Reflective Bible Study

If you have ever wondered what the most important thing you should do is, or if you ever wanted to ask Jesus what should be your number one focus, you are not alone. As it turns out, there were a group of Pharisees, or at least one Pharisee, who had the same question, but while the Pharisees were more interested in setting a trap for Jesus, the response that Jesus gives is very powerful.

Part of me wonders if this Pharisee was sincere with his question, since this is one of the few places Jesus seems to give a direct answer when challenged, or perhaps Jesus is using this as another opportunity to teach truth to the crowd.

Either way, Jesus’ response is very profound. The top commandment, if we were to organize them into a hierarchy, is simple: “The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. 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.” (Verses 29b-30)

While Jesus quickly adds the second most important commandment, too often people interpret this most important commandment in light of what the second one is. This leads to the idea that we love God by loving others.

While loving others is important, and it is one way to love God, this top commandment is cheapened and distorted by narrowing it to this one viewpoint. We miss the big truth that God revealed through Moses initially, and then through Jesus repeating Moses’ words.

This commandment begins with a declaration: “The Lord is our God.” This tells me that first we must accept God to be our God. It is only when we have intentionally chosen Him that we will then be able to obey this command.

Next is another declaration: “The Lord is one.” This tells me that God is singular, and that loving/following/serving Him does not divide our interests between multiple places, but instead it unifies our actions/direction onto one purpose: serving one God. One God also unifies diverse groups of people. While many people have differing ideas about God, one God allows people to unite together under that heading instead of being divided like the other nations/religions were at that time.

Only after having accepted God to be our God, and acknowledging that He is singular and worthy of being the top priority in our lives are we then able to truly love Him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Loving God with our heart is like loving your spouse or your children. It is an inner love that grows as a relationship develops.

Loving God with our soul is like attaching Him to our identity and/or our being. The label of “Christian” should be worn proudly as a badge of honor as we seek to be representatives and models of Christ-likeness to a world that doesn’t understand.

Loving God with our mind is like choosing to focus our intellect on learning more about Him. This is not skeptical science from a naturalistic viewpoint but a true desire to understand what nature, the world, and life tell us about our Creator.

Loving God with our strength is like stepping out towards Him in confidence, and by moving towards the path and life He created each of us to live. Someone who truly loves God will not be silent or stagnant, they will be active and helping others where they are able to.

God’s top commandment is not easy, but it is powerful. It is not painless, but it is rewarding. It is not trouble free, but it is what God has called us to do.

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, He sends His followers out on a short missionary trip to the surrounding towns to preach the good news about God with the people in that area. During His instructions to them before sending them out, Jesus shares an interesting word-picture that may describe how He wants all of His followers to be.

Luke shares Jesus word picture when He tells us Jesus said, “Go now, but listen! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” (v. 3)

This is a profound word picture because it does not give the picture of safety. Jesus did not call His followers into a life filled with safety and security. (Actually, in one way He did, because Jesus secures our future lives in heaven and our eternity is safe with Him. In this instance, I am referring to our lives here on earth during the present age.)

Jesus calls us to be “like sheep among wolves”. I doubt Jesus intended for this illustration to prompt us to huddle in groups awaiting persecution from the “wolves” of the world. I do think Jesus shared this illustration because sheep are peaceful, sheep are calm (unless frightened), and sheep are not aggressive.

When we look at God’s ideal for how His people should live, behave, and act, I believe peaceful, calm, and not aggressive are all character attributes He would want us to possess. This means that an aggressive, mean, domineering Christian might remind me more of a wolf living in the world than a sheep Jesus is challenging to go into the world.

Jesus describes His disciples as sheep, and I believe this is because God wants His followers to be more sheep-like in our behavior rather than wolf-like. We should model peace, calm, love, and community in our own lives and avoid modeling our lives after the aggressive, predatory nature of a wolf that many in culture display.

Part way through Jesus’ ministry as He is teaching those who are following Him, He asks those present a rhetorical question, and then backs up the question with an illustration. When reading this, I often miss the question in favor of focusing on the illustration. I imagine many of us can understand the illustration easier than the question Jesus asked immediately before it.

Near the end of Luke’s description of Jesus sermon that started by focus on being good servants, He describes Jesus asking those present, “Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right? If your enemy is taking you to court, try hard to settle it on the way. If you don’t, your enemy might take you to the judge, and the judge might turn you over to the officer, and the officer might throw you into jail. I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid everything you owe.” (v. 57-59)

When reading this, I can completely understand the motivation to settle a dispute before it reaches court, because courtrooms have clear winners and clear losers – and the losers in a courtroom setting can face big fines, go to prison, or even face both of these.

But when I read this in the context of Jesus’ rhetorical question, it makes a little less sense. Should we understand Jesus to be telling those present that truth is subjective to the people having the discussion?

In my own mind, I don’t think Jesus describes this, but instead I believe He is challenging His followers, both those present at that time as well as everyone living afterwards, to be intentional about communicating with one another. When we turn off communication in a relationship, the relationship ceases to exist. A relationship isn’t much of a relationship when there is no communication involved. Lack of communication will kill a relationship faster than great distance.

When challenging those present to decide for themselves what is right, I think Jesus is also challenging these people, as well as everyone who ever lived after this point, that they must make a decision regarding who they believe Him to be. There is no room to be on the fence when it comes to deciding who Jesus is, and once we have made the decision, if it is to side with Jesus, we must be intentional about keeping communication with Him strong. This is done through prayer, Bible study, and regular time spent resting with Him.

When faced with sin, and the realization that Satan is eager to accuse, condemn, and sentence us, it would be wise for us to choose Jesus, and decide for ourselves to place our hope, faith, trust, and belief in Him, because Jesus has offered us His life as a replacement for our own. Jesus’ life was perfect, and with Jesus’ life standing in place of our own, we will be saved for eternity!

Comparing ourselves to others is a temptation we all face sooner or later. In our world today, it is hard not to compare what we have, such as our house, our car/truck, our income, or any number of other things to what others have around us.

It even gets trickier when we compare our relationships to other people’s relationships. Comparing my marriage to your marriage, or my relationship with my daughter with your relationship to your children is only a losing scenario.

But perhaps the most subtle comparison trap we can fall into is comparing our relationship with God to someone else’s relationship. There are no winners with this sort of comparison.

And that is what brings us to our passage for this journal entry. In one of Jesus’ most famous parables is hidden a truth regarding the dangers of the comparison trap. While reading/studying the Prodigal Son parable, I could find only two examples of comparison present.

The first place is in verse 17: “When he [the younger son] came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!’”

This first example of comparison is internal. While technically it is comparing, the younger son realizes how the lowest servants were treated by his father. They probably were doing the same type of work he was doing, but the environment was way better. His Father treated them with respect.

This first comparison isn’t looking up or down on someone, but instead looking at the present circumstances we are in. It is only by objectively and honestly looking at where we are in life that we will ever choose something different – and that includes repenting and moving closer to God.

The second comparison is not at all like the first. It is found near the end of the parable in verses 29 and 30: “But he [the older son] answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’”

This second example of comparison is directly comparing a relationship: The older son is comparing his relationship to the father and how He was treated to the younger son’s disrespect, rebellion, and now celebration. The older brother is mad, not because there was a party happening, but because the reason for the party slams into the comparison game he had been playing all these years, because after all, he was the son who stayed.

But this brings us to God’s subtle truth in this parable: God wants a personal relationship with each one of us. The Father personally welcomed the younger son home, and the Father personally went out to talk with the older brother who would not enter the party. God is seeking a unique, personal relationship with each one of us – with no comparison games present.