Reflective Bible Study

As Jesus approached Jerusalem for the final time before being crucified, Luke’s gospel describes how as He approached the city, Jesus wept for it. Part of the reason Jesus cried at this point in His ministry was because He knew what would happen to it in several decades when it would be surrounded and destroyed – with many people still hiding inside.

However, Jesus also cried because of another phrase Luke includes in His gospel record of this event. Luke tells us Jesus began His message to Jerusalem by saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it!” (v. 42)

It is interesting in my mind that Jesus would use the word peace in His message to this city. At that time, even while there was political unrest, when compared to other points in history, Jerusalem was experiencing peace because those living there were not trying to rebel against Rome.

However, while the people had one type of peace, I believe Jesus is speaking here on multiple levels. While those living in Jerusalem had peace from military aggression, most people living in the city likely were missing peace in their hearts and lives.

Many of us miss out on this peace as well. Living busy lives 2,000 years later, most of us live in areas that are more peaceful than other parts of the world, but we take this type of peace for granted and instead focus on other things that are less peaceful. For many of us, we unknowingly focus on things that rob us of peace. Think with me for a moment what portions of a typical day include time we could call peaceful. If you have not incorporated times of peace in your schedule, then I’m positive that your life doesn’t have any times where you can stop and experience peace. Peaceful moments don’t demand our attention, and when we focus on the things demanding our time, we miss out on experiencing peace.

When Jesus opened His message for Jerusalem by talking about peace, I believe this is because Jesus is the only one who can bring true peace into a city, a culture, a community, or even into an individual’s life. By focusing on Jesus, we can experience peace because Jesus has done everything for us that is important from an eternal perspective, and all we have left to do is be thankful and help others like God has helped us.

Culture tries to rob our peace by distracting us from spending time with Jesus, but when we push culture’s demands back in order to spend time with God each day, we will experience a peace that few in this world truly understand.

Jesus knows what we need to experience peace, and He offers it to those who follow Him each day.

While reading Matthew 24:26-35 for this journal entry, a verse or phrase didn’t really stand out like with other passages in other journal entries. But what did stand out is a big theme that spans the broad teaching that this passage concludes.

Probably more single space is given to Jesus teaching us about what will happen in the end time than most any other teaching Jesus gave in the gospels. Three of the gospel writers include it, and most give it a very prominent place right before crucifixion week.

It is as though, knowing that the time He can spend with His disciples is growing to a close, Jesus begins to shift the topics that He talks about onto teaching about what to pay attention to after He is gone.

I believe Jesus knew that there would be thousands of years of history after His return to heaven, but instead of saying that directly, He described the condition of the world as it would be during those years. In the conclusion, our passage for this journal entry, He describes how He will return again, and what that would be like.

Using grand language and earth shattering imagery, Jesus wants us to know that His return will be nothing like His first appearance, and He does not want us to be deceived. He wants us to be ready, to see the world events that are happening around us, and to know that God’s kingdom is near. (Luke 21:31)

The big theme that I see listed here is this: God does not want us to be scared or surprised when we see bad things happen in the world. Instead, He wants us to focus on His character, on the truth that He is in control, and on the promise that Jesus is returning.

Part way through Jesus ministry, He shared an illustration about lighting a lamp and the importance of letting the lamp’s light shine. In this illustration, Jesus gives us an interesting comparison that is incredibly relevant and profound when we stop to think about it.

In the middle of this message, Jesus tells those listening, “Your eye is like a lamp for your body. Suppose your eyes are healthy. Then your whole body also is full of light. But suppose your eyes can’t see well. Then your body also is full of darkness.” (v. 34)

When reading Jesus’ words in this verse, I cannot help but see the similarities between our eyes and our perspective. Jesus calls our eyes “lamps” for our bodies, and with this in mind, if we focus on things that are positive and uplifting, then we will have a positive and uplifting outlook on life. In a similar way, if we focus on negative or unhealthy things, then we will have a negative and unhealthy view of life.

However, when we know how powerful our perspective and focus are, are we the healthiest we can be when we exclusively focus on the good while shunning all the bad – or is this simply a recipe for becoming naïve?

In this passage, healthy eyes are contrasted with “eyes that cannot see well”. This isn’t the same as being blind, but it is one way of saying that our eyes become blind to certain things. I wonder if someone who turns a blind eye to the negatives around them is just as guilty of having unhealthy eyes as the person who cannot see the positives in any situation. In each case, the person’s eyes are blind to the other person’s perspective.

If this is the case, then perhaps the healthiest plan forward is to train our eyes to show us the good and the bad. If we begin to see more bad than good, challenge yourself to shift your focus onto looking for more good, and this could include reading the Bible for encouragement and inspiration or simply turning off negative or draining media. Another idea/challenge to stop seeing the negative sides of reality is to step outside our doors and look for someone we can help who is in need. Helping others lifts our spirits.

Our lives are a mix of the positives and negatives, and the healthiest we can be is when we choose to open our eyes to both sides of life, focus on the positive, and where possible, find ways to help, accept, or change the negatives into positives.

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, Mark’s gospel describes a time where some Pharisees come to Jesus and test Him by demanding a sign. While Jesus responds to a similar scenario in Matthew’s gospel by pointing forward to a sign, in the event we find in Mark’s gospel, we see a different response from Jesus.

Mark tells us that one of the times Jesus was pressured to perform a miraculous sign from heaven, “Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, ‘Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.’” (v. 12)

After answering this demand, Jesus simply gets into the boat and crosses to the other side of the lake.

It is profound to think about how Mark describes Jesus’ reaction. Mark tells us first that Jesus “sighed deeply in His spirit”. This is significant to think about because we can imagine in our mind’s eye Jesus letting out a long, deep sigh as the weight and implications of the request hits Him.

However, what Jesus says when He ultimately answers the challenge is amazing. The Pharisees are demanding a sign so that they can know if He is from God, and Jesus denies their request while grouping them with their entire generation.

What is incredible to think about is that while Jesus refused to give these leaders a clear sign like what they were wanting, the generation they were in was the one that received most of the signs. To those who were paying attention, almost every prophecy was being fulfilled in one way or another through Jesus’ life, and while many prophecies focused on His death, those paying attention could clearly see God moving powerfully through Jesus’ life and ministry. In a strange almost ironic twist, those living in that generation missed seeing what every other generation wished they could have been present to witness!

Jesus refuses to give that generation a sign because they were closed to the idea that God was already giving signs all around them. If these religious people were not perceptive enough to recognize the signs God had already given, no miraculous sign from heaven would be enough to convince them Jesus was sent from God.

If we demand God prove Himself to us through specific signs, we are likely to be disappointed. However, if we look for signs that He is moving in the world around us, we will have more than enough evidence that He exists and that He loves each of us!