Reflective Bible Study

As I read the gospels, sometimes I get the feeling as though Jesus and His disciples were together 24/7, and there was only an occasional break, such as when He sends 72 followers out to the neighboring villages, or when He sends the disciples alone across the lake while He goes up onto the mountain to pray.

However, in my mind, I see these breaks as the exception rather than the rule. Which is why when I read this journal entry’s passage, I have to ask myself the question: “Where were Jesus’ disciples?”

After Jesus is baptized and He begins His public ministry, we really don’t see much interaction between Him and His earthly family. This passage is really one of only a few places where interaction is recorded.

Perhaps one reason Jesus limited His interactions with His family is because of the pressure they put on Him to reveal Himself as the promised Messiah, or maybe it is an entirely different reason.

What we do know from the context and surrounding chapters is that just prior to this family dialog, Jesus had just finished pushing most of His popular crowd away, and He had left the area to return “home” with only the core group of 12 disciples.

Looking at the progression of events, Jesus’ brothers must have wondered why He would have done this. After all, in their minds, a Messiah who was going to overthrow the Romans needed lots of people rallied together to fight. Getting such a crowd, then pushing them all away for not being committed enough seems like a very counterproductive move.

But then what about our own lives? Are there ever any times that we feel closer to Jesus than others? Are there times where we are in a spiritual high point that contrasts sharply from the spiritual lows we all face?

Perhaps when we don’t see the disciples in this passage, or when we don’t see Jesus’ brothers included in most of the gospel story, we can conclude that there are times when Jesus will be/feel closer, and times when He feels farther away. This doesn’t mean He cares any more or less about us, but it may mean that we have moved closer to or further away from Him.

There may be times we don’t feel close to Jesus, but this doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t still right beside us.

Jesus concludes His first big commission to His disciples by describing them as His representatives. In an interesting chain of statements, Jesus describes how people can truly help God, and this help comes through how we treat His followers. Jesus concludes this set of instructions by saying, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes God’s messenger because he is God’s messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward. You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward.” (v. 40-42)

In essence, the principle Jesus is sharing with His followers is that God rewards people based on how they treat His followers. This principle is profound, encouraging, and challenging.

The profound truth in Jesus’ words is that how people treat God’s followers is symbolically equivalent to how they treat Him. This is profound because it is a very practical measure for how God views human interaction. Someone who claims to believe God but who does not welcome or help people they know are His followers is rejecting God through their actions.

This is also encouraging for us as believers. If someone rejects us because of our belief in Jesus, this truth teaches us to not take it personally. In reality, the person rejecting us is really rejecting God, and we are free to move on in life. Perhaps it wasn’t the right time for them, or maybe we just planted some seeds that the Holy Spirit will grow later in the person’s life, but regardless of what God’s big picture is, when we face rejection because of our belief in God, we can move on freely because Jesus tells us they are rejecting God and not just us.

However, this principle is incredibly challenging too. The truth Jesus has shared has implications around how we as followers of Jesus treat other followers of Jesus. If we love sinners like Jesus did, but we are hostile towards those who are in the church, we are falling into the negative side of this teaching. While Jesus did share some harsh words aimed at the religious leaders in the first century, He was never hostile towards them. Many of the leaders were hostile towards Jesus, but Jesus didn’t return their anger. If we are to be like Jesus in this matter, we too are challenged to love and be kind towards those who are in the church – whether they believe the same doctrines as we do or not; whether they like the same style of music as we do or not; and whether they are friendly towards us or not.

The big truth in this conclusion to Jesus’ first big set of instructions for His followers is that how we treat others, and how they treat us when we are Jesus’ representatives on earth, is equivalent to interacting directly with Jesus in each and every case. This truth frees us up to not take rejection personally, and it also challenges us to be more kind and loving towards followers of Jesus who may look and act different from us.

As Jesus finishes His counter-challenge to a group of Jewish leaders who were upset about a miracle He performed on the Sabbath, Jesus shares a powerful – and surprising – statement regarding belief, faith, and judgment.

