Reflective Bible Study

If there was ever a moment that, as a group, the Pharisees felt defeated by Jesus, it is probably in this passage. There are plenty of places where we read about questions or tricks that they unsuccessfully challenged Jesus with, but following the event in this passage, we read a very revealing phrase that only John includes in his gospel.

Following the great celebration where Jesus rides a young donkey into Jerusalem, John includes a little side-note about who the crowd was, the crowd’s response, and the Pharisees reaction to what was happening. John tells us, “Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!’” (v. 17-19)

While the Pharisee’s statement is interesting, the really big lesson we can learn is from the crowd itself.

John tells us the crowd started with those who had witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus, and they were the biggest evangelists of Jesus in that region. John says that, “Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign [resurrecting Lazarus], went out to meet him.” (v. 18)

This leads us to one of the big things we can learn in this passage/event: Personal evangelism has always been one of the most effective ways of sharing. It was this way in the first century, and it is still this way today. A solid network of dedicated fans can draw more people in than the best mass-marketing efforts available. In Jesus’ case, His network of fans prompted the Pharisees to say that it felt like “the whole world has gone after Him!” – The more we lift Jesus up – pointing people to Him and what He has done for us – the more effective our evangelism and sharing will be.

In the event we are looking closely at in this journal entry, we come across all four gospels including Peter’s big failure on the night Jesus was arrested. This was an event Jesus predicted would happen just hours before, and it happened just as Jesus said it would.

This leads us to a question that has implications for us all: Would Peter have denied Jesus if Jesus hadn’t said anything? Or in other words, did Jesus’ prediction change the course of the events of that night and take away Peter’s free will to choose a different path?

These are questions that we must answer if we want to understand more about God’s nature, and these the questions are found in the heart of the idea of predestination – which can be described as God knowing whether someone will be saved or lost before they are even born. Does predestination take away a person’s freedom of choice?

We could frame what happened in this event a different way.

Jesus knew Peter’s future. Jesus knew who Peter was and what Peter would become in the coming years. Jesus also knew Peter was about to make the biggest mistake of his life – one that he would regret for the rest of his life.

Jesus knew that regardless of the details surrounding how Peter chose to deny Him, Peter was going to directly separate himself from Jesus at three separate points. Nothing Jesus would say or not say would change that – however, by saying what would happen, Jesus offers Peter a warning and a direct, personal reason to place even more faith in Him when their relationship would be restored in the coming week(s). And, by giving Peter the clear warning on the front end, Jesus helps Peter break some of the pride in His heart, because if you fail in a huge way, right after Jesus warns you about it, you basically don’t deserve the prestigious position as leader of the disciples.

Perhaps Peter had let his position as the vocal one in the core group of three disciples get to him. In many ways, he was the unofficial leader of this group of Jesus followers – and a “second-in-command” position like this likely had allowed some pride to creep into His heart. A huge failure after a direct warning and prediction about it had the potential to re-humble the most famous of Jesus’ disciples.

Jesus does know the future, but just because Jesus can see our actions and choices before we make them doesn’t mean that He is predestining us to make good or bad decisions. Jesus didn’t want Peter to deny Him, but it would have happened whether Jesus had said something or not.

In our event in this passage, Jesus arrives at the temple just days before He would be arrested and crucified. Upon entering the temple courtyard, Jesus sees it as a marketplace more than a place for worship, and it bothers Him.

He chases the moneychangers and everyone who is buying and selling out, before sitting down to teach, heal, and point people to God.

What I find incredibly interesting about this event is that this was during the week. With how legalistic and rule-following the religious leaders were on the Sabbath, we can easily assume there was no commerce happening on the Sabbath day of the week. However, the other six days were likely interpreted as being free days where the temple was just another gathering place.

While the “commerce” that was happening was loosely related to worship, it had fallen far from what God had intended. The people Jesus threw out of the temple saw church as a business, instead of seeing it as a place for people to worship God.

Jesus tells those present, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you’re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!” (v. 13)

Looking at when Jesus says these words, I get the impression that our churches and the places we worship should be places of prayer – places where we can go to focus on God regardless of the day of the week. I wonder if we are limiting our idea of church to simply being a place we go once on the weekend, and maybe once during the week, when Jesus has something bigger in mind?

The event we are focusing in on is really a side-note in several of the gospels. This side-note covers what ultimately happened to John the Baptist, and while this is a sad event in several ways, there are some key things we can learn from this event.

Probably one of the biggest things we can learn is from Herod’s mistake. While setting up what actually happened, we read the following about Herod and his thoughts towards John the Baptist: “Herod himself had ordered his soldiers to arrest John and put him in prison in order to please his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother, but then Herod had married her. John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to be married to your brother’s wife.” So Herodias hated John and wanted to kill him. But she couldn’t, because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew John was a good and holy man. Also, though John’s preaching always bothered him, he enjoyed listening to John.” (v. 17-20)

So we have a husband and wife divided over whether this popular preacher should be allowed to live, and now we have the background information needed to move into the event that changed everything.

Herod had a birthday party and Herodias’ daughter comes in and dances for Herod and his guests. The dance is so well received that Herod gives the girl a blank check for anything up to half his kingdom. The girl consults with her mother, leading to the ultimate request of John the Baptist’s head being given on a platter.

We then read Herod’s reaction: “Although the king was very sad, he had made a promise, and his dinner guests had heard it. So he did not want to refuse what she asked.” (v. 26)

The big thing we can learn from Herod’s big mistake is this: Be careful what you promise. You may end up being held to your word against your wishes. Herod’s reputation was on the line, and while he kept his promise, if he had known what the request would have been, chances are he would have framed his promise differently.