Reflective Bible Study

For a long time, I believed this entry’s passage to be only about God, about Jesus, and about witnessing.

However, while I still believe these things to be important in the theme for this passage, there is something else – a deeper theme – that is also true in this passage. I saw the theme one morning while studying, and it has shifted my thinking on my own walk with God.

The theme is a little easier to see if we take the two primary phrases that emphasize the theme and put them next to each other:

• “Your eye is like a lamp for your body.” (v. 34a)

• “So make sure that the light inside you is not darkness.” (v. 35)

Placing these two sentences next to each other reveals another way we can see this passage.

First, if we take Jesus’ words seriously, we see what we choose to look at affects our life. It is just like saying that the things we pay attention to will shape our thinking moving forward. The media we consume will change us. The books we read, the games we play, and the movies, videos, and television we watch will all shape our lives moving into the future. Jesus is sharing this with us as a big truth that we should pay attention to.

This first sentence sets the stage for the teaching between and leads to a key idea Jesus wants to emphasize in the second phrase, “Make sure that the light inside you is not darkness.” (v. 35)

On the surface, this second phrase doesn’t make sense: Light and darkness are opposites. Darkness only exists where light is not present, but as soon as light enters, the darkness leaves.

But this is where Jesus weaves a profound truth into His teaching: If we think the darkness inside of our lives is really light, we won’t seek out true light.

It also hints at the truth that everyone is sharing what they believe to be “light”, but not everything that is shared is true light. If we are living with darkness in our lives that we believe to be light, then we will work to spread that darkness as far as we can – counteracting the real light that God wants to share.

I don’t think anyone is immune to this temptation. There is always a temptation to stop short of growing closer to Jesus. He is the source of true light, and this means that we have a way to judge ideas that come our way. It is a simple test really: Does this idea lead me closer to Jesus, lead others in my life closer to Jesus, or build relationships/connections with others in a way that helps them see God living in me?

If the answer to the above question is yes, then the idea in question is most likely light.

If the answer is no, then the idea is darkness or irrelevant.

This brings us back to the first phrase: “Your eye is like a lamp for your body.”

Jesus cautions us to be extra careful about what we let into our lives, because the more darkness we let in, the less clear we will be able to see Him. By focusing on Jesus, we let light shine into our lives, and the darkness we have held onto will fade. Focusing on Jesus will help reprioritize the direction of our lives, and it is the only way we can truly move closer to Him.

At the start of the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, we find an interesting event that only John chose to include in his gospel. This event happens immediately following Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, and His arrival at the temple.

John then tells us that “there were some Greeks among the people who went up to worship during the feast. They came to ask Philip for a favor. Philip was from Bethsaida in Galilee. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip told Jesus.” (v. 20-22)

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t stand out in my mind, except that what follows doesn’t match what is said here. It would appear that right when Philip told Jesus that some visiting Greeks were looking to see Him, Jesus replied by saying, “the time has come for the Son of Man to receive glory.” (v. 23)

This statement is the start of Jesus’ next big message to the people, and nothing more is really said or implied about the Greeks in John’s earlier statements. While later on, we can see some of the gospels writers include details about the religious leaders wondering if Jesus would leave them and go witness to the Greeks in their own land; this speculation is about the only other time Greek people are mentioned in the gospels.

It is as though Jesus completely ignores the Greeks who wanted to see Him. While the gospels don’t directly tell us that Jesus went and saw these visiting Greeks or if He went out and shared the next verses in the part of the temple the Greeks were in (a.k.a. the outermost courtyard), we can learn a powerful truth in what John intentionally chose to include and exclude.

There was a reason John included these verses in His gospel, and I believe the reason is this: While these Greeks did not come with the goal of distracting Jesus from His mission, their presence and request was seen as a distraction in Jesus’ eyes. The cross was Jesus’ goal, and meeting with some Greeks did not in any way help Jesus accomplish what He came to this world to accomplish.

In John’s decision to include these verses, we see a Jesus who is intentional about where He placed His focus, and a Jesus who was very aware of the trap of distraction. While it isn’t nice to think about a Jesus who would appear to ignore people, this may have been what happened.

