Reflective Bible Study

During one of the times Jesus was challenged by the Jewish leaders, Jesus shared a response that was intentionally given to be misunderstood in the moment. During this event, if the Jewish leaders had truly understood Jesus’ words, Jesus may not have ministered for three years before His crucifixion – these leaders may have tried to execute Him on the spot.

Tension was high immediately following Jesus chasing the people out of the temple courtyard early on in Jesus’ ministry. This was before He was well known and infamous among the religious leaders – but following His outburst in the temple, the temple leaders are furious with Jesus. The Jewish leaders race in to witness the scene and they challenge Jesus by asking Him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do this?” (v. 18)

In His response, Jesus shares a different angle than they were expecting to hear, and Jesus intentionally does this. Jesus answered them by saying, “When you destroy this temple, I will raise it up again in three days.” (v. 19)

Jesus’ response tells us that at the beginning of His ministry, He was well aware of the future resurrection that would come. Jesus even knew the timeframe was three days. In His response, Jesus gives them the sign they should be looking for, but they don’t understand what He was referring to. The Jewish leaders replied, “It has taken 46 years to build this temple. Are you going to raise it up in three days?” (v. 20)

In my mind, I imagine Jesus leaving silently at that final question. John, the writer of this event wants us to realize the meaning of these words, so he adds the next two verses as a note to the reader. John explains, “But the temple Jesus had spoken about was his body. His disciples later remembered what he had said. That was after he had been raised from the dead. Then they believed the Scripture. They also believed the words that Jesus had spoken.” (v. 21-22)

I imagine if these religious leaders actually had understood what Jesus’ words meant, one of these religious leaders may have tried to test Jesus’ words on the spot by killing Him to see if He would stay dead. At the very least, if they had understood Jesus’ words to them, they may have looked for ways to kill Him earlier on in His ministry instead of simply trying to discredit Him.

However, with all that said, the interesting observation I see is in John’s explanation and note for us. It was only after Jesus’ actual death and resurrection that the disciples finally understood this. Prior to the crucifixion and resurrection, the disciples had written off and/or forgotten this early statement Jesus made, but after Jesus had returned to life, it dawned on them that Jesus actually had predicted what would happen years before.

The big thing I see in this explanation is that it is easier to see and understand how God has been working when looking at the past. Depending on the past for our present faith is crucial. Understanding that God has directed our past and led us to our present helps us realize that He is trustworthy and He is still working in our situations today. Whether we feel Him or not is not what is important. What is important for us is that we trust Him with our present and future like we have seen Him help in our past.

In a conversation Jesus has with a Jewish crowd, a statement Jesus makes sounds odd in my mind. In this statement, Jesus puts two ideas together that don’t seem to fit, but in some ways, when these two ideas are together, we can see a fascinating picture of God.

During this conversation, Jesus says, “I have a lot to say that will judge you. But the one who sent me can be trusted. And I tell the world what I have heard from him.” (v. 26)

In these three short sentences, and interesting idea begins to take shape. Jesus has a lot He can say that will judge us, but He only tells the world what He has heard from the Father (a.k.a. the One who sent Him), and the One who sent Him can be trusted.

Not only does this verse describe a trustworthy God the Father when many people picture Him as mean, it also describes a God full of grace, because God could tell Jesus to say many judgmental things to those in the world, but He doesn’t. Instead, the One who sent Jesus tells Jesus what to say, and the picture of Jesus that we have shared in the gospel is one that perfectly balances sharing truth with showing love.

While Jesus calls people out for their behavior, He always does so in a way that lifts them to a higher standard. Even when challenging the religious leaders, Jesus always is trying to get them to understand more about the Father.

Jesus could judge everyone in the world as guilty because the Father could judge everyone this way. But Jesus doesn’t. Instead, Jesus loves the world and gave His life for all of us. He did this because that is the only way He can help us understand just how much God the Father loves and values us. A God who loves us that much is definitely worthy of our trust!

In today’s journal entry, we are going to be touching on one of Jesus’ most famous parables – the parable of the lost son. However, while we could focus on the lost son, or on the Father character, the big idea I want to bring out from this parable comes from the character of the older brother.

At the beginning of the parable, we get a pretty strong impression that the younger (rebellious) son is immature, because demanding his inheritance early is similar to saying that his father is dying too slowly. He then proceeds to leave town and waste the money on wild living.

Back at home, we can only imagine the older brother to be way more mature, having chosen to stay and continue working in the family business.

However, when famine strikes and the younger son hits bottom and makes his way home, we get a glimpse into both brothers’ characters. We see the younger brother, with a lot more life experience (and maturity), practicing a speech that is a complete 180 degree shift from his earlier demands. Life has taught this son something the father was never able to – maturity.

In contrast, the older son, who never left the business, reveals his character when the father chooses to celebrate the return of his younger brother. The older brother becomes jealous, resentful, and angry at the thought of celebrating.

Both sons really wanted the same thing, but the Father sees and knows something that both sons don’t realize: Humility is a sign of maturity. By getting angry at the celebration, the older son reveals how immature he really is. He isn’t gutsy enough to demand his inheritance early (like the younger son), but he was missing opportunities to grow while at home. At the close of this parable, we find the younger son having matured significantly more than the older son, something I am sure the father has picked up on.

So what about in our own lives?

Do we live and act out of an inner humility – which helps reveal our real maturity level – or do we live and act in a way that reveals how immature we really are?

Way too frequently, we are tempted to skip over some parts of scripture in favor of focusing on other parts. This is also a temptation in the gospels – and even in the teaching portion of our passage in this journal entry, but if we skip to Jesus’ explanation, we may miss out on a subtle truth that Jesus included, but that He doesn’t emphasize in His concluding remarks.

The teaching we are referring to is the short parable and question that concludes it. Jesus says, “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” (v. 41-42)

We are tempted to see this illustration as a setup to teach Simon a lesson about forgiveness and about God’s character – and Jesus shared it for this very reason. But also in this illustration is an important truth: Both people in debt in this parable were forgiven.

This parable doesn’t have Jesus forgiving one and not forgiving another, or Jesus forgiving each one up to a point. Instead, this parable demonstrates how God forgave each one at the same percentage level – 100%.

In this passage, we can conclude that Simon was the one who was forgiven for less sin/debt because that was all he owed, but it would be a mistake for us to skip over the detail that he was still forgiven.

God’s forgiveness is not a comparison game of who can be forgiven more. God forgives at 100% and He calls us to leave that sinful life to enter a new life with Him.