Reflective Bible Study

If you have ever wondered if God has a priority list for how we should live our lives, you are not alone. All throughout history, and especially during the first century, there have been groups of people who have created prioritized lists to answer the question about what we should and should not do.

Jesus steps into this discussion when asked for His thoughts regarding what God’s priority list for us is. A Pharisee (teacher of the law) asks Him, “Which is the most important of all the commandments?” (End of verse 28)

Instead of sidestepping the question, or asking a question in response, Jesus decides this is a good opportunity to teach about God’s priorities. Perhaps this is because the Pharisee was genuinely asking because he wanted to learn, or maybe Jesus simply used this as an opening/opportunity to teach another piece of God’s truth to those present.

Jesus first begins by pointing out that we must place God first in our lives. This is the first and greatest commandment, but Jesus knows that His audience, or at least this Pharisee, already has a pretty good handle on this one. Jesus must say it because it is the truthful answer to the question, but the problem with the answer is that the question is bad.

By asking what the “most important” thing is – in any situation – one opens the door to allowing every other responsibility to be neglected in favor of focusing on the one “most important” thing. The danger here is that the most important command is not where Jesus’ audience had their greatest challenges. The greatest challenge for His audience was with the second most important command.

So after Jesus answers the direct question, He then answers the question that should have been asked in the first place, “What are the most important commandments?” While the Pharisee was only interested in one commandment, Jesus gives him two: The top commandment, and the one he needed to hear: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (Middle of verse 31)

While the command to love God is clearly defined by four areas, loving our neighbor is really only defined by one area: how we love ourselves. This does not say we are to love our neighbor more or less than we love ourselves, but “as” we love ourselves. It is a statement of almost universal individual equality.

Some groups or governments have wanted to universally promote the idea of equality, but this is the opposite of what is present here. Externally imposed equality means there must be someone in power making the decision, and then the rest of the people. Individual equality means that each person views themselves as being no more valuable than anyone else, and no less valuable.

But we are sin-tainted, selfish people – which mean that some of us really love ourselves, while others really hate ourselves. This second commandment is second because we need a dedication and commitment to God first to give us a right perspective on how valuable we are. After all, Jesus came to give His life for each of us.

Loving your neighbor as you love yourself pushes us to think about others as we think about us. If we want something, someone else probably does as well, and what would happen if we helped them achieve it as we achieve it. This doesn’t pull wisdom out of help, but it allows and encourages wisdom to be a part of our help – because as a helper, we are responsible for giving help in appropriate ways.

Loving our neighbor sets a pretty high standard for a selfish heart, but it is a step towards being more like Jesus.

In a brief conversation Jesus has with a group of Pharisees, the gospel of Matthew describes Jesus sharing a parable about a father who asks His two sons to help in the family’s vineyard. One son said he would help but then chose not to go, while the other son said he wouldn’t help, but then chose to go and help.

The key question Jesus asks these Pharisees is which of these sons actually obeyed their father: The one who said they’d help or the one who showed up to help?

At the close of this discussion, Jesus shares a statement that is surprisingly relevant for us today. Matthew tells us that Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before you do. John came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Even after seeing this, you still refused to change your ways and believe him.” (v. 31-32)

One amazing thing I see in this set of verses is that God sends messengers to help people turn their lives around, and while the religious leaders did not openly oppose John the Baptist, they also didn’t give John’s message any thought. Jesus directly says that “John came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him.” (v. 32a)

Because tax collectors and prostitutes believed in John’s message and changed their lives and their focus, Jesus tells the religious leaders that those who were the worst sinners but who have changed their ways will gain entrance into heaven – ahead of those who supposedly lived close to God.

This should be a challenging message for people who call themselves followers of Jesus. When God sends us messengers to help us live better and grow closer to God, we would be wise to obey the instructions God’s messenger gives. Otherwise, we might end up in the same position these religious leaders ended up in when they rejected John’s message for themselves and ultimately missed out on seeing Jesus as God’s Messiah.

