to Him. Giving God the glory—all the glory—leads to a sanctified life with God!

Early on in Jesus’ ministry, after a group of people had been following Him for a while (maybe several months), three of the four gospels share how Jesus hand-picks twelve of them to become a core group of disciples. While this event is recorded in the first three gospels, I am a little surprised that only Luke includes a significant detail that the other gospels miss.

This detail is found in how Luke introduces us to this event. Luke tells us that, “On one of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray. He spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called for his disciples to come to him. He chose 12 of them and made them apostles.” (v. 12-13a)

Jesus’ key for picking His twelve core disciples was spending the night praying to God. The twelve disciples were not chosen based on popularity or even on potential, and they were not chosen based on Jesus’ own biases. Instead, during that night prior to the official selection, Jesus would have laid out the names of all His followers before the Father and discussed each with Him.

By praying on the night before choosing the twelve disciples, we learn another key into how Jesus lived His ministry. Prayer, and His relationship with God the Father, was the cornerstone of Jesus’ ministry. Nothing Jesus did while ministering on earth was done without the Father knowing and working through Jesus. In everything Jesus did, He willingly submitted to the Father’s will and the Father’s plan.

Jesus’ emphasis on prayer is also an example for us as well. Because Jesus came to model the people we are called to be, as His modern-day “disciples”, prayer should be at the cornerstone of our lives as well. If all of the people who claimed to “follow Jesus” put as much emphasis on prayer as Jesus did, most of the problems in the Christian community would become irrelevant.

While there might still be some differences of opinions regarding some details, God’s character of love would unify Christians throughout the world – and the 21st century would be transformed like Jesus’ twelve disciples transformed the first century.

Perhaps there is a little bit of skepticism in me when I read about certain events in the Bible. This skepticism is not about whether these events actually happened, and it is not skepticism that affects my belief in Jesus. It is skepticism related to how circumstantial a number of the events are in the Bible. It is wondering, “Was this a coincidence, or was God or a group of people behind setting up the details of this event to happen just like it did?”

The event in our passage is one such place. In this passage we learn about how John the Baptist’s life ends: Herod has a party and his wife’s daughter comes in and dances for the guests. The dance is so well received that Herod makes the daughter a huge, open-ended promise. The daughter consults with her mother about what to ask for before then asking for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Herod has to keep his word in the moment over his earlier desire to not kill John.

That is a broad summary of what this passage covers, and it is a perfect place for my imagination to run wild with questions about what was going on behind the scenes. Did Herodias teach her daughter to dance in a certain way to prompt such a positive response? Did Herodias slip something into Herod’s drink to lower his judgment? Was God behind this event, or would He have preferred that John die of old age in prison?

Or was this just a set of circumstantial events that Herodias was able to see an opportunity in to get her way?

While there is no way for me to know on this side of heaven, there is something we can learn from Herodias’ actions in this passage: Whether you helped set the stage or whether circumstances create the perfect opportunity, be ready to act when the opportunity arises. But in our case, we should seize opportunities that help the lives of those around us instead of Herodias’ opportunity that resulted in a life that ended because of her.

Coming right after Jesus talks about challenges and forgiveness, the disciples make their request. Jesus’ “answer” doesn’t really appear to be about faith at all. He initially gives a statement that a seemingly insignificant amount of faith can cause a massive impact, but then moves the focus onto obedience. Jesus doesn’t say, “Here are three steps to increase your faith,” because faith cannot be broken up into steps and milestones.

Instead growing faith moves through stages based on our obedience. The more obedient we are, the stronger our faith can become, and the more opportunity and responsibility will come our way, leading us further up the stages of faith.

“Mustard-seed-sized-faith” might begin with a declaration—a milestone moment at the beginning—but according to Jesus’ response, for our faith to grow we must be obedient to what Jesus has called us to. Obeying is much more difficult than simply thinking or talking about obeying. Obeying with our actions grows our faith!