Reflective Bible Study

Almost everywhere Jesus and His followers traveled, another group of people seemed to continually show up. While these people were not followers of Jesus in the typical sense, it would seem that they definitely followed Him around. Their goal was to catch Jesus doing something wrong.

This group of people were the Pharisees, and one Sabbath Jesus and His followers were walking through a grain field. A few of Jesus’ followers picked some grain, rubbed it in their hands to remove the husk, and ate it. While this was low on the scale of effort, it was still classified as work, so the Pharisees who were following along challenged the group of followers by saying, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?” (v. 2)

Instead of focusing in on Jesus’ response, which doesn’t excuse His follower’s actions, but challenges the position these Pharisees had taken towards the law, let’s focus on the challenge these Pharisees gave.

The Pharisees had created so many rules that they had laws to keep them from breaking other laws. The “unlawful” action these followers did was one such law that was intended to keep them from breaking the very sacred Sabbath rest that God had commanded. Where the Pharisees’ became legalistic and critical was that they elevated their set of laws to be equal with God’s laws. The Pharisees expected the people to obey the laws that they had created so there would be no possible way to break God’s laws.

However, this was more of an outward projection rather than them living to their own standard. If a Pharisee slipped and broke one of their rules, then they could be forgiven, because at least they didn’t break God’s law. If someone else broke a Pharisee’s rule, then they were treated like they had broken God’s law. In a Pharisee’s mind, obeying the rules was more important than building a relationship.

In our own lives two thousand years later, there are people who follow this same train of thought. In the 21st century, there are people who would prefer to project their beliefs onto others as though they were speaking on God’s behalf.

But God doesn’t put rules ahead of relationships. Jesus came to show us that God values us just as much as He values His rules. Jesus came to take our place because God loves us so much. God doesn’t simply put us ahead of the rules, He placed the rules ahead of Himself, before also placing us ahead of Himself too. God placed us ahead of Himself, and He demonstrated this through Jesus coming on the cross to die for our sins.

During one of the times Jesus was traveling with His disciples, He asks them a question that is both insightful and profound. While this question leads into another question and ultimately into a response Peter gives that Jesus praises him for, the first “lead-in” question, is very interesting in my mind.

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’” (v. 13)

This question stands out in my mind because by this time in Jesus’ ministry, His disciples had been with Him for more than a year or two, and they had traveled around to enough places that the whole country knew about Him. However, Jesus’ question is more about wanting to know what people think. With everything that He has done, Jesus wants to know the general consensus surrounding who the crowds think He is.

The response the disciples give is interesting as well. They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (v. 14)

Some might point to the response the disciples give as pointing to a belief during that time in reincarnation. This would imply that Jesus reincarnated from one of these historical figures. But while this is a possible theory, a stronger theory is that these people believed in God’s ability to restore life (i.e. to resurrect someone). There are examples of resurrection in the Old Testament, and several of Jesus’ conversations center around the theme of resurrection.

But the big thing I see in this initial question and the disciple’s response is this: If we choose to stand out from the crowd by doing or saying anything significant, people will talk and rumors will circulate. None of the theories surrounding Jesus in the disciple’s response were correct, but that didn’t stop Jesus. If we stand out from the crowd, people might believe and/or spread lies about us as well. It is up to us to not let the rumors irritate us or knock us off the track God has placed before each of us.

One of the most surprising statements the gospel writers record Jesus saying is found in Luke’s gospel, and it comes as Jesus and His crowd of followers meets a funeral processional. I am sure that both the woman who had just lost her only son, as well as both crowds present believed Jesus’ remark to be pretty insensitive.

Perhaps this is why Luke prefaces the statement with a brief statement clarifying Jesus’ thoughts. On meeting the funeral processional and seeing the mother crying, Luke tells us, “When the Lord saw her, he felt sorry for her. So he said, ‘Don’t cry.’” (v. 13)

Now in my mind, it is perfectly acceptable for Jesus to feel sorry for this mother, but telling her to not cry when her child has just died seems a little insensitive – especially for a loving perfect Messiah.

But perhaps Jesus says this to help break the woman and the funeral procession out of the sadness they are in. It may be that Jesus wants to redirect those present onto what God is about to do instead of on what has recently happened. Jesus may be focusing instead on the joy that comes as a result of the upcoming resurrection than on the sadness that comes with death.

When we face death in this life, we are reminded how special life is, and it is perfectly natural to feel sad and shed tears. However, as a way of moving past the sadness, it is also good to remember the future resurrection that comes through having faith in Jesus. This woman didn’t have to wait until Jesus’ second coming to benefit from His power to resurrect. She simply had to have enough faith to pay attention to where He wanted to redirect her focus.

In Jesus’ ministry, often He said things that rubbed people the wrong way. During one of these times, John shares with us an interesting verse in his gospel record. While teaching in the temple during one of the festivals, He said some things that seemed to claim equality with God – which was something that was punishable by death and it was crossing a line that the people had determined should never be crossed.

“When Jesus said this, they tried to seize him. But no one was able to touch him, because it was not yet the right time.” (v. 30)

John points us to an interesting theme that runs throughout Jesus’ life on earth: God gave Him protection that allowed Him to speak the hard truth without being harmed while leading up to the cross. No one was able to touch or arrest Him because God had placed Jesus under His protection.

This is incredibly important for us to pay attention to.

First, this tells us that God is willing to protect us. While not everything bad will be avoided, God will only let bad through that fulfills a purpose or gives us an opportunity/experience we can use later in life.

This also tells us that Jesus lived intentionally knowing this protection existed. Jesus didn’t abuse the protection with the goal of drawing attention to Himself. Instead, He lived entirely within this protection with the goal of pointing people to God by showing His character. God is full of love, not afraid to speak the truth, and is wholly interested in placing us ahead of Himself. Jesus modeled this, and God gave Him all the protection He needed to live life this way.

This leads me to some questions that I challenge myself with:

What would happen if we lived 100% for God knowing His protection exists in our own lives?

What if we lived with the understanding that no one could touch us until God’s timing is right?

If we knew God is protecting us, would that allow us to live more outwardly like Jesus in a world looking for selfless examples of love?

With Jesus as our role model, why not live like God fully protects us – especially since we are called to be His witnesses to a world in need.