Reflective Bible Study

Leading up to the week of Jesus’ crucifixion, Jesus gives two of His followers a very strange sounding set of instructions. While technically “borrowing”, Jesus asks them to go and take a colt from the town they were passing, without asking permission, and if someone questions them, they should simply tell them that “The Master” needs it.

Here’s how Mark describes Jesus’ instructions. Jesus tells these two disciples, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a colt tied, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here to me. If anyone asks you why you are doing this, tell him its Master needs the colt, and he will send it at once.” (v. 2-3)

Mark then goes on to describe how these two disciples follow Jesus’ instructions and find everything Jesus said exactly as He described – including being questioned by some people about them taking the colt. Mark tells us that this colt was not alone, and that “some people were standing there and asked, ‘What are you doing? Why are you untying that colt?’ The followers answered the way Jesus told them to answer, and the people let them take the colt.” (v. 5-6)

Perhaps those present were not the owners of the colt or even hired hands. They may have been shop owners discussing whose colt this was. Or it could have been the new servant who didn’t know many of the other servants. Whatever the case, a longstanding servant, or even a servant who had served the owner for a while would be able to identify other servants, and that these two disciples were not servants of the colt’s owner.

What I find amazing in this event is that these disciples are able to follow Jesus’ instructions perfectly, and that Jesus knew exactly what needed to be said for them to be able to borrow the colt for His grand entrance into Jerusalem. The disciples could have tried to talk Jesus out of His plan, or they could have second guessed Him that His suggested response was weak, but they don’t. These two followers simply move forward with the task and instructions given.

This also tells me that sometimes, I will only understand what Jesus wants me to do in my own life by actually stepping forward and doing it. Sometimes, the explanation and reason for an action or habit are only truly understood after having lived it. Too often, people try to rationalize and second guess Jesus when they should really test His words with actions.

During the last real conversation Jesus had with His disciples before being arrested and crucified, the disciples make a statement that is amazingly relevant for all of us living after their generation. While Jesus was trying to help them understand that they were about to be separated, He wanted to make sure that they knew they would see Him again.

But while trying to communicate this with the disciples, John tells us that the disciples talked with each other saying, “We don’t understand what he is saying.” (v. 18b)

This is important for all of us living today because all too often, if Jesus says something that we don’t understand, we are quick to either minimize it, or simply ignore it in favor of what we do understand. However, if there are too many things that are confusing or simply unbelievable to our rational minds, then the temptation is that we may not be able to trust Him.

Jesus knew that in a few hours, everything would be different. The disciples will have all ran away, and He would be facing a trial before being sentenced to death. There was no time to allow them to be confused, so Jesus calls them out on their confusion, and tries to explain it again.

The amazing thing in this passage is that Jesus is patient with the disciples. Jesus is willing to look past their closed minds knowing that after the resurrection, the Holy Spirit will remind them of everything He had said and then it would all make sense.

For me living approximately 2,000 years later, the big thing this passage teaches me is that just because I don’t understand something Jesus said or something that God did does not make Him untrustworthy. God does not want us to be confused, and He is patient and willing to explain His truth to us if we will let Him. Rarely does anything make complete sense during the moments it is happening, but only hindsight can clarify the actual results of a statement, decision, or event. Sometimes, time can allow trust to build, and this happens best when we assume that God has our best interests in mind. With this frame of mind, we begin to see all of His blessings, and His blessings are then able to overshadow life’s challenges and cynicism.

In one of the most unusual miracles Jesus ever performed, when reading about how it happened, it almost seemed like Jesus really didn’t want to do it. This miracle is only recorded in John’s gospel, and very little is known about what happened outside of what John chose to include in his gospel. I’m not sure we even know who was getting married, but what we do know is that this marriage ceremony ran into a serious problem.

Well, in retrospect, the problem probably wasn’t that serious. If it were a life or death situation, then it’s unlikely Jesus would have been called in to help. This event happened before Jesus had done any miracles and there was no fame, glory, or even a track record to lean on.