In a unique miracle that only Mark’s gospel includes, Jesus visits a town and meets a crowd bringing a blind man to Him. What makes this parable unique in my mind is that Jesus brings the man out of town, and that the healing isn’t entirely successful the first attempt.

However, one phrase at the conclusion of this miracle stands out as I read it. This passage ends by saying, “Jesus then sent him home with the order, ‘Don’t go back into the village.’” (v. 26)

On the surface, this command makes sense, because Jesus doesn’t want the man to meet back up with the crowd who simply wanted to experience a miracle and praise Jesus for it. However, what happens if we ask the question: “What if this man lived in the village?”

If the man lived in the village, then Jesus’ request to this man doesn’t make sense, but if the man lived in a different nearby village, then a couple of subtle insights appear that we can learn from.

First, if the man was from a nearby village, then this means that the crowd formed by either someone bringing the formerly blind man into the village before collecting a crowd, or, more likely, someone started bringing the formerly blind man to Jesus and on their journey to find Him, people who wanted to see a miracle joined the crowd. Either way, this detail gives support to the idea that the crowd was simply there to see a miracle rather than to praise God.

Secondly, and more importantly, this detail emphasizes the truth that Jesus knows where we live. While it may have been obvious by the man’s style of clothing or something else about his appearance, nothing in the passage aside from Jesus’ command implies this man lived elsewhere. This means that Jesus knew where the man came from even if most of those in the crowd that brought Him didn’t.

This second truth is significant for us to remember too. Jesus knows where you and I live, He knows  our past, and He chose to come to earth to give us the opportunity to have a new life with God. While we might have deep, dark, hidden secrets in our past, Jesus knows what they are – and regardless of what happened, Jesus invites us into a new life with Him.

While reading about the events that happen in the gospels, and specifically about the lives that were affected by Jesus, I often take a moment or two and ask myself the following question: “Where is faith present (or not present) in this event/passage?” In our passage for this journal entry, faith is a big theme that is woven through a number of different interactions.

The first hint at faith comes immediately after Jesus tells the disciples plainly that Lazarus was dead. He continues in verse 15 by saying, “I am glad that I wasn’t there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me.”

Apparently there must have been a lack of faith in the disciples for Jesus to have challenged them with these words. After all the teaching, healing, and miracles, some of the disciples must have still been second guessing if Jesus was worthy of their faith or not. This seems most evident a few verses prior to this when Jesus announces that they will go back to Judea to wake Lazarus up and the disciples hesitate fearing for their lives.

Jesus hits the disciples with the statement that He is glad they were not there for Lazarus’ sickness/death, and it must be because He wants to mentally prepare them for an even bigger truth: Jesus is “faith-worthy”.

This section of the passage concludes on a very pessimistic note. Thomas says in verse 16, “Come on. Let’s go, so we can die with him.” But behind Thomas’ pessimistic statement is the action of following Jesus to the end – and that in itself displays a pretty significant level of faith.

When the disciples arrive at Bethany, Jesus meets with both Martha and with Mary separately, but each sister gets a different response in proportion to the level of faith. While both Mary and Martha begin by saying to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” in verses 21 and 32, Martha doesn’t stop there. Mary seems to have about the same level of faith as the disciples, which is about enough to frustrate Jesus, but Martha demonstrates a greater faith.

We often fault Martha for being the busy, distracted sister during one of Jesus’ earlier visits, but in this event, Martha definitely redeems herself by displaying a great level of faith, leading her to say in verse 27, “I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.”

Even though her practicality would return a few verses later by commenting that rolling away the stone would release a bad odor, Martha saw Jesus as being “faith-worthy”, and she trusted that Lazarus would be resurrected when God’s timing was right. While Mary can be our example for setting good priorities and putting Jesus first, Martha is our example for putting our faith in Jesus when all hope seems lost.