While reading the whole counter-argument Jesus shares, some of those present may have began to think that Jesus was allying Himself against them. Some may have begun to think that Jesus would stand against them when history ends and the Father returns. But Jesus closes by saying He is not their accuser; their accuser will be someone they wouldn’t expect. Jesus tells them, “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (v. 45-47)

The Jewish leaders had verbally placed their faith in Moses. However, by doing so, they missed the point of Moses’ writings and they misled themselves. In this counter-challenge, Jesus tells them that when time ends, Moses will stand up and accuse them because he will tell them plainly that he was pointing them to Someone else.

Moses never claimed to be the Messiah for the people, and nothing in his writings implied this role for him. The unbelief of these leaders in what Moses wanted them to fully realize led to their rejection of the Messiah that God ultimately sent.

Unbelief is a slippery slope. When we start rationalizing ourselves out of a belief, we can find ourselves rejecting other things we believed as being true as well. Many of those who have left Christianity began their journey when facing one or two challenging ideas they could not reconcile in their minds. When left unchecked, these doubts ultimately led to them losing all their faith.

The way to combat unbelief and/or challenging beliefs that we don’t fully understand is not by ignoring the issue. Instead, the way to face these challenges is by studying the options.

At this point in history, there are dozens of angles regarding any belief or doctrine. Rarely is any belief or doctrine a yes and no proposition anymore. Most have three, four, or even five other angles we could take on the subject. While some people might want you to believe the only choices you have are believing the way they do or rejecting “the truth”, they are lying when presenting you with this approach. The way to push through unbelief and challenges are by replacing these things with something you can believe in.

The Jewish leaders fell into a trap that we all can fall into. Anytime we place our eternal lives in the hands of someone who isn’t part of the Godhead, we are opening ourselves up for disappointment and accusation. Only the most delusional people want others to follow them when they themselves are not following anyone else.

A mature leader is really a follower who helps others move forward while pointing them ahead of themselves. This is how Jesus led, and this is how He has called us to lead as well. A mature leader in the spiritual areas of life will not challenge what you believe without pointing you towards a bigger truth about God. True spiritual leaders don’t cut down someone’s faith; they strengthen it by pointing to Jesus.

If you have ever walked into in a dark room, or through a pitch-black hallway, you appreciate the times you had light a little more than before.

This is even truer if you have children who have used the room or hallway to play in, and I’m sure your feet and toes agree too.

When my children were young, and not as diligent at picking up their toys before going to bed, I have similarly begun to appreciate any and all bits of light as I walk around early in the morning while getting ready for the day. There may have been a time that it was safe to walk through the room in darkness to reach the light switch, but as those who have young children know, where children’s toys are present or played with, it is wise to be aware of where you are stepping.

Having grown to appreciate light even more, I have a new perspective on the theme running through this entry’s passage – especially the first verse: “No one lights a lamp and hides it. No one puts it under a bowl. Instead, they put a lamp on its stand. Then those who come in can see the light.” (Luke 11:33)

Having light, even just a little light or a small flashlight, is better than having no light at all – especially when more than one person is present.

Looking deeper at this passage, light is a metaphor.

For a long time, I believed this passage to be primarily about witnessing (i.e. sharing your “light”), but I think the metaphor goes deeper. While it can easily start with our testimony about what God has done for us, it quickly shifts to God Himself, and sharing about Him.

The gospel of John opens with a series of metaphors comparing Jesus as being a light coming into the world. If we place that idea alongside this one, Jesus might be wrapping a truth about His life mission into a broader truth about how we share God with others.

If we shifted the wording of this verse to focus on Jesus, we might come up with something that sounds like: “God didn’t send Jesus into the world to hide Him. That would be counter-productive. Instead, God lifted Jesus up, and let His life shine as an example for the universe.”

Tucked into this verse is a picture of God. In this verse, we see one reason why He sent Jesus. After seeing God and Jesus, we see in this verse a call on our own life to be lights pointing people to the great light.

Light is a metaphor. It represents God’s character, Jesus’ ministry, and our mission to point people back to Him.