Reflective Bible Study

During the conversation Jesus has with His disciples on the night He was betrayed, we find a statement that does not make sense to those who don’t understand Jesus’ mission to earth. While there probably are many statements like this in the broader context of this conversation, one statement stands out as unique.

Possibly right as the disciples were about to leave the upper room on their way to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus tells them, “However, I want the world to know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father has commanded me to do. Get up! We have to leave.” (v. 31)

This statement is powerful in my mind because Jesus tells His disciples that He wants the world to know two things:

1. Jesus loves the Father (i.e. God the Father); and

2. Jesus did exactly what the Father wanted Him to do.

These things are easy for Christians and followers of Jesus to understand, but the world doesn’t see spiritual truth accurately.

While many living today believe that Jesus was a good person and that His life was cut short because He was betrayed, they cannot grasp someone choosing death and saying it was part of God’s plan. Many living today also cannot comprehend a person choosing to die in the place of someone who is ungrateful, and for people who hated Him and God.

This can extend forward to include us today. As believers and followers of Jesus, what would our lives look like if we chose to see everyone else (regardless of their beliefs, their religion, their skin color, their piercings, their tattoos, their country of origin, their background, their position, their view of God, and/or anything else that would separate us from them) as someone who Jesus died for?

Jesus died to save humanity, and the only thing stopping the world from accepting Jesus is that they don’t understand or don’t believe that they are included in those Jesus died for. Some people are hostile towards Jesus and God while others are simply skeptical and unbelieving. However, regardless of whether we were worthy of His death or not (hint: we weren’t), Jesus came and died for us.

Regardless of what anyone else says, no one living at any point in history (other than Jesus) was worthy to receive Jesus’ death for themselves. The big truth that unites all Christianity together is: We are unworthy while Jesus is worthy, God sent Jesus to take our place, and Jesus’ death on the cross makes a way for us to have a new life with God!

In this passage, as potential disciples give excuses for delaying to follow Jesus, Jesus gives one of His most challenging statements. Perhaps this is because I am an easily distractible person, or maybe it is because it is a challenging truth to really apply, but either way Jesus’ remark in this passage would be one of the top challenging statements if I were to write out a list.

After the third person has expressed interest in following Jesus, Jesus responds in verse 62 by saying, “Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God.”

In the context of this passage, the man had simply asked to go say good-bye to his family, but knowing Jesus, this request revealed a deeper truth about this individual, and Jesus responds to this underlying issue: commitment.

It is as though Jesus is saying, “Anyone who chooses to follow Me, but who keeps looking at what their missing out on is of no use to the Kingdom of God.”

Some people might think this statement means we should disconnect from those who are sinful in the world. If so, then this would be a very difficult challenge in today’s media-centered world.

However, I don’t believe that Jesus’ words mean that we should be disconnected from others, or that we shouldn’t be friends with those who think differently from us. Instead, this statement is like Jesus saying He wants us to be 100% committed to our future with Him, and to leave our past hurt, past mistakes, and past regret in the past.

Jesus’ words say that once we have chosen Him, there is no point in looking back at the past because the present and future are what matter most of all. The present and future are what hold our relationship with Him.

Also in this statement is the idea that we should not delay following Jesus. By saying, “I’ll follow Jesus after I do this, or after something happens,” we are really saying that Jesus is not the most important thing in our lives. If Jesus is not number 1, then we end up with divided focus and are “of no use to the Kingdom of God” and we are not guaranteed future moments in time to make that decision.

God calls us to be committed to Him first, and to focus on following Him above everything else. That is how we can be most useful to helping His Kingdom move forward.

While reading Mark’s gospel where he describes Jesus feeding the crowd of 4,000, a detail stood out to me that seems obvious, but it was one I had never picked up on prior to this reading. This detail is very easy to miss, because it gets lost in the other details of the verse it is included in.

After receiving the bread from the disciples, Mark tells us, “So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd.” (v. 6)

The phrase that stood out to me as I read this verse was the four-word phrase “thanked God for them”. Jesus thanked God for the seven loaves of bread (and later on, He thanks God and blesses the few fish when they were found).

This detail is significant because Jesus thanked God before any miracle had happened. Jesus thanked God for the tiny, insignificant number of seven loaves of bread before distributing them. Jesus didn’t wait for God to multiply the seven loaves into 700 baskets of bread before giving thanks.

We can learn from this detail that we should be thankful and grateful for the things God has blessed us with, regardless of whether the blessings are large or small, and we should trust that God can multiply these blessings to be as impactful as is needed. Jesus was thankful for just a tiny amount of bread, and God multiplied it into a satisfying meal for over 4,000 people!

While Jesus was coming down from the mountain where He revealed a glimpse of His glory to the three closest disciples, we find an event that began the day earlier with the rest of the disciples. During the time Jesus was up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John, the remaining disciples were being met by a father who was possessed by an impure spirit.

When Jesus comes down from the mountain, we learn that the disciples who were there were unable to cast this particular spirit out of the boy. It is worth noting here that the disciples had been successful in previous events, and Jesus had sent them out in pairs where they were able to cast out demons.

I’m not sure whether the father was losing hope because of the failure of Jesus’ disciples but when Jesus learns about what has happened in his absence, He replies by saying, “You unbelieving generation. How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” (v. 19)

All three of the gospel writers who include this event include Jesus saying the exact same reactionary response. Each of these gospels record Jesus first commenting on the unbelieving nature of that generation. While we later learn from Mark’s gospel that prayer is a necessary ingredient for removing this sort of impure spirit, when we look at this event in Mark’s gospel through the lens of belief and unbelief, we get a picture of something powerful.

First of all, the disciples had belief that they could cast out this spirit, but I am fairly certain they had been neglecting prayer. Because they only had half of what they needed in this case, they failed. Perhaps Jesus knew this was the reason for the disciples’ failure and that is what prompted His statement.

However, just a few verses later, when asking the father more about the boy’s condition, the father hints at his own growing doubts by saying, “if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” (v. 22)

Jesus immediately challenges the doubt in this statement head on, and by doing so, He pushes the boy’s father to share what sort of belief he has. Mark tells us that, “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (v. 24)

This is enough belief for Jesus. Even a simple acknowledging that there is belief present – even if it is mixed with doubt – is enough for Jesus to work with. What matters in this statement is what we are focusing on.

Are we focusing on our doubts, or are we focusing on our faith? We cannot focus on both at the same time! Jesus challenges this father and those present to focus on whatever faith they currently have and then He uses this amount of faith to perform the miracle.

The same truth about faith, doubt, and belief that Jesus draws our attention onto in this passage is true for us today. While culture as a whole is perverse and unbelieving, this is because that is where they have placed their focus. Jesus’ challenge to this father is a challenge to everyone who calls themselves a believer of Jesus: Will we focus on our doubts, or will we focus on our faith? Jesus can only use one of these things for His glory, so we should be intentional about what we are focusing on!