Reflective Bible Study

As Jesus approached the last week before facing the cross, two of His disciples came to Him with a request. By this point, all the disciples likely were sensing Jesus’ ministry leading towards one single moment, and the only thing they could conclude based on their preconceived ideas is that He would launch the campaign against the Romans and make the nation of Israel independent again.

The request these two disciples make is selfish, but also understandable. They ask Jesus, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” (v. 37)

However, Jesus’ response is interesting. First, He asks them a counter-question, which they respond to, and after this, Jesus responds to their initial request by saying: “I don’t have the authority to grant you a seat at my right or left. Those positions have already been prepared for certain people.” (v. 40)

When I read this event knowing that Jesus would be on a cross not to long afterwards, it is hard to not see the disconnect with what these disciples ask and what they think they are asking. These disciples think they are asking for the places of most honor in a typical king’s kingdom, but they don’t realize that Jesus’ kingdom is different, and that when He receives His glory, it will look entirely different.

Jesus breaks both sides of the bad news to these disciples by saying that He doesn’t have the authority to grant their request and that those positions have already been reserved for certain people.

This leads me to wonder who these “certain people” were.

The highest point in Jesus’ ministry where He has individuals on His left and His right happens not long after this event. During this high point, Jesus is hanging on the cross with two criminals, one on His right and one on His left. This means that the point when Jesus was glorified, He was among the worst people in society and among those that the world condemned.

I am sure that these two disciples would not have asked the question they did if they knew Jesus would be glorified on a cross. While these disciples each faced trials, persecution, and death because they dedicated their lives to Jesus, it was only after Jesus’ death on the cross that they truly began to understand what His true mission was.

For us living today, Jesus’ message to these disciples is as true for us as it was for them. Jesus warns His followers to not seek power, fame, or position over others, because they might not realize what they are truly asking for. Instead, Jesus tells each of His followers that they should focus on serving like He served, because when we ask God for help serving, He is more than willing to grant our request!

In this journal entry’s passage/parable, a powerful challenge is given regarding our perspective on life. While most people simply think of this parable praising the two resourceful and talented servants, it also reveals something significant about how important our perspective is – both our perspective of God, and our perspective of His gifts.

The best reflection of this perspective comes from an unlikely source: the third, lazy servant. While the first two servants are praised, less space is reserved to discuss these resourceful servants than the third, unresourceful one. Four verses (verses 20-23) share the master’s response to both resourceful servants, but the third servant receives four verses just for the dialog (verses 24-27) and two of the last three verses entirely to him as well.

This detail regarding focus is important. It tells me that more people will likely struggle with being a third servant than being a five-bag or two-bag one, and that we can learn more from the mistakes of the third servant than from the successes of the first two.

A simple reading of this parable reveals that the third servant saw things differently. Verses 16-18 tell what each servant did with the money entrusted to him: “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.”

The first servant invested, the second servant worked, while the third servant hid. The first two servants saw this money as a blessing, an opportunity, and a responsibility. The third servant saw the money as a curse, an unreasonable test, and probably as unfair. He might have thought something like: “Well, I could definitely do something great with two or three bags of silver, but one bag is not enough.” Or he may have been observant to how much the other servants were given and upset that he received the least, thinking to himself “It’s not fair.”

The third servant’s perspective was different. The second servant received less than half of the first, but still had the same positive perspective. This means that perspective is as important as ability – maybe even more important. Any increase is better than no increase, and even if the money was spent on a poor investment, if knowledge increased, then the master may still have considered the test a success.

A fearful, inactive, lazy third-servant perspective is opposite to what God wants from us. He wants to be able to bless us in ways that double or triple the blessing’s effectiveness. This is only possible with a positive outlook on life, a positive view of our ability, and a right perspective regarding the Gift-Giver.

On the night Jesus was betrayed and ultimately arrested, He promises to ask the Father to send the disciples help. The help Jesus promised comes from the Father in what Jesus describes as “the Spirit of Truth”. When describing how the Helper would come, Jesus tells His followers: “I have told you this while I’m still with you. However, the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.” (v. 25-26)

It seems interesting in my mind that Jesus would describe the Holy Spirit as being sent from the Father in His name. In this verse, while the Holy Spirit comes in Jesus’ name, the description Jesus shares is that the Holy Spirit clearly comes from the Father.

Also contained in this short description is one of the things the Holy Spirit would do. Jesus tells His disciples that the Holy Spirit “will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.” (v. 26)

This detail is significant for us to pay attention to if we ever have doubts about whether the gospel writers could be trusted to accurately share what they witnessed while writing their respective gospels decades after the events actually happened. In John’s case, his gospel was the last to be written, and it may have been written so late in his life that all the remaining original disciples had already died.

As an old man, some skeptics might believe that we cannot trust John’s gospel record because it was written so long after the events he describes actually took place. However, if we think like a skeptic in this case, we are actually discounting the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

John says that the Holy Spirit’s role is reminding us of what Jesus has taught us, and this was true while he was writing his gospel record. John’s gospel shares a unique angle on Jesus’ ministry that can best be understood as simply inspired. While John may have held the pen, the Holy Spirit inspired the memories, events, and words that were written.

It is the same in our lives as well. While we were not present while Jesus walked the earth, the Holy Spirit is ready and willing to help us remember truth we learned while we were younger, and the Holy Spirit is happy to help redirect us back to focusing on Jesus. Jesus has offered to send the Holy Spirit to help us, and there are no downsides to accepting the Holy Spirit’s help with our lives.

While Jesus was warning the disciples about the dangers of hypocrisy and avoiding the subtle influences of culture, He shares with them a powerful promise that we all can learn from. Before being derailed by someone in the crowd interrupting Him, Jesus tells the disciples, “When you are put on trial in synagogues or in front of rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say. At that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say.” (v. 11-12)

Of all the warnings, promises, and challenges Jesus gave the disciples, I imagine this one was among the most equally faced among these earliest followers. I believe every single one of them was pulled in before synagogues, rulers, and authorities to defend themselves and the message of Jesus.

I would imagine this could be the most intimidating thing for anyone to face, except for what Jesus promises will happen during these times. Jesus shares that when we are placed on trial for God, the Holy Spirit will teach us what to say, or in other words, the Holy Spirit will speak through us. The promise Jesus shared was for both His disciples in the first century and all of His followers who face trials from that point forward.

In this promise, Jesus takes all of the pressure off of us and He places it on God. While I doubt that this makes being present in the moment any less fearful, we can know without a doubt that God loves us, He values us, and He will use our lives for His glory.

Jesus tells us in this promise that God will defend Himself through us. It is not up to us to defend God. If we try to defend God on our own merit, we will fail. The only way for us to win is to let the Holy Spirit defend God through us. When we win using the Holy Spirit, we may not be spared torture, and we may not keep our life, but we will be saved for eternity – which is the only life that matters.