Reflective Bible Study

I have sometimes wondered about what prompted Herod to be in Jerusalem during the crucifixion weekend. After all, Jerusalem was not part of his jurisdiction, and prior to the events of the crucifixion weekend in relation to Jesus, he and Pilate were not friends. Some sources say that they disliked each other.

However, part of me wonders if Jesus’ message to Herod through this group of Pharisees prompted the governor to make the trip to Jerusalem. Jesus’ message begins, “Go tell that fox Herod, ‘Today and tomorrow I am forcing demons out and healing people. Then, on the third day, I will reach my goal.’” (v. 32)

Whether Herod took this as a challenge, or whether he was insulted, we do not know, but it is interesting that Jesus would call the governor a name. What is also interesting is Jesus’ message: “Today and tomorrow I am forcing demons out and healing people. Then, on the third day, I will reach my goal.”  

While this event did not occur three days before the cross, I wonder if it foreshadows Jesus’ big mission. In the next verse, Jesus alludes to His upcoming death, and it would not surprise me if during Wednesday and Thursday of crucifixion week, He was forcing out demons and healing people. In this regard, Jesus will reach the goal of the cross “on the third day”.

However, the phrase “On the third day” is interesting. Looking back on the crucifixion weekend from this point in history, “the third day” is typically referred to as the resurrection day. Someone might say, “Jesus died on the cross, and on the third day, He rose again.” In this scenario, the cross and Sabbath day of rest between the crucifixion and resurrection may be symbolic of His earthly mission that included healing, casting out demons, teaching, preaching, and calling people back to God.

This leads me to the big truth that God knows our future, and He directs our path when we allow Him to work in us. While Herod had no other practical reason that we know of to make the journey to Jerusalem, part of me wonders if it was through this message intrigued Herod enough to make the trip for the upcoming Passover weekend.

Our passage for this entry covers a portion of Jesus’ famous message to His disciples regarding the time of the future. A couple of verses in this message seem to always stand out in my mind when I read or hear this part of the gospels talked about. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include this famous message, though only Matthew and Mark include the portion we’ll focus on for this entry – and we’ll use Mark’s gospel for this journal entry.

“At that time don’t believe anyone who tells you, ‘Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ False messiahs and false prophets will appear. They will work miraculous signs and do wonderful things to deceive, if possible, those whom God has chosen.” (v. 21-22)

There are a number of parts in these two verses that stand out.

First off, to set the stage, Jesus has just finished describing a time of great persecution of His followers, and then immediately after that time has been cut short, He tells us to be on our guard and don’t believe anyone who points towards – or claims to be – a messiah.

This warning stands out to me because Jesus wants to make it clear that His return will be different, and in other places, He has promised that His return will be visible to everyone. This means that at the very least, if you had not seen the return of this so-called messiah’s return, then don’t believe that they are Jesus coming back.

Next, because Jesus is warning about false messiahs and false prophets, we could understand this to mean either that there will be no more true or false prophets in the future, or simply that there will be a time when false prophets arise who will try to lead people away from paying attention to true prophets in the future. On this point, I won’t dwell too much time on, except to say that in every case someone claims to be a prophet, they have some pretty big hurdles to clear to be known as genuinely from God.

Fortunately for us, Jesus makes it clear what these false messiahs and prophets will focus on and do: “They will work miraculous signs and do wonderful things to deceive . . .” (v. 22)

The focus of these prophets and messiahs will be to shift the focus away from God and the historical Jesus of the Gospels. And while we don’t know what miraculous signs they will do, the signs they do show off will have the goal of drawing the focus onto themselves and away from God. This stands in contrast to Jesus, who used the Holy Spirit’s power, which He has promised us that we can have to when we are connected to Him.

Lastly, the phrase “if possible” gives me hope, because it tells me that there are a group of people who have been selected, who are unwavering in their dedication to God and Jesus. These people may see the signs, but they will be so in tune with who Jesus is, what He is like, and what He promised that they will immediately recognize these to be false prophets and false messiahs.

God has chosen a group of people to be His, and this group will not be deceived by miraculous signs aimed at pulling the focus away from God.

When I read our passage for this entry, I am always amazed at how detailed Jesus’ instructions were to these two disciples. While this isn’t the first time Jesus gives a set of instructions to one or more of the disciples, every time He does so, I am amazed that things fall in line exactly how He has described them.

In this passage, Jesus tells these two disciples, “When you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house he enters. Then say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, “Where is the guest room? Where can I eat the Passover meal with my disciples?” ’ He will show you a large upstairs room with furniture already in it. Prepare for us to eat there.” (v.10-12)

And then we read, “Peter and John left. They found things just as Jesus had told them.” (v. 13)

This makes me wonder, “Was the man with the jar of water a servant of the home owner, or was this an angel in disguise?” and “Did Jesus know this home owner before, or was this a first time meeting?”

I suppose these are questions I get to save for heaven, but reading about this event leads me to a truth we can apply in our lives today: Sometimes the instructions Jesus gives us don’t make sense on the front end, but they come together in the end. Jesus’ instructions might seem odd looking forward, but looking back on them later, they make perfect sense.

One thing I always find fascinating is how Jesus interacts with those He is about to help. In some ways, it is as though Jesus always has His “teacher” hat on even while He is healing. In this passage, we find another example of Jesus teaching while also healing, but it is unique from many other examples because Jesus decides to push back against a popular idea: He must be present to heal.

Since this miracle is one of the earlier ones, and one of the first included in John’s gospel, part of me wonders if all the previous miracles Jesus did to heal people were ones where He was present to speak directly to the situation, and perhaps to place His hands on the person being healed.

Perhaps Jesus knew what this official would do, but Jesus, while responding to this official also speaks to the crowd of people following Him when he says, “You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me.” (v. 48)

Not really being deterred in his request, the official asks again, “Sir, come before my child dies.” (v. 49)

While Jesus could have waited for the child to die before going to raise him back to life (He did this in Lazarus’ case), Jesus uses this as an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of believing based on the evidence: “Jesus answered, ‘Go. Your son will live.’” (v. 50a)

In this event, Jesus pushed back against the idea that seeing is believing. Jesus knows that belief cannot always be based on physically seeing, and so He takes this event and uses it as a teaching example for believing in the evidence. The official understands and believes Jesus because immediately after hearing Jesus’ response, “The man believed what Jesus told him and went home.” (v. 50b)

This is one of the first examples of individuals who believed Jesus’ words at face value, and this official’s belief was rewarded, because we learn that at about the very time Jesus was talking, his child’s fever broke and his son began the road to recovery.

In this event, Jesus wants us to trust Him based on His word and the evidence we have. In this regard, we can have the same level of incredible faith that this official had when He believed Jesus at His word, and left knowing that his son would live.