Reflective Bible Study

All too often, when more than one gospel includes an event, we tend to play favorites, and focus on only the gospel that we like the most. Unfortunately, it is this way with the grand conclusion to Jesus’ life on earth. All too often, we focus on Matthew’s gospel and the great commission as the big last event in Jesus life on earth before He returns to heaven. However, by focusing only on Matthew, we miss some interesting insights that we can find in how other gospels chose to finish their narratives.

While reading Luke’s conclusion, a verse stood out to me that I had never seen before. Perhaps this is because too often we stop reading Luke’s gospel following the road to Emmaus and Jesus appearing to the disciples in the upper room. But when we stop there, which is almost at the end, we will miss this amazing verse that Luke chooses to include.

Right in the middle of Luke’s conclusion we read: “Then Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (v. 45)

This verse is incredibly significant even though we may be tempted to gloss over it.

Up until this point, the disciples had a preconceived idea about who Jesus was, and about the Old Testament. Their point of view, aside from what Jesus had shared with them, was made up of a long chain of rabbis’ commentaries about what various scriptures meant. One rabbi would discover something in a passage, or look at a passage from a certain angle, and then the rabbis that followed afterwards would continue looking down that same path.

While this is not inherently bad, what becomes bad about it is when we stop being open to other insights or angles when looking at the scripture itself. If you only see a verse or passage one way every time you read it, then you will miss out on what God wants to help you discover.

But here is the great news: “Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (v. 45)

Each and every one of us, regardless of our past situations or opinion of the Bible, can learn, grow, and discover new things in the scripture when we let Jesus and the Holy Spirit into our minds while reading the Bible (a.k.a. the scriptures).

Whether you are one to accept this idea or not, we actually need Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help us understand the underlying themes in the Bible, because without Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the Bible becomes a history book full of stories and fables.

Jesus brings meaning to the Bible, and the Holy Spirit is the only way we can really, fully tap into the power that the Bible offers!

If Jesus ever shared a summary of His mission on earth, chances are that we would find it somewhere in His ministry, and perhaps we might even find it among the prophecies about Jesus from the Old Testament.

Well, one of the first things Jesus does when He steps onto the scene is draw our attention to this truth. In the gospel of Luke, we read Jesus quoting His mission from a prophecy that is found in the book of Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me.
   He has anointed me
      to announce the good news to poor people.
   He has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners.
      He has sent me so that the blind will see again.
   He wants me to set free those who are treated badly.
      And he has sent me to announce the year when he will set his people free.” (v. 18-19)

In this quotation from the Old Testament, we learn the role of the Messiah that God sent. In this prophecy, we have a clear picture of who Jesus would be while spending time on earth. We can see in these words Jesus’ mission.

This is not a mission that Jesus gave Himself following the temptations in the wilderness, but instead it was given to Him by God, in the form of a 700+ year old prophecy. And Jesus chooses to share this prophecy first in His hometown synagogue. This isn’t because He knows He’ll be accepted or even understood, but probably out of respect for those He grew up with.

It is the same with our lives. We can make up a goal or mission for our lives, or we can lean on God to show us His goal and mission for each of us. God created you and I for a reason and purpose, and because of this, we should seek to find out what His mission for us is and then do it.

This Old Testament prophecy Jesus shared summarizes His earthly ministry, and it is the test we can use regarding whether Jesus was really the One God sent to be our representative and our sacrifice. Only by spending time with God will He help us discover the mission He created us to live!

In a short event that three of the gospels include, we learn about a time when Jesus’ mother and siblings come to see Him. I’m not entirely sure why Matthew, Mark, and Luke all chose to include this event, but perhaps it is because there is something significant for us to learn in Jesus’ key point.

I was also surprised that when I compared the three gospels and how each recorded this event, there were very few differences. However, Matthew includes an interesting transition statement that helps draw us to a theme that this event helps to teach us: “Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’” (v. 49-50)

Matthew draws our attention to Jesus pulling His disciples into this illustration. In some ways, this is surprising, because this group of guys seemed to always be one or two steps behind whatever Jesus was trying to teach them. Time and time again, Jesus would try to teach them some truth about God and a simple reading of the gospels points us to the realization that not much of it stuck.

But there was still something about these disciples that qualified them to be introduced as members in Jesus’ family (in the family of God) – these men and women were close to Jesus, and they followed Jesus, and they stayed beside Jesus even when the Pharisees wanted to attack Him. And even though everyone ran the night Jesus was arrested, they all came back (minus Judas Iscariot), and ultimately became the leaders that Jesus knew they would be.

This passage teaches us that we are all part of Jesus’ family when we obey God the Father. When we are doing God’s will, and when we are close to Jesus, following Jesus, and learning from Jesus, we are a valued member of God’s family!

Of all the people in the gospel record, one non-Jewish person who witnesses Jesus’ death seems to stand out in the gospels. This individual is mentioned in three of the four gospels, and he is known specifically for his reaction to how Jesus died.

If we are reading through the gospels in the order they are found in most Bibles, we first read about this individual in Matthew: “An army officer and those watching Jesus with him saw the earthquake and the other things happening. They were terrified and said, ‘Certainly, this was the Son of God!’” (v. 54)

That is a pretty significant statement coming from a Roman soldier – someone who was very familiar with death and crucifixion.

Next we come to the gospel of Mark, and he quotes a slightly different statement here: “When the officer who stood facing Jesus saw how he gave up his spirit, he said, ‘Certainly, this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:39)

Mark’s quote is similar to Matthew’s, but it emphasizes the human-nature of Jesus. Mark doesn’t tell us about the earthquake, but he does draw our attention to the army officer realizing that Jesus was different.

Lastly, we come to Luke’s gospel, and while he tells us a very different statement, it also points us to an important truth: “When an army officer saw what had happened, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly, this man was innocent!’” (Luke 23:47)

Luke’s quote doesn’t emphasize Jesus’ divinity or His humanity – it emphasizes His innocence. This is incredibly important because this is what our salvation hinges on. A “guilty” Jesus could not be a pure sacrifice for us, but an innocent Jesus, who died the death He didn’t deserve, could pay for our sins.

In these three unique statements from a Roman soldier, we see a picture of someone who had a very pagan worldview realizing Jesus was both God and human, and that He was innocent. This is probably one of the strongest testimonies we could find in the Bible about who Jesus was.