Jesus’ choice to not see these Greeks was for the ultimate good. Jesus’ death on the cross paid for not only the sins of the Jews, but also the sins of gentiles (including these Greeks), and the sins of you and I. If Jesus feels distant or if it feels like He is ignoring you or me, it may be because He has something bigger in mind that we cannot see from our limited perspective. It’s up to us to trust that He knows what is best in the big, eternal picture.

During one of Jesus’ prayers on the night He was arrested, He prays for the disciples and all of His future followers in the coming months, years, and centuries. It is in a portion of this prayer that we see a profound statement and mission for Jesus’ followers, and in this prayer, we have a promise we can claim for when trouble comes our way.

A little over half way through the prayer as John records it, Jesus prays, “Father, I don’t ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe from the evil one. They don’t belong to this world, and neither do I. Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours. I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. I have given myself completely for their sake, so that they may belong completely to the truth.” (v. 15-19)

What I find amazing in this prayer is that Jesus specifically asks the Father to keep us safe from the evil one. This is an incredible promise we can claim when we feel attacked or targeted by Satan. However, with that said, Jesus also notes that He is not asking God to remove His followers from the world. While that would be one way to keep them safe, it is not Jesus’ chosen method.

This portion of the prayer echoes our mission as disciples to be salt and light to the world. We cannot have a good influence on others if we are millions of light years away in heaven. We cannot share what God has done for us if we have been stolen away to heaven at the moment we accepted Jesus into our hearts. In a subtle way, Jesus also implies here that death does not immediately shift His followers into heaven – because that would also technically be taking them out of the world.

Instead, Jesus says that while we don’t belong to this world, we have been sent into it just as the Father had sent Jesus. This is an incredible mission and one that we only have a handful of decades in history to move forward. Jesus asks for protection for us from the evil one, and while this promise might not always seem to smooth challenges or problems out in our lives, through this request we can be assured that any negative that does come is something that God can turn into a positive if we let Him.

Jesus has sent us into the world, and while He specifically requests that the Father not remove us, He has prayed for our safety and protection from Satan. Through Jesus and the truth He shared from God, we are completely God’s and this means that this world does not have any claim on us. With God’s truth and gospel message, we are sent on a mission for Jesus into the world. Jesus gave Himself for each of us and each of us is invited to return the favor by giving our lives back to Him.

As I read the gospels, sometimes I get the feeling as though Jesus and His disciples were together 24/7, and there was only an occasional break, such as when He sends 72 followers out to the neighboring villages, or when He sends the disciples alone across the lake while He goes up onto the mountain to pray.

However, in my mind, I see these breaks as the exception rather than the rule. Which is why when I read this journal entry’s passage, I have to ask myself the question: “Where were Jesus’ disciples?”

After Jesus is baptized and He begins His public ministry, we really don’t see much interaction between Him and His earthly family. This passage is really one of only a few places where interaction is recorded.

Perhaps one reason Jesus limited His interactions with His family is because of the pressure they put on Him to reveal Himself as the promised Messiah, or maybe it is an entirely different reason.

What we do know from the context and surrounding chapters is that just prior to this family dialog, Jesus had just finished pushing most of His popular crowd away, and He had left the area to return “home” with only the core group of 12 disciples.

Looking at the progression of events, Jesus’ brothers must have wondered why He would have done this. After all, in their minds, a Messiah who was going to overthrow the Romans needed lots of people rallied together to fight. Getting such a crowd, then pushing them all away for not being committed enough seems like a very counterproductive move.

But then what about our own lives? Are there ever any times that we feel closer to Jesus than others? Are there times where we are in a spiritual high point that contrasts sharply from the spiritual lows we all face?

Perhaps when we don’t see the disciples in this passage, or when we don’t see Jesus’ brothers included in most of the gospel story, we can conclude that there are times when Jesus will be/feel closer, and times when He feels farther away. This doesn’t mean He cares any more or less about us, but it may mean that we have moved closer to or further away from Him.

There may be times we don’t feel close to Jesus, but this doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t still right beside us.