Reflective Bible Study

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.

As John’s gospel describes the last supper Jesus had with the disciples on the night He was betrayed, John shares an interesting set of verses that give us a big clue into Jesus’ character and His motivation for what was about to happen over the next 24 hour time period.

During this meal, John tells us: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (v. 3-5)

This set of verses is amazing in my mind for a number of reasons. First, John tells us in verse 3 that “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power”. Reading this verse makes me a little curious: Did Jesus not have all things under His power prior to this point at the end of His ministry? Was the Father holding power back from Jesus while Jesus worked and ministered to the people?

While there are many questions I could ask about this one verse in John’s gospel, regardless of how or when Jesus received all things under His power, John tells us that at this point in His ministry, Jesus knew that all things were under His power. Reading what comes next is powerful.

Immediately after this realization, Jesus gets up, takes His outer garment off, and begins moving around the room washing the disciples’ feet. The most powerful Person in the room (Jesus) was taking the role of the least valued and least important servant.

Not only do these verses impress me about Jesus’ humility, but as we read the rest of the crucifixion event, it is powerful to think that everything that happens is chosen by Jesus. We know this because of what John initially says: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power”. (v. 3a)

Jesus chose the cross for you and for me. At the point when He realized He had been given the greatest amount of power, He chooses to humbly take on the role of a servant. Jesus is not interested in exercising His power and position over us. Instead, Jesus wants to serve us as a way of inspiring us to have a relationship with Him.

After sharing with the disciples about how they should be more focused on serving others rather than competing with each other for the best place and/or position, Jesus shifts the focus onto how He came to model the life He is describing. Matthew finishes this event off by telling us Jesus said: “Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant. Whoever wants to be most important among you will be your slave. It’s the same way with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve him. He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.” (v. 26b-28)

While it is one thing to simply tell the disciples how they should live, Jesus doesn’t stop there. Instead, Jesus finishes off by pointing the spotlight on Himself as an example – and He shares one more time that He would be facing death in the future.

Jesus being a servant to everyone is a significant detail that we should pay attention to. Jesus does not call us to do anything that He didn’t do Himself. The Pharisees and religious leaders were the ones in that culture who told others they needed to do a whole list of things that they were not willing to do themselves. In contrast, Jesus lived the life He wants us to live.

This might not be all that comforting for us when we think about it a little closer. Jesus faced voluntary death because He was that dedicated to serving humanity, and while we should be incredibly thankful to Him for this, Jesus’ sacrifice and voluntary death may be something that He calls us to as well. Remember, Jesus does not ask us to do anything that He wasn’t willing to do Himself. He gave up His life, and He might call us to give up ours as well.

We should be extraordinarily thankful towards Jesus for serving us in the way He did, and while it isn’t ideal to think about from this perspective, if Jesus calls us to give our lives up for Him, we can trust that He has something better in store for us when we arrive with Him in heaven. While Jesus doesn’t call us to do or give up anything He wasn’t willing to give up, everything that we give to Him will be returned in an exponentially better way when we arrive in heaven.