Reflective Bible Study

When Jesus was coming down from the mountain where He revealed a glimpse of His glory to His closest disciples, He meets the other disciples and a father who has a problem. Luke’s gospel draws our attention onto a unique angle of this father’s problem that the other gospel writers did not include. In Luke’s gospel, we learn that the father asks Jesus, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.” (v. 38)

Only Luke’s gospel includes the detail that this is the only child of a desperate father. I wonder if this detail hit Jesus a little closer to home and the relationship He had with God the Father. Even though the disciples were unable to cast out the demon that had possessed this boy, Jesus knew how to get the demon out.

With the earlier detail that Luke shares about this boy being the only child, Luke also includes a unique detail following the healing. Luke tells us that “Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father.” (v. 42)

In Luke’s gospel, we see a powerful picture of a father who had almost lost hope receiving his only child back. This is incredible and it speaks to how much God loves each of us.

However, not every case is the same. Sometimes we face loss and death in this life and it does not make sense. Sometimes what happens is clearly not fair. I cannot begin to explain why Jesus restores some relationships while allowing others to end, but what I can say is that everything that happens has a reason, and God leaves nothing to chance.

The biggest truth that I can see shine through this event in Luke’s gospel, especially in the face of times when this doesn’t seem to happen in our own lives, is that God is more interested in spending eternity with us. Everything that happens has the goal of eternity together behind it. While this father gets reunited with his son, regardless of the loss we face, we should look forward to the great reunion we will all experience when we meet together in heaven. Only then can our questions be answered, and only then can Jesus fully explain why things happened the way they did.

While teaching the disciples and warning them specifically about the dangers of hypocrisy, Jesus shares an amazing image of God and how He values each of us. In Luke’s gospel, we learn that Jesus taught this truth to the disciples with a crowd listening in by starting with a rhetorical question: “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two cents? God doesn’t forget any of them. Even every hair on your head has been counted. Don’t be afraid! You are worth more than many sparrows.” (v. 6-7)

This truth is amazing when we look closely at it. In these two short verses, Jesus emphasizes how valuable a cheap, plentiful bird is – and He emphasizes that even though there were hundreds or even thousands living in the region, “God doesn’t forget any of them”. Jesus first focuses on God valuing one of the least valued birds in that culture.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He then shifts our attention onto the fact that God even pays incredible attention to the details of our lives. While I don’t have any real desire to count the number of hairs on my head, God is that interested in me to do so. In an interesting shift of ideas, Jesus moved from talking about the least valued animal in that culture and then He moved our focus onto what might be the least important part of our anatomy – our hair.

I’m not saying that people don’t value their hair or that hair is not given with a purpose. Instead, I am intrigued that of all the parts of our anatomy, if we lose a strand or two of hair, it would impact us the least. If we lost a finger or a toe, this would be much more significant. Our fingers and toes are more valuable than a strand or two of hair.

These details are important to us because Jesus is emphasizing our value in God’s eyes. God values us so much that He pays attention to the least valuable thing about us, and He knows every detail about that least valuable thing. God values us more than a whole flock of sparrows, and we should not be afraid when trouble comes into our life. Through every trial God brings into our life there is a purpose, and while we might not see what God is teaching us in the moment, we can trust that He is preparing us for eternity with Him – because He loves us and values us so much that Jesus became human to redeem us from sin.

If we look out at culture and at what is happening in our world today, there are plenty of examples of people who have reacted poorly because their feelings were hurt. I can easily use myself as an example because there have been plenty of times I have reacted – or overreacted – negatively because of hurt feelings.

This may be why, when I read this journal entry’s passage, the response James and John give Jesus jumps out at me: “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy those people?” (Verse 54)

Perhaps this was the first town that had refused Jesus, and James/John didn’t know how to handle a group of people who actively chose to reject the Messiah. Maybe it was pride from being around Jesus, arrogance that they had performed miracles, or simply because they were trying to stick up for Jesus, thinking His feelings were hurt, but whatever the reason, looking at this situation as an outside observer, it is easy to see how these two disciples over reacted.

When our feelings take precedence over our self-control, then it is easy to overreact. Destroying a town of hundreds or thousands of people simply because the gatekeeper or leaders didn’t want to let Jesus and His disciples stay there is way too strong of a response. The town would have had sick people Jesus could have healed, confused people Jesus could have taught, and hurting people Jesus could have loved.

Jesus would have done nothing but positive things for that town, but pride in the town leaders stopped Jesus from entering, and pride in two of the disciples’ hearts caused them to overreact when they heard the news that the town was not interested in letting Jesus stay there.

Pride closes the door for God to work in our lives. Pride takes the focus off of selfless help for others and refocuses it onto selfish help for oneself. The town missed out because of their leaders, but that was the leaders’ choice. When we face situations where we are rejected, it is a chance to practice maturity by not overreacting because of our feelings. Intentionally focusing on helping/giving/serving others without expecting anything in return is the antidote for pride in our lives. Jesus came to help/give/serve and He calls us to be like Him.

While Jesus was teaching His followers about being ready for His return, and as He was sharing parables and illustrations with them, Peter asks Jesus a question that many of us have likely asked at some point in our lives: “Lord, did you tell this story to us or to all people?” (v. 41)

In this question, we have several possible answers. Jesus could be sharing this story to just this small group of disciples, for their own ears and minds. Or Jesus could be sharing this story to all of His followers regardless of when they lived in history. Jesus even could be sharing this story to everyone who has ever lived at any point in history, regardless of whether they believe in Jesus or not.

But which answer is it? How does Jesus respond?

Luke tells us Jesus replied by saying, “Who is the wise and trusted servant that the master trusts to give the other servants their food at the right time? When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed. I tell you the truth, the master will choose that servant to take care of everything he owns. 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. 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.” (v. 42-46)

While Jesus continues talking after this, it is almost as if His response completely ignores Peter’s question. Jesus first restates that a question has been asked, but He doesn’t really tell us if this parable is limited to a certain group of people or not.

Because of this, I am led to believe that this parable is aimed at everyone, and while it is relevant for everyone, it is only useful if it inspires Jesus’ followers to be responsible and diligent about doing the work He has called us to do. Jesus promises more responsibility for the servants who are faithful with what they have been given, and with more responsibility come more talents and blessings too.

This parable is relevant for everyone because when God’s followers are doing what He has called us to do, the world will be transformed and everyone’s life will be impacted by the love of God.