Reflective Bible Study

When I read the gospels, I am fascinated at how each gospel writer opens their narrative:

Matthew begins tracing Jesus’ ancestors all the way up from Abraham.

Luke begins by sharing how he has researched and organized Jesus’ life through interviewing eyewitnesses and those who were directly connected to Jesus.

John begins with a look at Jesus’ divinity and it echo’s Genesis’ creation account.

But Mark simply makes an opening statement before transitioning to introducing John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus at the start of His ministry.

While it is not all that glamorous or interesting to read, Mark opens his gospel by saying, “This is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (v. 1)

Whether the reader believes that Jesus Christ was God’s Son or not, Mark shares that this is his conclusion after what he has learned, seen, and experienced. Mark opens his gospel by stating the topic in a simple and direct way before diving right into the narrative – and this is important for us to pay attention to.

From how Mark opens his gospel, we are reminded that sometimes it is best to simply come right to the point we are trying to make. In today’s culture, there is the belief that we must be creative, different, or stretch the lines in some way in order to be noticed. Instead, Mark says to keep it simple, straight-forward, and clear.

If we were to draw a motto from how Mark introduces us to Jesus, we could say something like: “Clarity beats creativity”, “Communicating clearly is better than communicating cleverly”, or “If you can only pick one thing, pick clarity”.

Mark reminds us that clarity, especially with topics that people can get very opinionated about, is much better than trying to overly be creative. If there is a way that creativity can help a presentation be clearer, then that is great, but when deciding whether to make a presentation, letter, or message clear or clever, choose to make it clear first.

While Judas Iscariot is looked down on as the disciple who betrayed Jesus, the gospel of Matthew includes the final act of this disciple’s life. The events surrounding Judas’ betrayal happen over a relatively short period of time. It may have even been less than a week between the time when Judas first thought about betrayal and Jesus’ arrest.

But Jesus knew that He would be betrayed even before starting His ministry. Jesus even knew it would be Judas Iscariot who would be the one to betray Him when bringing Him in to the group of twelve disciples.

Some people believe that Judas’ betrayal was his way of trying to force Jesus’ hand. None of the disciples believed Jesus intended to face the cross. In their minds, the Messiah God promised would live forever – never facing death. In Judas’ mind, the thought is that an arrest by the Jewish leaders would push Jesus into taking the Messiah role that Judas believed He should step into.

Matthew tells us what happened to Judas after realizing Jesus was not moving away from death. “Then Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, regretted what had happened when he saw that Jesus was condemned. He brought the 30 silver coins back to the chief priests and leaders. He said, ‘I’ve sinned by betraying an innocent man.’” (v. 3-4a)

Judas realizes what he had done and he regrets his decision. Before leaving, he throws the money back at the chief priests in the temple.

Was this enough to cause him to turn back to Jesus and ask for forgiveness?

Was the regret simply that Jesus did not step up like Judas believed He should have?

I don’t think we really can know what happened in Judas’ mind at the realization that Jesus was condemned and was headed to the cross. We can see that he returned the money the priests had paid him, and in his words to them, he acknowledges his sin.

But there were four deaths that weekend. After leaving the temple, Matthew tells us that Judas “went away and hanged himself.” (v. 5)

In the list of people we should thank, we truly can thank Judas Iscariot. By betraying Jesus, which kick-started the events of crucifixion weekend, Judas’ actions ultimately led to Jesus’ death, and Jesus’ innocent death opened the way for everyone who has sinned to come to the Father for forgiveness.

As Jesus’ ministry is drawing to its grand conclusion, all four gospel writers focus on a key event in the last hours of Jesus’ life before the cross: the ultimate judgment that is placed on Jesus. It is during this trial and sentencing that each gospel writer draws different details leading up to this moment.

Whether it is how this translation is worded, both Matthew and Mark bring out an idea I had not thought before regarding Pilate and His question to the crowd. Mark tells us that Pilate “He knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they wanted to get their own way.” (v. 10)

This stands out because just a few verses earlier Mark tells us that “The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.” (v. 8)

Reading this key distinction, and knowing that Jesus was primarily loved by the people across the country, I wonder if Pilate believed the crowd present at this point of Passover weekend to be a good cross-section of Jews from all regions. It is interesting that the crowd asks for the release of a prisoner according to Mark, and I wonder if Pilate sees it as an opening to release Jesus who he knows is innocent.

This is where Matthew brings out an interesting parallel between Jesus and the other candidate for release. The man known as Barabbas was also named Jesus. “At that time they had a well-known prisoner named Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd gathered, Pilate asked them, ‘Which one do you want me to set free? Jesus Barabbas? Or Jesus who is called the Messiah?’” (Matthew 27:16-17)

The trial on crucifixion morning centers around the choice of which Jesus will the crowd choose: Jesus the criminal-revolutionary or Jesus the Messiah. Pilate believes the crowd would pick Jesus the Messiah, but the crowd is not what Pilate thinks. Mark tells us that “the chief priests stirred up the crowd. So the crowd asked Pilate to let Barabbas go free instead.” (v. 11)

The question that the crowd faced that day is the same question we all face: Which Jesus will you and I choose?

Will we choose Jesus Barabbas, who tried to force his own way into being a messiah; or will we choose Jesus Christ, who chose to leave heaven and die on a cross as a substitute for us?

The priests and leaders chose Barabbas to be their “Jesus”, but that doesn’t mean that you and I have to make the same mistake.

During one of the times Jesus visited the temple, the religious leaders demand to know what gave Jesus the right to do what He did. These leaders wanted to know who gave Jesus the authority to speak and act the way He did.

However, while this sounds petty, it is actually a trap in disguise. The two possible answers are from God, or from a human. Either way Jesus answers, He incriminates Himself. Saying His authority is from God would be seen as blasphemy, but saying His authority is from a human would both be lying and it would cause Him to lose credibility.

But Jesus can see the trap, and He has a response. Jesus asks a similar counter-question with the same two options: Was John given the right to baptize from God or from a human?

It is in the Pharisees response and Jesus’ final statement that I see a big idea.

After talking it over, the Pharisees respond by saying, “We don’t know.” (v. 27a)

The Pharisees fake ignorance because they don’t want to admit they share a different belief than the crowd. The crowd believed the answer to Jesus’ counter-question to be God, and the Pharisees were worried that if they answered contrary to the popular belief surrounding John, then they would upset the crowd.

Knowing full well that these leaders were simply avoiding the question, Jesus responds by saying: “Then I won’t tell you who gave me the right to do what I do.” (v. 27b)

While the leaders’ fake ignorance, Jesus simply says He won’t share His answer. Jesus does have an answer, but He sidesteps the question – because it is one that is better for Him not to directly answer.

Jesus could have simply responded that He got His authority from the same place as John, but that would have given an answer that would play to the biased beliefs of each group of people present. Instead of trying to be clever, Jesus simply calls out the fake answer, and says that it isn’t good enough to get a response from Him.

This also tells me that sometimes it is okay to admit that we don’t know, but it is never okay to sidestep the issue of who Jesus is to us personally.