Reflective Bible Study

If Jesus has a sense of humor, or if there was ever a time He may have come across as a little insensitive, it may be in a phrase He says in this passage about worry. Worry is something that almost everyone in our culture faces today on some level or another, and Jesus has something to tell His followers about this subject.

Jesus message to open this topic: “Don’t worry.” (First portion of verse 25)

But since Jesus is more helpful than those words themselves, He goes on to describe how we are so much more valuable to God than other things, and that while we spend a lot of time focusing on what we will eat and what we should wear, our lives are so much more important to Him then these minor areas.

It is in Jesus’ discussion about worry that He shares a truth that packs a punch: “You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.” (v. 27)

There are plenty of things you can do to add time to your life. Exercise, eat more healthy foods, chose to build better habits and eliminate bad habits from your daily routines are just a few things we can do to add time to our lives.

The big thing that won’t add any time to your life is worry. Worry and the stress that worry can cause may actually decrease the time you are alive.

In some ways, Jesus’ statement here may sound sarcastic or insensitive to those who read or hear these words, but Jesus isn’t going to avoid the big issue: Worry doesn’t serve any good purpose. It may be one of the things in life that can cause the most harm with no potential upside.

Instead, the best way to add time to our lives is by focusing our lives on God; putting our faith, hope, and trust in Jesus; and seeking His kingdom first. With our focus, faith, and foundation on Jesus, our life on earth becomes the beginning of an eternal life with God.

When we read the closing statements in many of the gospels, too often we play favorites, and focus on one or perhaps two that we like the best. Unfortunately, this tendency to ignore or minimize the other gospel writers causes us to miss out on some amazing details – especially in this event.

When we think of the Great Commission, we think of Matthew’s version of Jesus’ famous, concise challenge to His disciples minutes before He ascended into heaven. There is a lot to like about Matthew’s version of the Great Commission challenge.

But Mark also includes a version of the Great Commission, but it is less popular, perhaps because it contains some challenging statements. Mark describes Jesus’ Great Commission to the disciples in a different way. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus turns to His followers and says, “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who does not believe will be punished. And those who believe will be able to do these things as proof: They will use my name to force out demons. They will speak in new languages. They will pick up snakes and drink poison without being hurt. They will touch the sick, and the sick will be healed.” (v. 15-18)

While Matthew focuses on baptizing, teaching, and making disciples, Mark focuses on sharing, baptism, belief, and proof that Jesus’ disciples have God by their side. Mark draws our attention to belief in Jesus being the source of these Holy-Spirit-powered signs.

However, perhaps Mark’s commission has fallen out of favor among people because we don’t see the miracles today like we read about in the book of Acts. The first followers of Jesus and those in the early church, had the Holy Spirit come into their lives in such a way that they were able to perform all that Mark describes, but in two or three generations after the first followers, these Holy-Spirit-powered signs had all but vanished.

Mark’s Great Commission is powerful. Mark tells us that belief in Jesus is the key to being rewarded by God. Mark emphasizes that the Holy Spirit is our reward in this life for believing, and implied is eternal life in the next life.

But Mark’s Great Commission has a flaw. If the list of actions that Mark gives as proof are the only foundation people use to have faith in Jesus, then there is little reason to have faith today if I don’t see those signs being performed (either by me or someone else). It also means that if Satan chooses to fake Jesus’ second coming as a way to draw the world to his side, then some miracles is all he needs to do.

This leads me to believe that while miracles are given to help people take notice, we must judge the teaching, the lives, and the actions of those performing the miracles to see if they are truly Christ-like.

While we often time read this passage and focus in on the parable that it includes, we can learn a valuable truth from what is shared immediately before the parable is told.

In the conversation leading up to the parable, Jesus is told about a group of Galileans who were killed in a certain way. The implied question is whether they were worse sinners than others who had died. Jesus draws the question out into the open and then compares it to another accidental event where a tower fell and killed a number of people.

The big idea that I want to bring out from this passage comes from looking at these two death events. The first event was a “government” slaughter – the ruler chose to kill a group of people for whatever reason. The second event was a “natural” disaster – a tower fell down and killed a group of people.

What stands out to me in both these cases is that we don’t choose when we will die. Even those who have chosen to commit suicide don’t always “succeed”. Both these cases are situations where the people who died did not die from some act they chose to do. Instead, these deaths were thrust upon them from an outside source.

Which brings us to the big idea that is a theme running through these first few verses: Life is short, and we don’t choose when we’ll die. The bad that happens around us is a reminder to live a life that continually leans on God. That is the only way to ensure we’ll be saved for the life to come.

Something I find amazing about Jesus is that He seemed to switch between teaching, healing, and helping people to challenging them and practically pushing them away. This is probably most visible in an event that happens at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

While coming home to Nazareth, Jesus comes to the synagogue on Sabbath, and He is invited to speak. So Jesus pulls a prophecy from Isaiah and shares how it is being fulfilled in their midst.

The people in this synagogue were amazed and impressed by Jesus. “Everyone said good things about him. They were amazed at the gracious words they heard from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked.” (v. 22)

However, right at the moment when Jesus is receiving the most praise does the switch flip and He moves to challenging those present. Jesus continued by saying, “‘Here is a saying you will certainly apply to me. “Doctor, heal yourself!” And you will tell me this. “Do the things here in your hometown that we heard you did in Capernaum.” What I’m about to tell you is true,’ he continued. ‘A prophet is not accepted in his hometown.’” (v. 23-24)

Jesus begins by drawing them towards a truth about who He is. But when they miss the relevance that He is talking about Himself and not simply sharing a typical message like they had heard during other weeks from other teachers, He shifts to challenging them regarding the core idea: These people like Jesus, but they don’t think He is special or significant.

Perhaps the truth that we read about here speaks to our own human nature. The closer we get to someone, or the longer we have known an individual, the less impressed we are with them. While there may be moments of triumph, we will remember the past and both the ups and the downs.

These members of the Nazareth synagogue had watched Jesus grow up. They were among the closest to Jesus that a group of people could have been. But in their response, we see a key phrase that points us to what they really thought of Jesus: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they comment among themselves.

This tells us that even though they may have heard rumors about Jesus’ virgin birth, most of them didn’t believe it. To this group of people, Jesus was simply the carpenter’s son and nothing more. He may have shared a great message, and there may be some amazing rumors circulating around about Him, but He is just a carpenter’s apprentice to them – not the Messiah, God’s Son.

Right at the moment that Jesus was receiving the greatest praise from men, He pushes them regarding who He truly is. Jesus starts with a compliment, but He ends with a challenging truth – and this challenge is one that you and I must answer for ourselves: Is Jesus God’s Son and promised Messiah or is He simply a carpenter’s apprentice and nothing more?