Reflective Bible Study

Part of me wonders if Jesus ever got tired of the Pharisees and other religious leaders challenging Him about things He and His followers did or did not do. While many times, the Pharisees are upset for something that is done that they don’t feel is right, we can learn something powerful in Jesus’ response during one of the times they challenged Jesus’ disciples over what they did not do.

In this event, the Pharisees challenge Jesus’ followers over not washing their hands before they eat. While a rule about washing one’s hands seems very petty while also being sanitary, the Pharisees had taken this health instruction and made it into a spiritual requirement.

Jesus’ response to their challenge may seem to go overboard, but instead of simply answering the question that is on the surface, Jesus challenges the foundation that had prompted the question. He even quotes from the prophet Isaiah who said:

“All of you praise me
    with your words,
but you never really
    think about me.
It is useless for you
    to worship me,
when you teach rules
    made up by humans.” (v. 6-7 [Isaiah 29:13])

Jesus then goes on to describe some of the ways these religious people had elevated their rules over God’s laws. However, Isaiah’s words, and his description of the people, are what stand out to me.

Isaiah describes a group of people who praise God with their words, but they really don’t think about what they are doing. While Jesus takes Isaiah’s description and applies it to people in the first century, I wonder if the same could be said for many of those living today.

The phrase that stands out in Isaiah’s description is when He quotes God saying, “It is useless for you to worship me”. When we look at how this quote is structured the uselessness of these people’s worship is connected to the fact that they are not thinking about God.

Why is this?

The opening and closing phrases tell us. The people talk a good talk, but their actions tell a different message. Their thoughts are on things that are not aligned with God, which makes their worship useless.

This passage emphasizes and reminds me that talk is cheap, but when our thoughts, words, and actions are aligned together, then our worship to God will be useful, meaningful, and beneficial for both God and us.

One of the topics Jesus seemed to like using for parables was the topic of farming. In a number of places in the gospels, we can read Jesus using this occupation to help teach the crowds about spiritual truths. In Mark’s gospel, we read a parable about farming that sounds similar to other farming parables, but is also pretty unique.

In this parable, Jesus begins in verse 26 by saying, “Here is what God’s kingdom is like.” This preface tells me that everything that is about to be described will symbolically relate to God’s kingdom. A good percentage of Jesus’ parables begin this way, so we can conclude that this subject is something that Jesus wants us to understand.

Jesus then continues by sharing the illustration. “A farmer scatters seed on the ground. Night and day the seed comes up and grows. It happens whether the farmer sleeps or gets up. He doesn’t know how it happens. All by itself the soil produces grain. First the stalk comes up. Then the head appears. Finally, the full grain appears in the head. Before long the grain ripens. So the farmer cuts it down, because the harvest is ready.” (v. 26b-29)

What strikes me as odd in this parable is that in almost every other parable were God’s kingdom is represented, God shows up as one of the characters. In this parable, the most likely character to represent God is the farmer, but Jesus describes the farmer has being ignorant about how grain grows – and since God knows everything, this doesn’t seem to fit.

But perhaps there is an element of mystery in a being created with free will. While God can step outside of time and see the future and the past, when He is within time, in the moment we are experiencing right now, I wonder if He experiences surprise or excitement when we do something unexpected.

In this parable, God plants seeds in our hearts, and He tries to give the right set of circumstances to help these seeds grow. At the end of our lives, when we have fully “ripened”, God will harvest us. This is because our current life is simply a preparation stage for the life to come.

I wonder if the farmer’s ignorance is because God has chosen to allow us the freedom of choice regarding salvation. I wonder if God has purposely limited Himself to allow us to choose whether we will grow the seeds He has planted in our hearts. If we grow the grain He planted, and produce “fruits of the spirit”, then when we are ripe, we will be harvested and brought into the future life in heaven to live with Him forever!

In the days that followed Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Jerusalem to have Him dedicated. In their trip to the temple, there are some interesting things that stand out in my mind – especially knowing what Jesus ultimately faces 30+ years later.

Luke tells us that “At that time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. He was a good, God-fearing man and was waiting for Israel to be saved. The Holy Spirit was with him and had assured him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s promised Messiah.” (v. 25-26)

I have always pictured Simeon as being one of the priests on duty at the temple for Jesus’ dedication, but according to what Luke tells us, Simeon was simply a God-fearing man who the Holy Spirit was with. “Led by the Spirit, Simeon went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus into the Temple to do for him what the Law required, Simeon took the child in his arms and gave thanks to God.” (v. 27-28)

What really stands out in my mind is that too often, we are quick to believe that those in Jerusalem had fallen away from God because of how the priests and leaders treated Jesus. However, in this passage, at the time of Jesus’ birth, we see a glimpse of someone (Luke does not give him a title) who God was with and who God had promised would live to see the Messiah arrive.

In the description of Simeon, we see hope for God’s chosen people, even if many of the leaders were unwilling to accept the Messiah who had recently arrived. In Simeon’s life, we can see a promise from God about seeing the Messiah arrive. In this promise, we can see God’s direction, His leading, and the choice on our part to follow. Simeon was led by the Spirit at exactly the right time to meet Jesus, and He was one of the first to truly grasp that this baby was the Messiah that God had promised to send to His people.

Almost everywhere Jesus and His followers traveled, another group of people seemed to continually show up. While these people were not followers of Jesus in the typical sense, it would seem that they definitely followed Him around. Their goal was to catch Jesus doing something wrong.

This group of people were the Pharisees, and one Sabbath Jesus and His followers were walking through a grain field. A few of Jesus’ followers picked some grain, rubbed it in their hands to remove the husk, and ate it. While this was low on the scale of effort, it was still classified as work, so the Pharisees who were following along challenged the group of followers by saying, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?” (v. 2)

Instead of focusing in on Jesus’ response, which doesn’t excuse His follower’s actions, but challenges the position these Pharisees had taken towards the law, let’s focus on the challenge these Pharisees gave.

The Pharisees had created so many rules that they had laws to keep them from breaking other laws. The “unlawful” action these followers did was one such law that was intended to keep them from breaking the very sacred Sabbath rest that God had commanded. Where the Pharisees’ became legalistic and critical was that they elevated their set of laws to be equal with God’s laws. The Pharisees expected the people to obey the laws that they had created so there would be no possible way to break God’s laws.

However, this was more of an outward projection rather than them living to their own standard. If a Pharisee slipped and broke one of their rules, then they could be forgiven, because at least they didn’t break God’s law. If someone else broke a Pharisee’s rule, then they were treated like they had broken God’s law. In a Pharisee’s mind, obeying the rules was more important than building a relationship.

In our own lives two thousand years later, there are people who follow this same train of thought. In the 21st century, there are people who would prefer to project their beliefs onto others as though they were speaking on God’s behalf.

But God doesn’t put rules ahead of relationships. Jesus came to show us that God values us just as much as He values His rules. Jesus came to take our place because God loves us so much. God doesn’t simply put us ahead of the rules, He placed the rules ahead of Himself, before also placing us ahead of Himself too. God placed us ahead of Himself, and He demonstrated this through Jesus coming on the cross to die for our sins.