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Merely the Beginning: Mark 13:1-13

Published April 9, 2025 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: Mark 13:1-13 (NASB)

Most of you who have followed along on this gospel adventure journey have likely concluded that I am a detailed person, and you would be correct. The message Jesus shares in this journal entry’s passage is in three of the four gospels, and the detail that I noticed while studying this passage comes to us from Mark’s gospel.

As Jesus is sharing about what will happen, He describes rumors, wars, earthquakes, and famines, but how He frames these things is interesting. At the end of verse 8, after telling us about all the bad that is coming, He says, “These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”

What stands out to me is the portion of this teaching that is describing nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom being simply the beginning. Is Jesus telling us that all this stuff will continue, and progressively get worse and worse, similar to the way labor gets more intense as it progresses forward? Or is Jesus subtly sharing that there will be a point between nations fighting with each other and His return where there technically would be large scale peace?

These are some of the questions that run through my mind as I read Jesus’ words in this passage.

I know it seems as though each war that has happened has gotten progressively worse. Perhaps not in the number of casualties, but worse in the number of lives affected. Living in North America, war is not a daily reality as it is in some other parts of the world. In recent history, wars escalated to the level of major nations allying with each other on both sides to create large scale “world” wars.

However, Jesus describes all these events as “merely the beginning”.

This passage tells me one big truth: We are in the “beginning of the end” and we have been for some time. Regardless of the political landscape and the wars that are raging in parts of the world, God is not surprised with what is going on and He has our future secure in His hands.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Observing the Signs: Luke 12:35-59

Published April 8, 2025 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: Luke 12:35-59 (NCV)

 35 “Be dressed, ready for service, and have your lamps shining. 36 Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him. 37 They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them. 38 Those servants will be blessed when he comes in and finds them still waiting, even if it is midnight or later.

    39 “Remember this: If the owner of the house knew what time a thief was coming, he would not allow the thief to enter his house. 40 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at a time when you don’t expect him!”

 41 Peter said, “Lord, did you tell this story to us or to all people?”

 42 The Lord said, “Who is the wise and trusted servant that the master trusts to give the other servants their food at the right time? 43 When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed. 44 I tell you the truth, the master will choose that servant to take care of everything he owns. 45 But suppose the servant thinks to himself, ‘My master will not come back soon,’ and he begins to beat the other servants, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master will come when that servant is not ready and is not expecting him. Then the master will cut him in pieces and send him away to be with the others who don’t obey.

    47 “The servant who knows what his master wants but is not ready, or who does not do what the master wants, will be beaten with many blows! 48 But the servant who does not know what his master wants and does things that should be punished will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. And from the one trusted with much, much more will be expected.

    49 “I came to set fire to the world, and I wish it were already burning! 50 I have a baptism to suffer through, and I feel very troubled until it is over. 51 Do you think I came to give peace to the earth? No, I tell you, I came to divide it. 52 From now on, a family with five people will be divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 They will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

 54 Then Jesus said to the people, “When you see clouds coming up in the west, you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it happens. 55 When you feel the wind begin to blow from the south, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it happens. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to understand the appearance of the earth and sky. Why don’t you understand what is happening now?

    57 “Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right? 58 If your enemy is taking you to court, try hard to settle it on the way. If you don’t, your enemy might take you to the judge, and the judge might turn you over to the officer, and the officer might throw you into jail. 59 I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid everything you owe.”

Read Luke 12:35-59 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

While teaching His followers and the crowd at large, Jesus turns the spotlight onto where the people living that day were placing their focus – and what Jesus shares is very relevant for us living today.

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells those in His audience, “When you see clouds coming up in the west, you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it happens. When you feel the wind begin to blow from the south, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it happens. Hypocrites! You know how to understand the appearance of the earth and sky. Why don’t you understand what is happening now?” (v. 54-56)

These short few verses point our attention to how it is very easy to create a rut in our lives that make us experts in certain areas, but completely ignorant in others. As technology advances and the scientific community collectively learns more, it is true that no one can know everything about everything, and because of this, we all must specialize and focus on certain areas.

In this passage, Jesus does not say that we must strive to know as much as we possibly can. Instead, in this passage, Jesus challenges those present that they had become excellent observers of weather patterns, but had failed to focus equivalent energy on observing the patterns of world events as they relate to God’s moving within the world. This was most directed at those whose job description was to pay attention to what God was doing in the world and draw people’s attention to it. Jesus’ challenge includes not only the religious and spiritual leaders living in the first century, but also religious and spiritual leaders living at any point in history.

