Reflective Bible Study

When reading this passage, I am amazed at what Jesus does when He starts His ministry. Not only does He move to what seems like it would be the most secular part of Israel, but He also has a very specific message that He chooses to share.

As our passage closes, we read how Jesus began His ministry, “From that time on Jesus began to preach. ‘Turn away from your sins!’ he said. ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’” (v. 17)

Not only does this message echo the preaching of John the Baptist, it actually picks up exactly where John left off. Our passage opens by saying, “John had been put in prison. When Jesus heard about this, he returned to Galilee.” (v. 12)

In many ways, we could immediately jump from verse 12 and skip down to verse 17. Verses 13-16 contain additional information that is interesting, but doesn’t really advance the narrative significantly.

But in the opening and closing verses of our passage, we see an interesting side of Jesus: Jesus picks up exactly where John’s ministry and message left off. In this way, I believe Jesus is subtly saying that John’s ministry was leading up into His ministry, and that His ministry is a continuation of what John was preaching.

Why is this information important for us today?

This helps emphasize the idea that Jesus is willing to start from where we are currently in our lives, and from wherever that point is, lead us from it to God. Jesus starts at the place where John the Baptist’s ministry ended so that those who were following John could transition their interest and focus onto Him.

Jesus wants to meet us where we are right now, because it is the perfect place for Him to begin His work in our lives.

Right in the middle of Jesus talking to His followers about money, He shifts His focus onto talking about worry. Right at the beginning of this transition, we find something fascinating in Jesus’ words.

Jesus opens this discussion on worry by saying, “So I tell you, don’t worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes.” (v. 25)

What I find amazing in this verse is Jesus’ key point: “Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes.” Intuitively, we know this, but if we were to look at culture today, too much of our lives are consumed by what we will eat and what we should wear. Intriguingly enough, these are probably the two biggest areas of life that cost money that we spend time thinking about. Things like our mortgage, car payments, other debt, and utility bills will easily cost more, but as a general rule, we spend much less time thinking about these big cost items then the smaller cost items of food and clothes.

Well, I guess I should put quotes around “smaller cost items”. With the way trends are going, food and clothing can get really expensive if you wanted it to. If one eats out (doesn’t matter where) for the majority of their meals each week, they will end up spending a lot more money than if they were to prepare all their meals at home. The same is true for clothing. There are some “designer” items that are outrageously priced, but I guess there are people who buy them because they carry a specific brand or a label.

But here at the heart of Jesus’ words is a big truth we should remember when facing the craziness of life: “Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes.” What we eat and what we wear are minor issues when looking at our lives from the big picture. Who we will be, and how we will be remembered are pretty big issues we should answer during our respective lifetimes. Where we spend eternity – now that may be the biggest issue we each must decide over the course of our life.

All too often, when more than one gospel includes an event, we tend to play favorites, and focus on only the gospel that we like the most. Unfortunately, it is this way with the grand conclusion to Jesus’ life on earth. All too often, we focus on Matthew’s gospel and the great commission as the big last event in Jesus life on earth before He returns to heaven. However, by focusing only on Matthew, we miss some interesting insights that we can find in how other gospels chose to finish their narratives.

While reading Luke’s conclusion, a verse stood out to me that I had never seen before. Perhaps this is because too often we stop reading Luke’s gospel following the road to Emmaus and Jesus appearing to the disciples in the upper room. But when we stop there, which is almost at the end, we will miss this amazing verse that Luke chooses to include.

Right in the middle of Luke’s conclusion we read: “Then Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (v. 45)

This verse is incredibly significant even though we may be tempted to gloss over it.

Up until this point, the disciples had a preconceived idea about who Jesus was, and about the Old Testament. Their point of view, aside from what Jesus had shared with them, was made up of a long chain of rabbis’ commentaries about what various scriptures meant. One rabbi would discover something in a passage, or look at a passage from a certain angle, and then the rabbis that followed afterwards would continue looking down that same path.

While this is not inherently bad, what becomes bad about it is when we stop being open to other insights or angles when looking at the scripture itself. If you only see a verse or passage one way every time you read it, then you will miss out on what God wants to help you discover.

But here is the great news: “Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (v. 45)

Each and every one of us, regardless of our past situations or opinion of the Bible, can learn, grow, and discover new things in the scripture when we let Jesus and the Holy Spirit into our minds while reading the Bible (a.k.a. the scriptures).

Whether you are one to accept this idea or not, we actually need Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help us understand the underlying themes in the Bible, because without Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the Bible becomes a history book full of stories and fables.

Jesus brings meaning to the Bible, and the Holy Spirit is the only way we can really, fully tap into the power that the Bible offers!

If Jesus ever shared a summary of His mission on earth, chances are that we would find it somewhere in His ministry, and perhaps we might even find it among the prophecies about Jesus from the Old Testament.

Well, one of the first things Jesus does when He steps onto the scene is draw our attention to this truth. In the gospel of Luke, we read Jesus quoting His mission from a prophecy that is found in the book of Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me.
   He has anointed me
      to announce the good news to poor people.
   He has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners.
      He has sent me so that the blind will see again.
   He wants me to set free those who are treated badly.
      And he has sent me to announce the year when he will set his people free.” (v. 18-19)

In this quotation from the Old Testament, we learn the role of the Messiah that God sent. In this prophecy, we have a clear picture of who Jesus would be while spending time on earth. We can see in these words Jesus’ mission.

This is not a mission that Jesus gave Himself following the temptations in the wilderness, but instead it was given to Him by God, in the form of a 700+ year old prophecy. And Jesus chooses to share this prophecy first in His hometown synagogue. This isn’t because He knows He’ll be accepted or even understood, but probably out of respect for those He grew up with.

It is the same with our lives. We can make up a goal or mission for our lives, or we can lean on God to show us His goal and mission for each of us. God created you and I for a reason and purpose, and because of this, we should seek to find out what His mission for us is and then do it.

This Old Testament prophecy Jesus shared summarizes His earthly ministry, and it is the test we can use regarding whether Jesus was really the One God sent to be our representative and our sacrifice. Only by spending time with God will He help us discover the mission He created us to live!