Just because Jesus hadn’t performed any miracles didn’t stop Mary, Jesus’ mother, from bringing this problem to Him. John tells us the problem and what Mary did: “When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine.’” (v. 3)

And Jesus doesn’t really help the situation with His response: “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” (v. 4)

If we take this problem and place it next to the huge problems in the world, it looks incredibly petty. If we place this problem next to Jesus’ big mission for His life, this problem looks insignificant. Outside of a handful of people, this event running out of wine would be forgotten at most months or a few years after the event had happened, and even bringing it up weeks later would be for more humorous purposes. In comparison, Jesus’ mission has eternal significance, and one misstep could cause the entire plan of salvation to fail.

However, Mary is not discouraged. She tells the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (v. 5)

In Mary’s actions we see an incredible witness. Jesus may have not intended to perform a miracle here, but Mary pushes Jesus’ hand and she has faith in His ability to get them out of this socially awkward situation. Mary may not have expected a miracle. She may have simply know Jesus to be very intelligent and capable of solving unsolvable problems. In an odd sort of way, Mary’s request is a precursor to the tricks and traps of the Pharisees and religious leaders. It’s an unsolvable problem for those who don’t have merchant friends after the sun has set and the shops are closed.

But Jesus bends His plans to help this situation. While He may have been saving the first miracle to be a significant one on a bigger scale than this, what ultimately happens with this miracle is that Jesus shares a different and fascinating picture of God’s character. In this miracle, Jesus demonstrates God’s love for us when facing struggles, problems, and difficult situations, and He wants to help us where we are.

Jesus’ first miracle helped an unknown host with a socially awkward problem that seemed huge in the moment but was ultimately insignificant in the big picture. This says that when we face huge challenges in our own lives, God is willing to step in and help out when we ask. We might not think our problem is in His desire to solve, but Jesus is more interested in helping us, the individual, than on the details of the problem.

Two times in Jesus’ ministry, we read about Him chasing people out of the temple. During the first time He threw people out of the temple, Jesus says an interesting phrase that is important for us to remember. While we often focus in on the second time Jesus cleared the temple (which happened during the week He was crucified), there is a unique quality that make’s John’s record of this temple cleansing important for us living today.

On coming up to Jerusalem and the temple for the Passover feast, Jesus enters the temple. “In the temple courtyard he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves. Others were sitting at tables exchanging money. So Jesus made a whip out of ropes. He chased all the sheep and cattle from the temple courtyard. He scattered the coins of the people exchanging money. And he turned over their tables.” (v. 14-15)

When reading this, we are quick to jump to the other gospels to look for an answer. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Jesus’ quotation from the Old Testament where He says, “It is written that the Lord said, ‘My house will be called a house where people from all nations can pray.’ But you have made it a ‘den for robbers.’” (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46)

We are quick to point out that dishonesty drove Jesus to clear out the temple, but these three gospels happen at the end of Jesus’ ministry. John’s gospel shares a different reason Jesus gives for this early-in-His-ministry temple cleansing.

John tells us in His gospel that Jesus told His reason to those selling doves. John says that Jesus said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” (v. 16)

Were the merchants in the temple being dishonest in John’s event? Probably, but here, Jesus does not mention anything to make us think this was His reason. Jesus’ reason for being upset is that these people were “turning [the temple] into a market.” (v. 16)

Jesus was upset by the commerce that was happening in the temple courtyard. This wasn’t outside of the temple, but on property that was owned by the temple and it would have been the first thing visitors would have seen when entering the temple. People who would be coming to pray and worship would have to weave their way through the crowds of merchants to simply find a quiet place to be with God.

Does Jesus hate commerce? Absolutely not when it is done in an ethical way, but in this passage we can find a key idea present for His actions here.

When we look at what God has done for us, and what Jesus has done for us, these are gifts we have been given. Life and salvation cost us nothing. God is a God who gives first, and if we choose to return, then we can choose to do so.

But commerce is all about exchange. Exchanges cost something. We give some money and we then get some item, object, or service. Commerce does not reflect God, but it does reflect society and social interactions.

Jesus is upset with the commerce in the temple because it was pulling people’s focus away from God. It was bringing what was common, ordinary, and typical of every day of the week into God’s home among people and implying that there is nothing distinguishing it from any other place one could go.

In a sort of similar way, churches today fill the role the temple and synagogues played in the first century. Churches today are places where we can go when wanting to feel closer to God. I wonder if we should pay more attention in our own lives and churches on this idea of distinguishing the common from the holy, and society’s commerce from God’s priceless gifts for us.