The challenge Jesus shares is that everyone who calls themselves a follower of God should devote some energy to spending time with Him and also be actively looking for how He is moving in the world around them. God is far from absent in the world today, but it is up to us to open our eyes to the subtle ways He is moving – because only when we pay attention to the signs do we have ample evidence that He is still in control.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Choosing to be Chosen: Matthew 22:1-14

Published April 4, 2025 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: Matthew 22:1-14 (NIV)

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Read Matthew 22:1-14 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Nearing the end of Jesus’ ministry, Matthew tells us that Jesus shares a powerful parable about a king inviting people to a wedding feast. As this parable concludes, the core truth that Jesus wanted His audience to grasp is simplified into a single, short verse: “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (v. 14)

In eight simple words, Jesus summarizes the entire parable, and when we look at this concluding statement a little closer, it contains a paradox that is worth paying attention to. The paradox is visible when we divide this verse into its two separate phrases, each four words long.

The first phrase reads simply, “For many are invited”. This phrase is powerful because when we look at the details of the parable itself, everyone possible received an invitation. The first invitation was to a select group of people, and after they rejected their invitation, the king issues a second invitation to everyone else. Everyone received an invitation, either in the first round of inviting or in the second round of inviting. “For many are invited”; no one is excluded from being invited.

The second phrase sounds like the opposite idea, because it simply says, “But few are chosen”. This second phrase contrasts with the first one because it is very restrictive, and it implies more people are excluded (or “not chosen”) then people who are included.

While Jesus could be referencing the first group of invitees when He makes this chosen statement, I believe it has more to do with the last part of the parable – the part where a man is seen at the wedding feast without being dressed in wedding clothes. On one hand, we cannot fault this man for what he was wearing, because he accepted the invitation and came – likely leaving in the middle of a task he was doing. However, by keeping his old clothes on, this man misses the truth that the old task he was doing is now no longer relevant.

Aside from being lazy or thinking it isn’t important, the only reason for this man to keep his old clothing on is because he believes that following this banquet feast, he will be returning to finish what he was doing before. In this way, the task he was doing is given equal (or perhaps greater) importance in this man’s mind than being at the banquet itself. The man who was kicked out for not wearing wedding clothes may have been present in body, but he wasn’t present in spirit.

This detail is important, because when Jesus shares that only a few are chosen, it means that there will be only a few who will have chosen to place their old lives in the past and to be present and looking forward while at the wedding feast. God, the King, knew beforehand who these people would be, and He makes extra sure that those who He has chosen have everything ready for when they accept His invitation.

When I read the phrase “For many are invited, but few are chosen”, I am inspired to believe that God invites everyone to the wedding banquet, and He chooses those whose hearts, lives, and minds are present to stay from those who chose to accept His invitation, but who decided to keep part of their past lives with them. We are invited! Are we willing to accept the invitation to put our past lives behind us when God calls us to the future He created us for?

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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The Parents’ Failure: John 9:1-41

Published April 2, 2025 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: John 9:1-41 (NLT)

1 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. 5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!

8 His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!”

But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”

10 They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”

11 He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”

12 “Where is he now?” they asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

13 Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, 14 because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. 15 The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, “He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!”

16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them.

17 Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, “What’s your opinion about this man who healed you?”

The man replied, “I think he must be a prophet.”

18 The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?”

20 His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind, 21 but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. 23 That’s why they said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

24 So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.”

25 “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”

26 “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?”

27 “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

28 Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”

30 “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”

34 “You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue.

35 When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.”

37 “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!”

38 “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.

39 Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?”

41 “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

Read John 9:1-41 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

One reason why I believe the Bible to be accurate is that it doesn’t seem to brush past people’s failures or faults. In this passage, had I been the one developing this story as a work of fiction, I would have changed one relatively minor detail because it would make the two least relevant characters appear better than they currently do. This detail wouldn’t change the outcome of the event, but it would simply sound better – at least in my mind.

Between the two interrogations of the formerly blind man, they call in his parents to question them. In verses 20-22, we read what actually happened. The formerly blind man’s parents, responding to the Pharisees say, “‘We know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.”

John shares that the parents were more interested in aligning with the Jewish leaders, and being accepted into their synagogue than they were about sticking up for their healed son. If I were creating this event as fiction, I would change the parents’ response to sticking with their son, or framed their current response in a way that made them look like miracle supporters.

But the Bible doesn’t minimize people’s failures. It may actually emphasize them. It is in short verses like these that we learn that those living then faced similar tension that we do now, and when there is failure, it simply reveals that we need a Savior to help us. There was nothing the blind man could do to regain his sight on his own, revealing his need for a Savior. The formerly blind man’s parents struggled with how to interpret Jesus’ actions in the face of outright opposition, and they needed a different kind of Savior – One who they believed would take care of them spiritually if they lost favor with others relationally and/or socially.

The formerly blind man’s parents faced a challenge we all face: picking either God’s favor or other people’s favor when you can only choose one. In our culture today, the trend is to eliminate God as much as possible, and minimize His significance in the world. When we are pushed to choose, which direction will we go? To acknowledge and serve God, or to hide God and serve man – the choice is yours.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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