Reflective Bible Study

In one of Matthew’s transition passages, we see a brief glimpse of how Jesus viewed people, and in this passage, we can see an amazing picture of where we are living in the world today, almost two thousand years later.

To set the stage, Matthew tells us, “Jesus went around visiting all the towns and villages. He taught in the synagogues, preached the Good News about the Kingdom, and healed people with every kind of disease and sickness.” (v. 35)

While traveling, teaching, preaching, and healing, large crowds were attracted to Jesus, and they came to Him for help. Matthew tells us what Jesus’ reaction was when He saw the people coming to Him: “As he saw the crowds, his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were worried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (v. 36)

Jesus felt pity for the crowd, because they were “worried”, “helpless”, and “like sheep without a shepherd”. We could say these people were longing for something greater than what they had. They were searching for something that was truly significant. These people needed a leader who could inspire them, help them, and restore their faith, hope, and trust.

This is an amazing picture of the world we live in today. While technology has turned this world into looking completely different than it did in the first century, the common theme running through most people’s lives is a desire to find significance, and a desire to find someone, something, or an idea truly worth following.

In life’s busyness, it is too easy for us to get lost simply trying to stay caught up with everything that is happening that we don’t even have time to spend looking for something better. We hope and dream, but don’t follow it up with action or searching. Jesus sees this mentality in the crowd that came out to find Him, and His “heart was filled with pity for them”.

Jesus’ heart is filled with love for the crowds living today as well. He feels sorry for those who are living with worry, feeling helpless, and those moving through life with no clear direction. He has helped people who have been like this in the past, and through what we can learn from those people as it has been passed through time in the Bible, Jesus can help those of us living like this today.

While some of the other gospel writers’ hint at a fascinating idea, one of the first places we see this is within John’s gospel, and this idea happens to be shared in greatest detail in John’s gospel too. This idea is found in a place and time where we might least expect it to be: during a mass exodus of Jesus’ followers.

After having drawn a huge crowd who was intent on following Jesus wherever He went, Jesus decides to give this crowd a huge challenge, to help separate those who were true believers from those who were simply following the popular Teacher of the time. Jesus wanted true followers and not simply fair-weather friends.

While the crowd was packing up and leaving, John draws us to two statements Jesus makes that are both very insightful. The first is among the last things Jesus says before the crowd left: “Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” (v. 64a)

John adds a side-note to this statement by saying, “For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.” (v. 64b)

John points us to the truth that Jesus was not surprised by Judas’ betrayal. Even early on in His ministry, Jesus knew exactly who believed, who didn’t believe, and who would ultimately betray Him.

If this statement wasn’t enough, after Peter’s response to Jesus’ question, Jesus replied by emphasizing this same idea. He says, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (v. 70)

Again, John throws the side-note in here by saying “(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)” (v. 71)

Here nearer the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John draws our focus onto what Jesus was saying. While the twelve disciples were ultimately surprised to learn who the betrayer would be, Jesus knew from the very beginning.

This tells me something interesting about Jesus’ and God’s character. Jesus was not afraid to associate with the person who would ultimately betray Him. I believe Judas Iscariot was allowed to be a part of the twelve disciples because Jesus wanted to do everything He could to help Judas change and become the man God created Him to be.

God didn’t create Judas to be the traitor. Instead Judas hardened his heart to Jesus, and chose that path on his own. God is not afraid to reach out to those who are opposed to Him. Jesus came into a world full of sin and people who were actively working against Him. Jesus came to show God’s love to people who would ultimately reject His love. Most of the crowd left; Judas betrayed; but Jesus still came and loved us like God the Father intended.

One of the ways to tell great interviewers apart from average ones is through their follow-up questions. It is in the follow-up question discussions that most of the really good, less “sound-bite” responses come from. It is also what makes this passage stand out as special in my mind.

First off, this is one of the few places in all the gospels where Jesus acknowledges both the correct answer to a question that is given, and the clear instructions for how to have eternal life. This in itself is pretty amazing, considering that it seems as though most of the questions posed to Jesus were trick questions and Jesus responded with counter questions that had no good response.

The answer this expert gives to Jesus’ counter question shows one or both of two things: The man really knew the law well, and he had discerned the many layers in it; and/or this man had paid attention to other times Jesus was asked questions – specifically the question of what were the greatest commandments – and he was giving an answer that Jesus gave to an earlier audience back to Him.

The original question itself is powerful, but what makes this conversation stand out is the follow-up question: “Who are my neighbors?” (v. 29b)

It is in this follow-up question that we get one of the most well known illustrations in the entire Bible. This illustration has served as a model for true Christianity for hundreds and thousands of years following Jesus’ words. This illustration would have been lost had this religious expert never tried to steer the conversation towards race.

This expert likely wanted to pull out an answer that allowed for racial boundaries to remain intact, or a response that would subtly give license to being exclusive towards those who were different.

But Jesus is different. Jesus is not exclusive. In God’s kingdom, all are welcome – regardless of gender, race, social status, or even past religious preferences. God is not interested in your past as much as He is interested your future with Him.

Which leads me to the big idea for this passage: Never stop short of where God wants to lead you, and don’t be surprised when God stretches your thinking and your boundaries.

Of all the boring places to be included in the gospels, Luke’s record of Jesus’ genealogy probably tops most people’s list. While Matthew’s genealogy includes women, and a number pattern, Luke simply spends fifteen verses listing name after name, stepping all the way back from Jesus to the very beginning.

But even in Luke’s genealogy, I noticed something amazing. This amazing insight comes with how Luke ends the genealogy: “the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” (v. 38)

While Matthew’s genealogy steps us forward from Abraham to help us see how Jesus is a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, and how the Messiah is Abraham’s descendant, Luke takes the opposite approach. Luke draws our attention to how Jesus is really God’s own Son.

Luke begins Jesus’ genealogy by saying, “When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli, …” (v. 23)

Luke tells us that people believed Jesus to be Joseph’s son, even though Luke believes differently. Luke believed in the virgin birth of Jesus. But Luke has an answer to this problem – he steps Jesus’ ancestors all the way back to God.

While it would make sense for Luke to stop with Adam at the end of his genealogy, Luke goes one step further and draws our attention to how Adam, the first human, was God’s son as well. In this way, Jesus also becomes like a “Second Adam” who succeeded where the first Adam had failed, and that regardless of what we think of Jesus’ birth, we can be assured that He really was God’s descendant.

But in Luke’s genealogy, we also have another insight. If Adam was God’s son as Luke describes, that makes each of us God’s children as we have descended from Adam and Eve. This makes us all children of God. And the big challenge I am left with after this realization is that if God is truly my Father, then what sort of reputation is He receiving from the way I act?

As children of God, we are all representatives of Him and His character. As God’s children, He loves each of us enough to have sent Jesus to pay for our sins. As children of the King of the Universe, we have an amazing opportunity when we choose to focus on the only relationship that matters in this life – our relationship with God, who we can best know and understand through Jesus and how He showed us God’s love for us.